Why You Should STOP Working On Your Weak...

From Trevor Mauch, Mindset Master...

Hey, Trevor here. You know those weakness you have? Those areas of your business (or life) that you just can't seem to grab a hold of and really run with?

Well today I'm hoping to really challenge the idea that you should even be working all that hard on them.

I know, I know... sounds counter-intuitive. Maybe even crazy. But hang with me here and see if you don't smell what I'm cooking. :-)

Truthfully, you might even find a little personal breakthrough here if you're willing to. Let's do it.

My "Epic" Baseball Career...

Man, I can vividly remember my little league days from when I was a kid.

The fact is, I've always been shorter than most everyone else on the team... But also one of the faster players on the field. Frankly I also worked harder than everyone else -- mainly because I had to to keep up because everyone was bigger and stronger.

My baseball coach at the time, Mike, was working with me one day at practice.

I was a good hitter for average... a good fielder... but didn't have much of any power at all. I could poke a base hit through the infield or lay down a bunt and bust ass down the base path to beat out the throw, but ask me to hit a ball that actually landed in the air in the outfield grass, and that was like climbing Everest for me at the time.

So at practice Mike saw potential in me and really wanted to work on my weaknesses to “make me an even better player”.

So practice after practice we worked on my “power swing”. A big loopy upward swing that would magically loft the ball in the air as I was swinging so hard I’d spin myself into the ground. Picture that for a second :-)

And we worked on that...

...and worked on it...

...and worked on it.

I did manage to hit some balls in the air to the outfield, but the whole time I remember thinking, “Gosh, I’d rather just keep hitting the way I do and get base hits. I’m good at that. Being a home-run hitter just isn't in my cards right now.”

It wasn't Mike’s fault. He was taught the same thing when he was a kid. But what he didn't realize is that by working on my weaknesses... he was actually doing more harm than good. I’ll explain why in a second.

Truth #1: Your Weaknesses Are Weaknesses For A Reason

weakness I heard about something called “Unique Ability” a few years ago from a friend and mentor of mine who started off as a real estate investor... and now owns an Inc 500 software company that does about $8 million a year in sales.

He heard about it from another guy who is one of the worlds top entrepreneurial coaches (he’s now my coach too). Something I heard really struck a cord with me. And here’s what it is:

All our lives we’re told to work on our weaknesses.

If you’re bad at math... you should be spending all of your study time on math to improve.
Bad at hitting for power in baseball... your coach tells you to work on that.
If you’re bad at building websites and someone tells you you need one... they say to learn how to build your own site so you won’t have to rely on someone else in the future.

We've all heard it. And it’s all a bunch of crap.

Here’s why: It all boils down to your unique abilities.

Truth #2: Everyone's Uniquely Good At Certain Things... and Bad At Others

In my little league example, my coach wanted me to be a more “well rounded” hitter and get some power. But I was really good already at getting on base... just not hitting doubles, triples, or the big home run. But when he had me working on what I wasn't uniquely good at (hitting for power)... we were neglecting the stuff I was uniquely good at (base hits and line drives).

Truth be told, if we'd spent all that time working on my strengths to make them even greater strengths... and totally forgetting about working on my weakness... I would have been a much better hitter.

Think about that for a minute... working on my weaknesses caused me to never realize the full potential of my strengths. That's kind of a powerful "ah ha!" thing to realize, dontcha think?

In business, it’s easy to get wrapped up in doing everything in your business. Throwing together your website, writing blog posts, negotiating, swinging the hammer on rehabs, filing your paperwork, etc.

For me, I felt that the more I knew how to do in my business... the the more weaknesses I worked on... the better off I’d be.

Now I realize the cold, harsh truth: I was dead wrong.

My unique abilities in business are dreaming up big ideas, creating the vision and motivation for the team, dreaming up marketing campaigns (but I hate the implementation side), and building fun into life for our customers and employees. Everything else I basically hate and I’m not that good at (weaknesses).

But everyone is different.

My assistant Jen is much different. She loves organizing, being a supporter, and other things that make her a great personal assistant... But she doesn't love dreaming up marketing and that kind of stuff. She works in her unique ability... I work in mine. Most of the rest that's out of our unique abilities, we simply outsource or out-task to people who are really good at that particular thing.

NOTE: Notice I said “most of the rest”. When you’re getting started there’s stuff you’ll have to work on that you don’t like and aren't good at. But just recognize those things, and as soon as you can outsource those things to others when it makes sense. Until then, buckle down and focus on creating revenue as soon as possible.

You’d be amazed but there are people who absolutely love Excel spreadsheets. It’s their life’s mission to build the best and most beautiful spreadsheets in the world. If you don’t like spreadsheets, outsource to those people who love them. It’s a win win. Then you focus on what you love to do... are great at... and makes a big difference to your income and happiness.

"Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses."
~ Marilyn vos Savant

Break the belief that weaknesses must be worked on. They don’t. At least not in all cases.
Instead, start recognizing what you’re not good at and don’t enjoy... and what you are really good at and really do enjoy...
Schedule in focused time each week so you can work on the things you’re good at and enjoy, and outsource the things you’re not good at and hate to those who love those tasks. Trust me, you’ll be much happier.
And rather than working on your weaknesses (working on weaknesses only creates “strong weaknesses”... lol, which aren't good anyway)... you'll find you really begin to soar as you make your strengths even stronger.

Now go make it happen!