Empowered by her Strengths: Meet Joanne and Lola the dog

What's your top 5?
Woo, Activator, Strategic, Communication, Ideation

How do you see them playing out in your life?
My top 5 describe what I am naturally good at and always drawn to. I am the most effective when I operate in a combination of these five strengths. Prior to doing the Strength Assessment, I obviously didn't know the name for them... but I knew I was drawn to people and to connecting with them...I have always had a lot of friends and reveled in social settings, and I was overwhelmed with joy when I could connect on a deeper level and hit a place of understanding on a personal or professional issue. Apparently, that's the Woo in me!  I have always loved to strategize and create, and also come up with ideas and put them into action. And let's face it - I always struggled with actually sitting down and cranking out the things that I so creatively dreamed up. It was uncanny how accurate the results of the tests were and put into words parts of my personality in a way that I could understand and apply them in my professional and personal life.

What's your favorite theme?
It's hard to choose... but I would say Woo and Communication. I treasure having the ability to see "beyond"...behind the surface, behind the walls that many of us put up... and using communication to help draw it out of people and brings things to light in people's lives that they may not have been aware of, and awaken traits in them that they didn't know they had! It blesses me to no end, and I feel recharged and like I am using something that comes so naturally to me to help others. Communication just helps to support this, as I am able to articulate and illustrate feelings and concepts in a way that others can understand.

What's the one theme that get's in your way?  
My Strategic and Activator combination probably gets in my way the most, followed by Woo. I think at lightening fast speeds and draw conclusions and see patterns in a myriad of data...not to mention, with the Activator, I am always ready to put it into action. I've learned (been told :) that most people may not immediately be able to see what I do. I used to get frustrated and impatient that they would not be able to draw the same conclusion or track my train of thought, but now I try to lean into my Communication skill to try to illustrate and play out scenarios and people really respond to that. 

Woo gets in my way because I would rather be interacting with people over just about anything else - it is so strong in my make - up that I can default to putting aside almost anything for human interaction.

How has knowing your top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life?
This was amazing, life-changing confirmation of who I am - and that far from having a certain set of weaknesses and feeling frustrated about that - I have a unique and very powerful combination of strengths that I need to give weight and respect to. My top 5 revolve around Communication and Influence... and I would guess any execution strengths - as in actually getting the tasks I dream up done, would come towards the bottom. For a long time, I felt like something was wrong with me because in many ways, this world values implementation and execution - and visionaries are seen as maybe a bit flighty or irresponsible. 

Through this exercise I learned that it is far from the truth - without those to inspire, to visualize, to brainstorm and to create...and of course to rally the troops - there would not be anything to act upon. So I have learned to value myself and what I can bring to any given situation - and not keep myself tethered to projects where I simply cannot help and where I will hold things back. It's a huge win win for myself and for my clients and those in my life. 

reCreate's Strengths Mission
For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal.  We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths.  

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