One of the pitfalls of this process that many people fall into is comparing themselves to others. It’s easy to do when you’re looking at your strengths and weaknesses. When you lay your skills and attributes out on paper this way, it’s easy to look at them and think about those other people have.
When this happens, the mind immediately leaps to the strengths other people have that you don’t, or that appear on your list of weaknesses. This results in problems with self-esteem, self-confidence, embarrassment, and for many even a feeling of shame.
All of this is unnecessary and harmful. Every person ever born is a unique human being with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. This is as necessary as it is natural. If everyone were the same, the world would not only be boring, but we wouldn’t get very far in life or civilization.
There is no universal list of strengths a person “should” have and likewise, no list of weaknesses they shouldn’t. There are some skills or attributes that make people more suited to one career or role than another. That’s it. The combination of traits that makes a good accountant would make for a terrible musician or kindergarten teacher!
Your strengths are your own, and for everyone you take for granted, someone who compared themselves to you would be jealous that you have it, and they don’t! You can work on improving your weaknesses, but you are always going to have some of them. You can’t change the fact that you are human. Comparison is a dead-end street.
The only time you should be comparing your strengths and weaknesses to someone else is if you are looking for a partner to swap work with. Don’t be judgmental when making these comparisons, either. Other than this one situation, you are simply hurting yourself unnecessarily if you’re comparing yourself to other people.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on yourself and what you have. You probably have an impressive list of skills. They may not be the ones you think you should have, but they are yours and you can use them to improve your life and your work if you choose.
Look only at yourself and work with your strengths and weaknesses. Lean into your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. The results will make you wonder why you ever bothered comparing yourself to anyone else in the first place!