Posted on: May 24th, 2022
“Turn those weaknesses into strengths.” It’s advice we hear time and time again when the topic of how to become more successful arises.
It may also be some of the least helpful advice we ever get!
Here’s the thing: When we look at self-made millionaires and billionaires, we find that they are much better than the rest of society at recognizing three things that help them excel in business and in life:
They usually gain these realizations over time through their professional and personal experiences—with the bad experiences teaching the biggest lessons about where they rise and where they fall. Regardless, once self-made millionaires and billionaires learn where their true strengths lie, they take the hugely important step of focusing all their efforts in those areas—and only those areas—as much as humanly possible.
The upshot: Highly successful people seek to always strengthen their strengths—not shore up their weaknesses. This approach contrasts starkly with the advice most of us received growing up—that we should strive to constantly get better in the areas where we lack skills and abilities.
Put another way, self-made millionaires and billionaires are centered. And it’s a big reason why they enjoy their significant wealth.
Being centered means that you consider your areas of excellence as a lens through which you focus most of your efforts and energies.
While self-made millionaires and billionaires typically have numerous skills and talents, only a very few of these skills and talents are instrumental in enabling them to achieve great success. And so they focus on those few areas.
At the same time, you will need to source and work with other people and groups to create and manage a very successful operation that can make you considerably wealthier. Focusing on your strengths doesn’t mean you ignore your areas of weakness. It means you get others around you to manage and deal with those areas.
Not sure what your exceptional skills and talents are? Use the following steps to help uncover your areas of excellence.
Stop experimenting and stay centered. Even after self-made millionaires and billionaires identify their most remarkable skills and talents, they often are tempted to deviate from them to pursue shiny new “opportunities.” Big mistake. Once you’ve discovered your astounding skills and talents, it’s absolutely vital to stay centered. It’s counterproductive when people who know where they excel choose to expend energy and time on areas where they add less value (often considerably less). Result: The likelihood of them reaching their milestones, let alone their financial end goals, diminishes tremendously.
Being centered hinges on skills and talents that are applicable in business and other wealth-generation situations. While self-made millionaires and billionaires are all about being centered, we find that very few people are able to concentrate on what they do exceptionally well. It’s tough to get over the feeling that it’s necessary to deal with a plethora of matters we’re only marginally adept at handling.
The idea of being so highly focused contrasts with what executives at major corporations or many business owners, for example, are often told. In many larger companies, middle managers are advised to concentrate on improving in the areas where they’re weak.
The smarter move: Learn to delegate those tasks, and concentrate on the areas where you’re strongest and that are in the pathway of wealth creation.
By being centered, self-made millionaires and billionaires maximize one of their most critical resources: time. Simultaneously, they act in ways that are most likely to translate into achieving their milestones and consequently their financial end goal.
The following guidelines can help you in becoming—and staying—centered.
When it comes to talents and abilities, every single extremely wealthy individual is also fungible. For that matter, so are you. Along the same lines, there is not a single thing you can do that’s truly unique. Other people can do the same things you can, and there are no doubt people out there who can do these things just as well—or better. Truly successful people don’t try to focus on unique abilities. Instead, they home in on what they do exceptionally well, and apply those skills and talents in prosperous business scenarios.
Wealth creation implication: As you go through the process, you’re not looking for absolutely unique capabilities. What you need to unearth are those skills and talents that fit two criteria. One is that they’re areas where you seriously excel. The other is that they are applicable in situations that will make you very wealthy.
You need to be very critical when you evaluate strengths to tell the difference between where you’re merely very good and where you’re exceptional. The most successful people we know have put themselves “through the wringer” to define their best wealth-generating abilities. Most had to find these answers through a litany of experiences, some of them painful.
Wealth creation implication: As you evaluate your contributions to various business initiatives, you need to be very tough on yourself for your own good. To accurately determine those areas where you excel, you can’t afford not to bruise your own ego.
If you asked a roomful of highly successful people what they brought to their various endeavors that made them fabulously wealthy, you’d likely hear the same skills and talents repeated over and over again. Self-made millionaires and billionaires can’t do it all, and they know it. Instead, they concentrate on where they can add the greatest value.
Wealth creation implication: If you go through this process and come up with more than five areas where you excel, go back to the drawing board. Pare down your list to a maximum of five exceptional skills and talents (three would be even better).
We all have only 168 hours each week to make our dent in the universe. Don’t waste that time trying to get better in areas where you don’t excel. Instead, stay centered on your top skills and talents. Maintaining a laser like focus on what you do best that generates great results is a way to accelerate your success and have the impact you desire—in business and in life.
This report was prepared by, and is reprinted with permission from, VFO Inner Circle. AES Nation, LLC is the creator and publisher of VFO Inner Circle reports.
Disclosure: The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra IS or Kestra AS. The material is for informational purposes only. It represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results. It is not guaranteed by Kestra IS or Kestra AS for accuracy, does not purport to be complete and is not intended to be used as a primary basis for investment decisions. It should also not be construed as advice meeting the particular investment needs of any investor. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS.
Fusion Wealth Management is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. https://www.kestrafinancial.com/disclosures
VFO Inner Circle Special Report
By Russ Alan Prince and John J. Bowen Jr.
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