Eddie Villa’s Action Plan For Developing Your Strengths So You Can Own Your Greatness
I seem to be having a banner month! Three blogger to blogger awards and now a Guest Post from Eddie Villa!! Eddie spreads his motivation and inspiration via Podcasts and Coaching seminars (one on one or group sessions).
Eddie’s message of inspiration aligns perfectly with mine and I enjoy what he has to say; I hope you do as well!
Eddie Villa (of Unleash Your Strengths W/ Eddie Villa podcast) has a lot to say about what it means to find your light and what it takes to handle your own and other people’s behavior that seeks to dim it. By doing so, you can develop your strengths to own your greatness. Owning your greatness means doing everything you do in a way that realizes the potential of your strengths and honors your desires.
How To Find Your Light And Make It Brighter:
- Use your Gallup CliftonStrengths (formerly Gallup StrengthsFinder) report to learn about your light. The themes belonging to the dominant domains in your Top 10 are the source of your light; they illuminate your message, your story, and who you are supposed to be. Consider how those themes work together. Your light will show what you can do while being purely who you are and which you don’t have to change to be able to do.
- Persistently Brighten Your Light And Be Open To Seeing New Realities With It. In how you perceive yourself, as in how you perceive the world, you cannot see anything without light. Just because you haven’t found your calling doesn’t mean there isn’t something better for you than what you’re doing. Dedicate yourself to living in a way that protects your light; just because you can’t see something in the darkness doesn’t mean nothing is there.
How To Handle Interactions That Try Dim Your Light:
- Stop campaigning for your weaknesses in conversation with other people and in contemplation of yourself. It’s easy to feel like being who you are and doing what you do is too much given the challenges in your life. Thinking about yourself as if you are limited creates a reality wherein you actually are; you are imposing limits on yourself. You cannot own your greatness if you do not deploy your strengths to their full potential.
- Stop saying “be careful.” Though it comes from a place of care, telling someone (or being told) to “be careful” is some of the most damaging advice you can give or get. When you are developing your strengths, you need to get hurt to experience the pure joy and happiness of expanding who you are. Adopting an overabundance of caution keeps you from making the choices — and mistakes — you must make to grow.
- Start being more selective about whose opinions you listen to. People like to give unsolicited advice about how you should improve yourself. Though it is meant to help, adopting their idea of greatness hinders your ability to own your own. Intentionally seek out the opinions and advice of people who support your self-discovery, and when people outside your circle of trust give opinions, turn up the light by defending the choices that honor your desires.
How To Know If You’re Doing It Right:
- If You’re Holding Yourself Back, You’re Definitely Doing It Wrong. There is no competition for owning your greatness. Your greatness is infinitely unique (as proven by the Gallup CliftonStrength report), so nobody can be you better than you can. Consequently, you are the only person who can get in the way of what you can do. If you feel limited, like you are up against things you cannot beat, that’s because you’re pulling your punches.
- If People Around You Strongly Support Or Disapprove, You’re Probably Doing It Right. When you decide to take a risk by changing or challenging who you are to become who you’re supposed to be, the people you have been your real self with will support you. Others will not. In either case, there would be no reaction if there wasn’t something to see. If you, or others, see something, you must have found some light.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, begin by asking: do I feel limited? And do I want people to think about me a certain way? If you answer “yes” to either, use the Gallup CliftonStrengths report to discover your strengths, develop your strengths to shine your light, and use your light to illuminate your most authentic life.
[Listen to the supplemental episode for this post here, or visit this page to learn about the “Unleash Your Strengths w/ Eddie Villa” podcast.]
I hope you enjoyed this guest post! Please add a comment, share it with your friends, AND please remember to check out Eddie’s Podcast!
Until next time … Peace and Blessings, Friends!