{knowledge} Top 5 Strengths

In leadership we took a strengths test called Strengths Finders. I definitely recommend anyone to take it. You just pay a small fee for a personalized code and you take a quick quiz that finds your top five strengths. My were actually spot on.

1. Woo

• By nature, you enjoy chance encounters with friends and strangers. You engage them in conversation. Rarely are you at a loss for words. You delight in all kinds of dialogues, discussions, and verbal exchanges. You are apt to move swiftly from person to person, taking time to briefly chat with each individual. Driven by your talents, you frequently throw newcomers or outsiders off balance by pressing them to talk with you. With some individuals, you intentionally do this. With others, you are unaware of how forceful you are. You are eager to get things moving and completed. Even so, you strive to temper your demanding style. You probably want people to like you as well as do what you tell them to do. It’s very likely that you often share your ideas, feelings, and experiences. Your openness makes it easy for people to figure out who you are. They can begin to understand what causes you to think and act the way you do. Instinctively, you are quite open and transparent with individuals or groups. The level of trust you have for a person dictates how much you reveal about your personal history, innermost thoughts, or deepest feelings. Because of your strengths, you get a thrill from encouraging newcomers or outsiders to join discussions or engage in small talk. You probably have a gift for finding things to talk about when you meet someone for the first time.

2. Communication

• Instinctively, you relish talking to others. Frequently you help people express their opinions, thoughts, or viewpoints with enthusiasm. Your words frequently energize individuals or groups. Because of your strengths, you genuinely enjoy chatting with all sorts of people. A fine day for you includes many opportunities to engage individuals in dialogue. You probably feel most enthused about life when your need to express yourself is appreciated rather than viewed as a shortcoming. Chances are good that you customarily facilitate the group’s conversation. You carry yourself with an air of distinction. You take charge quite naturally. Nevertheless you appreciate the willingness of people to openly exchange ideas. Driven by your talents, you have a facility — that is, an ease and readiness — for speaking. Under very few circumstances do you struggle to find just the right word to express a thought or feeling. Being able to put friends or strangers at ease quickly is one of your special gifts. By nature, you find something likeable in just about every person you meet. You intentionally surround yourself with a wide array of people. Usually they represent different backgrounds, interests, cultures, or economic levels. You contend there is always room for one more person at a meeting, in a group, on a trip, or at a meal. Your pleasant, friendly, and cordial disposition draws individuals to you.

3. Futuristic

• It’s very likely that you have a capacity for envisioning what the coming months, years, or decades could, should, or will be like. Frequently you are prompted to transform your ideas into things you can touch, taste, see, smell, or hear. Driven by your talents, you are eager to get started on a project once you realize what you can accomplish in the coming weeks, months, or years. You work very hard to breathe life into your big dreams. These often push and pull you into the future. By nature, you are innovative, inventive, original, and resourceful. Your mind allows you to venture beyond the commonplace, the familiar, or the obvious. You entertain ideas about the best ways to reach a goal, increase productivity, or solve a problem. First, you think of alternatives. Then you choose the best option. Chances are good that you frequently question how well you are doing at this point in your life. You probably aspire to higher levels of excellence. You sense your greatest accomplishments lie ahead. This explains why you spend so much time and energy addressing your shortcomings. You think you jeopardize your chances of future success when you ignore your deficiencies. Because of your strengths, you characteristically center your attention on what you want to accomplish in the coming months, years, or decades. Being free of annoying distractions contributes to your enthusiasm for life in general and the future in particular.

4. Activator

• It’s very likely that you strive to energize people. You are determined to generate a lot of enthusiasm around various projects, events, or activities. Driven by your talents, you routinely raise the spirits of people by putting aside what you are doing and giving them your undivided attention. You work diligently to repeat the key ideas or questions they voiced. Because of your strengths, you have a gift for raising a person’s self-esteem. You notice something special he or she said. Then you formally or informally acknowledge the individual’s most interesting ideas. Instinctively, you characteristically generate enthusiasm. You contend anything is possible. Your optimistic outlook helps people believe in their potential. You encourage individuals to forge ahead quickly. You challenge others to view major and minor assignments as opportunities to excel. By nature, you may influence some of your friends to make things happen quickly. Sometimes you create enthusiasm in others by championing a particular project, rule, process, activity, or idea.

5. Arranger

• Instinctively, you may convince certain people that a particular project or cause improves humankind’s quality of life. Occasionally you persuade them of the importance of protecting the planet’s resources for future generations. Perhaps you help people realize they can accomplish more good as a group than they can as individuals. Driven by your talents, you help keep the peace on your team by doing your share of each day’s assignments. You generally perform your tasks so no one in the group has to do chores you overlooked, ignored, or forgot. It’s very likely that you usually excel on teams whose members appreciate your ability to simultaneously think about multiple ideas, problems, or tasks. The more you have to juggle, the happier you probably are. Because of your strengths, you have a reputation for being the team member who does whatever it takes — within the bounds of propriety and ethics, of course — to live up to your commitments. By nature, you produce good results when you have to juggle many activities at the same time. You probably have more energy for your studies, job, or life in general when you are given a variety of assignments. Working on just one task day after day ordinarily leaves you feeling mentally and physically exhausted.

I found this to be very helpful in recognizing the things I was good at. Sometimes you find a strength that you had no idea you had and sometimes you expect to have a strength and it doesn't show up on your top 5. I think my strengths represent myself very well. I feel like I am a very well rounded person and my strengths seem to prove that as well. I also think that getting to know people/keeping in touch with people are one of the most important things to me in my life. I think it is very fitting that I have "Woo" and "Communication" at the top of my list. I hope to use these strengths to go far in pharmacy school and in my career. I hope to learn from this course how to work well with people who have other strengths. I can't wait to see how we will use our strengths in class!

What are your top 5 strengths? 

Do you think mine match me?

Hope you have a great Thursday!