Managing your nontalent weaknesses

Weakness is not the complete opposite of the edge. It is close to the opposite. Your nontalent weaknesses are closely related to your genes. There is no practice component in these weaknesses. You have weaknesses without doing anything. You can´t have any edge without practice. You have inner qualities that create your weaknesses. There are three simple and constant signs of weaknesses. All of them are not always related to your particular weakness. Weaknesses leave track records. When you poorly execute whatever you are doing, you have found a weakness. Negative emotions during and after the activity also tell you that you are dealing with a weakness. You can even be good at it, but negative emotions don´t leave. The third sign is that you don´t even want to start doing it. You prefer someone else do it for you. After identifying your weaknesses you can start managing them.

Managing weaknesses

Weaknesses that are related to your nontalents can create most of your problems. There are five ways to manage them:

1. Improve in it a bit
2. Design a support system
3. Find a partner
4. Use your edge to overcome it
5. Stop doing it or do less of it

Some people think they can improve their weaknesses so much that they become their edges. When you have no talent in something, you have to put too much effort into improving it. You have limited time for getting great at something. And this time is away from your actions that are related to your talents. The opportunity costs are too high for developing an edge in your nontalents. This doesn´t mean that you can´t put any effort into diminishing the bad effects of your weaknesses. You can have better returns for the used time by getting a little bit better in your weaknesses. You can probably improve your performance from poor to mediocre with not too much effort or time.

You can design a support system for managing your weaknesses. Modern societies are full of support systems like Excel spreadsheets. Your imagination is a limit to creating these systems. For example, if you have a poor memory, you can use your phone calendar to remind you when you have to do something or be somewhere. If managing your weaknesses requires these systems ask your friends or colleagues about them. You must know someone who has already created something you need. You can also try using Google to find out how to get one.

You have to remember that you can´t be good at everything. Having a partner to overcome your weakness is a good idea. In the corporate world, this is possible. I am sure you have a colleague that has an edge in one of your weaknesses. If you have an edge in something your colleague is bad at, you can suggest a mutual agreement to help each other. Finding a spouse who balances your weaknesses with his/her edges can be a good way of getting a better relationship and a happier life.

Using your edge to overcome your weakness is hard. My imagination is limited, but I have found at least one way of using your edge to overcome your weakness. If you are a comedian, you can probably create a character that has a special handicap. This handicap is your weakness. As a comedian, you can become a funny character with a special handicap that makes people laugh if they have an edge in being funny.

Last but not least is stop using your weakness. Find ways to avoid it. For example, I don´t like to be in contact with people I vaguely know. I try to avoid them as well as I can. I even time my grocery shopping in a way that the probability of having contact with these people is small. You can´t always avoid using all of your weaknesses, but you can use them less in your life. Design your environment in a way that using them is least probable in your life.

Edges and weaknesses, which are more important? Should you focus on managing your weaknesses or creating edges and upkeeping them? The answers to these questions are not either/or type answers. You can do both, but creating edges is more important unless your weaknesses destroy your life. You have to do mental cost-benefit calculations about these two things and find the most useful approach to deal with edges and weaknesses. Nobody can do these calculations for you.

Until next time,

-TT