Your Weaknesses Are Your Strengths

When I was a kid, I took medication for ADHD.

I’m not sure if I ever had ADHD or if people just thought I did because I couldn’t sit still and pay attention in class.

I always find it ironic that if someone doesn’t behave in school, our default way of thinking about it is that something must be wrong with the kid instead of thinking that it was odd to ever assume a one-size-fits-all approach to education could exist in the first place.

Of course, there could still actually be something wrong with the kid who is acting out, it’s just not the most likely explanation.

Now, as it so happens, I did exhibit a few symptoms that usually accompany ADHD: I had a very hard time sitting still, a very hard time controlling the volume of my voice, and a very hard time paying attention.

I think the main reason that I had trouble paying attention was the fact that it was rare for what was happening outside my head to be more interesting than what was happening inside my head.

I have a strong inner life, and I often work my thinking out through physical movement (my wife can attest that she knows when I’m thinking because I start to pace back and forth).

If the teachers had been paying attention, they might have noticed that I was dialed in when real teaching was happening, and that I only wanted to get up and move around when there were lessons for lessons’ sake.

Of course, you’re reading a biased account and you should expect it to paint me as the tragic hero. In fact my teachers were good people who meant well, even if they were sometimes frustrated with my inability to sit still and pay attention.

My particular cognitive makeup is, in the context of the modern school system, an undeniable weakness. It’s hard to get through school when what is happening in your mind is more interesting than what is happening on the chalkboard.

This plagued me through my entire education, right up through college. I remember taking one class where I would only show up on exam day, not because I wasn’t taking the class seriously, but because I realized the professor taught from the book and there was no point in suffering through an hour of boredom when I could just read the book myself.

But here’s the thing: weakness in one context doesn’t necessarily translate to weakness everywhere. The ability to think about the things that I want to think about is actually a huge strength, and it manifests itself as a strength as soon as success is measured by anything except sitting still and being quiet.

When it comes to writing, my habit of turning inward is the fuel that ignites my creativity and keeps me supplied with a steady stream of ideas.

The way I see it, there are two types of weaknesses that don’t have to hold you back. There are those that are part of your personality and there are those that are a result of a lack of skill or knowledge.

The perceived weaknesses that are part of your personality are actually strengths waiting for the appropriate context to reveal themselves. All you have to do is find the environment that you were built to thrive in and leverage your “weaknesses” to your advantage.

The second kind of weakness, where you lack knowledge or ability is an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve at what you do.

There is a third kind of weakness, and unfortunately, this one will hold you back. I’m talking about the weakness of having a bad mindset.

A bad mindset is a critical weakness that you need to fix immediately, or you won’t go anywhere.

For instance, when it comes to your own abilities and potential you either tend towards a fixed mindset, or a growth mindset.

When you have a fixed mindset, you believe that we all basically know who you are and what you are capable of. If you had the ability to do something well, we all would have seen it by now. You are so close to having reached the limits of your potential, that self-improvement is a waste of time. It represents a huge investment of time and effort to move the needle very little. With this mindset, you carefully structure your life to avoid failure, because it is a sign of weakness to be ashamed of.

When you have a growth mindset, you assume that the question of how high you can fly is basically unknowable. Sure, from the standpoint of being a realist there’s probably some limit to what you can accomplish, but boy oh boy, there’s so much room to grow that it might as well be unlimited. You view self-improvement as an essential activity that helps you grow and brings you closer to your goals. With this mindset, you embrace failure as part of the journey to success and aren’t embarrassed to try something that might not work.

Having a fixed mindset is a critical weakness. It’s what held me back for years.

The good news is that your weaknesses aren’t fatal. Your mindset can be changed. Your personality can be leveraged to your advantage (and smoothed out around the edges where necessary), and your ignorance can be corrected through a dedication to being a life-long learner.

There might as well be no limit to how high you can fly.

This is the twenty-sixth in a series based on my article 30 Lessons About Life You Should Learn Before Turning 30.