Why You Might Not Be Rich Already…

I’ve been thinking a lot the past couple days about a book that I read recently, “Managing Oneself” by Peter F. Drucker. In this book Drucker explains what it takes to be successful in business in the 21st century.

He says that the great achievers in history had one thing in common… They managed themselves, and that’s what made them great achievers.

So what does this mean?

Drucker says that we need to start by figuring out what your strengths are, and your weaknesses and then placing yourself where you can make the greatest contribution.

In his words…

“Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often people know what they are NOT good at — and even then more people are wrong than right. And yet, a person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone something one can not do at all.”

Have you ever met someone who thought that they were extremely talented at something and yet you knew they weren’t?

I always thought it was extremely entertaining to watch “American Idol” and see the people that audition. Some people are in complete denial that they are horrible at what they are doing.

How Do We Find Our True Strengths and Weaknesses?

So obviously a lot of us are in denial about what we are good at and what we are not good at. Or maybe you’re in denial about being in denial…

Drucker says that to break this psychological denial that you have to use feedback analysis.

Feedback analysis is the practice of writing down what you think will happen before every key decision and then comparing the results of what actually happened after. This requires us to be brutally honest with ourselves.

“The method will show you what you are doing or failing to do that deprives you of the full benefits of your strengths. It will show you where you are not particularly competent. And finally, it will show you where you have no strengths and cannot perform.”

Drucker says that he has been doing this process for about 15 to 20 years and is still surprised at the results. He has found that he has an intuitive understanding of technical people but does not resonate well with generalists. He says that after doing this process honestly for about 2 to 3 years you will have a clear understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Feedback analysis is the process of looking honestly at your life.

If you do not have any money, you probably suck at managing your finance.

If you are fat, you probably suck at controlling what you eat.

What’s Next?

Focus your attention on your strengths:

Since one can only perform from an area of strength put yourself in situations that accent and bring out your strengths.

Improve your strengths:

Continually build your knowledge in skill in your areas of strength. If you improve these areas you can truly excel. Do not waste your time on trying to improve areas where you cannot perform.

Overcome your ignorance:

Be honest with yourself. In order to mange yourself and discover where your true strengths lie you need to be completely honest with yourself.

If you see someone with wealth, a nice car, etc… Stop thinking, “Oh, they must have gotten lucky.”

Be honest… They probably just worked harder and smarter than you did.

Summary

I’ve seen a lot of people try to perform from an area of weakness, myself included. I wonder how much more we could achieve if we were truly honest with ourselves about our strengths and weaknesses.

Don’t try to change everything about yourself. Try to change bad habits that may be holding you back but do not change everything about yourself. Focus on your strengths and not your weaknesses.

I highly recommend you read the full book. It’s short but I guarantee it will help you improve in some way.