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Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. " - Albert Einstein

I spoke the other day at a youth conference. We were discussing the topic of abilities, desires, and improving upon one's weaknesses. Off the top of my head, I asked the group if anyone could sing. One young lady put up her hand. I asked her what type of singer she was and she said alto. I asked her to sing for us, and she did. Beautifully.

“Okay," I said. "Now, I’d like you sing tenor.”

She shook her head.

“Well, why not?” I asked.

“I’m not good at tenor." she replied.

I asked her why she didn’t just practise.

"For what? I don’t want to be a tenor.”

I challenged her. If she wanted to be a good all-around singer, why didn't she practise what she wasn't so great at - singing in tenor?

This young lady had the right idea. Many times in life we are bogged down by our own desires to strengthen our weaknesses.  If you think about it, it really doesn’t make much sense to focus on something you're not. Why would a phenomenal alto work towards becoming a phenomenal tenor?

As a former CFL defensive player, that's like me working on becoming a quarterback. You see, my strengths aren't in throwing the ball; my strengths lie in running down the field really fast. Hitting people. Reading plays. Getting interceptions. It isn't in my best interest to block 300lb guys. My strengths lie in moving around them to tackle running backs.

So why do we spend time improving our weaknesses, especially when our weaknesses haven't gotten us to where we're at today? People often feel they need to become a Jack-of-all-trades, which, as the saying goes, is a master of none. If you want to be taken to a higher level, wouldn't you want to feed your strengths? Shouldn’t you pour into those seeds of greatness and let them blossom and grow?  When we focus all of our energy on just improving our weaknesses, we find ourselves constantly feeling like an unfinished project. We say to ourselves, “I have to be better” or “I need to pour more into this” and keep telling ourselves that we're not good enough. While weaknesses are fine to improve on, the problem arises when they're all we can see. Then, we're left in a state of constantly feeling depleted and needing to be more. It can be frustrating and weigh you down.

At Ahead of the Game, we dig into our strengths and identities. We dig into who we are so that we can pour into that and it can grow and thrive. An apple tree will produce apples no matter how hard it works to produce oranges. It won't have a problem producing apples because that is an apple tree that is living its purpose. But should that tree try to produce different fruit, it will have a difficult time. It's not purposed for that. So instead of trying to stuff ourselves in a box and be something we’re not, why don’t we feed our fire? Why don't we add to our passions and let that flame grow? I encourage you to try it and see if you don't set the world ablaze with your light. So go live your purpose on purpose and #GetAfterIt.

 

-JH

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