Understanding The Concept of Fixing a Weakness
There are a few key concepts you must understand when you make the decision to invest your time in fixing a weakness. To start, you must remember time is a limited resource. So, when you invest time to fix a weakness you have less time to work on becoming great in the areas in which you are good.
Next, you must accept that a weakness is a weakness because it doesn’t come naturally to you. This means, if you invest 10 hours in a weakness you won’t get 10 hours of productivity out of it. Weaknesses cause friction in the process of improvement.
Friction creates resistance, and it’s that resistance that causes the loss of productivity. Consequently, it may take 20 hours of work to get 10 hours of progress. On the other hand, if you invest in strengthening a strength, the opposite happens. You may get 20 hours of progress out of 10 hours of work. Again, since time is such a limited resource, working on a weakness is a significant trade-off to consider.
Finally, and most importantly, you must have enough self-awareness and experience to recognize a weakness in fundamentals vs. a weakness in a non-talent.
Fixing a Weakness in Fundamentals vs. Non-Talents
The fundamentals in anything are the basic principles that create the foundation for everything else. The fundamentals are the essential building blocks you simply can’t do without.
For example, you can’t become a carpenter or electrician without knowing the fundamentals of math. Likewise, you can’t be elite in any athletic sport such as football, wrestling, soccer, basketball, tennis, or track without flexibility. There is no trade-off to consider for a weakness in fundamentals. You simply must buckle down and invest the time and effort it takes to master them if you want to be better than average in any endeavor.
Comparatively, non-talents are things that don’t come naturally to you, but also don’t prevent you from reaching any of your goals. Non-talents don’t need fixing, they are what they are. It’s good to know a non-talent exists as far as self-awareness goes. Other than that, there is nothing wrong with just ignoring non-talents since they won’t prevent you from reaching your goals anyway.
Fixing a Weakness vs. Managing a Weakness
To conclude, a weakness is only a weakness when it prevents you from reaching your goals. Moreover, a weakness in fundamentals must always be a top priority. However, since there is so much friction when you work on a weakness, you must use your time wisely to make sure you don’t lose out of the benefits of investing time in becoming great in the areas in which you are already good (i.e., your strengths).
Therefore, instead of fixing weaknesses the goal instead is to manage your weaknesses. To manage a weakness, focus on two basic steps.
- Invest the minimum amount of time needed to improve the area of weakness to a basic level of proficiency so it does not prevent you from reaching your goal. (i.e., Become flexible enough to prevent injury but don’t invest time trying to become as flexible as a gymnast.)
- Spend the rest of your time learning how to leverage your talents and strengths to overcome any deficits that may remain because of the weakness. (i.e., Leadership is a strength, so you use those leadership skills to build a team around you to support you with your flexibility practices.)