Harry Potter on Personal Development:: Play to Your Strengths

Play to your strengths. It was Mad-Eye Moody who gave Harry Potter this advice when he encouraged him to think of his own strengths that would help him beat his dragon in the upcoming task. In the last 5 years it has been a consistent theme among personal development coaches to teach the focus on one’s strengths instead of the constant focus on improving one’s weaknesses. Nobody did this better than Harry Potter. He learned quickly what he was poorest at, and he surrounded himself with people who could compliment his weaknesses.

What he didn’t do is worry about what he was bad at, and spend all his time trying to improve. Did he study extra hard at Potions or Defense Against the Dark Arts? We need to take his example to heart. We must discover our greatest strengths and structure a life around them. Find a career that will play to your best atributes and surround yourself (especially a spouse) with people who can compensate for your greatest weaknesses.

The second half of this lesson to search out solutions to problems by focusing on your strengths. When trials stand in your way consider what you have to offer to the problem. What talent, resource, or trait are present in you that will allow you to overcome with the greatest speed and efficiency. It does little good to focus thoughts and time outside of your circle of influence. Consider that life never throws anything at you that you can’t overcome even if sometimes it will require the help of your truly greatest resource; your friends.