Many years ago, I was sent to a professional training. It was two weeks of intense training. Towards the end of it, we had to be critiqued by our peers. Back then, although I had been in the professional world for a few years, I was somewhat switching roles. I was a little shy to begin with (hard to believe but true), but I wanted to be helpful. Even though I was new to this role and probably one of the youngest, I had already interned for over two years with one of the largest teams in the country, and many of my peers were just starting out.
They would ask me questions about what it was like working on the team, some of the things we did and what helped to make us different. I answered honestly, and tried to share any information that I had with them.
When it was my turn to be reviewed, I remembered one of the guys commenting that I was too nice and too willing to share. While I was being asked questions, and because I’d already experienced it, I was trying to help them along – but it was seen as a weakness. I was not giving out any trade secrets, just ways that could help their business along, any success that came from it would have been hard work on their part. But yet I was told that was a weakness.
I look back now. The critique no longer has an influence on me, and actually may have been the reverse. My ‘niceness’ has served me. My ability to try to help someone else who may be going through something that I struggled with has served me. I know that if I can make someone else’s life just a little bit easier because they don’t have to make the same mistakes or do it the hard way, then I’ve done what I’ve been called to do.
I’m by no means tooting my own horn, but since then, I’m likely one of the few of those trainees remaining in this profession – and my willingness to share and serve others have served me well, which has made me an asset.
What do others perceive as a weakness in you? Is it possible that this can in fact be a strength? Don’t get me wrong, we do have our weaknesses, and we should make an effort to improve, but not when it’s something that God has given you that special ability to make you uniquely you.
‘Don’t let the world change your smile. You should change the world with your smile’.
The Bible tells us, in Ecclesiastes 9:10a NIV “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for our strengths. Lord, help us to use our God given abilities and our kindness to make this earth just a little bit better for the people we encounter, until you come again.