using your signature strengths to achieve flow
so the ‘engaging life’ route to happiness means using your signature strengths.
Most of my experience of career coaching and training has taught me to focus on developing my weaknesses (or opportunities for development in training-speak) as these are likely to hold me back. Seligman doesn’t say we should forget about developing these weaknesses, just that our lives should be focused on our signature strengths
Try the signature strengths questionnaire
Your signature strengths are the things you are naturally good at. You can develop skills in other areas with application but it is much easier to get pleasure and satisfaction using these natural strengths than a ‘borrowed’ strength.
So if you are struggling with your career rather than examining your weaknesses and looking to improve them, you should look at how you can re-craft your work to utilise your signature strengths. If this is possible it seems obvious that you are more likely to succeed at an approach that comes naturally to you. And you’ll have more fun along the way.
This is the point when my team whinge at the me that this is all very well and good but they are being paid to do this stuff and the business doesn’t care if they would rather be doing ‘innovation’ cause that’s what Martin Seligman says would make them happy. Which is why we come to recrafting…