This book is a valuable tool for learning what your top 5 strengths are. The main idea is to focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. When you purchase the book, you gain access to a one-time-use code to complete the strengths-finder poll online. The poll asks you a series of questions that you only have 20 seconds to respond to your placement on a continuum. By setting a time limit, the creators make it impossible to over-think a response--thus ensuring that you go with your first instinct.
So what did I learn about me? I am the following:
Your Signature Themes
Many years of research conducted by The Gallup Organization suggest that the most effective people are those who understand their strengths and behaviors. These people are best able to develop strategies to meet and exceed the demands of their daily lives, their careers, and their families.A review of the knowledge and skills you have acquired can provide a basic sense of your abilities, but an awareness and understanding of your natural talents will provide true insight into the core reasons behind your consistent successes. Your Signature Themes report presents your five most dominant themes of talent, in the rank order revealed by your responses to StrengthsFinder. Of the 34 themes measured, these are your "top five."Your Signature Themes are very important in maximizing the talents that lead to your successes. By focusing on your Signature Themes, separately and in combination, you can identify your talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy personal and career success through consistent, near-perfect performance.
Input You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information—words, facts, books, and quotations—or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.
Intellection You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.
Learner You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered—this is the process that entices you. Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences—yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”
Achiever Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving.
Positivity You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. Some call you lighthearted. Others just wish that their glass were as full as yours seems to be. But either way, people want to be around you. Their world looks better around you because your enthusiasm is contagious. Lacking your energy and optimism, some find their world drab with repetition or, worse, heavy with pressure. You seem to find a way to lighten their spirit. You inject drama into every project. You celebrate every achievement. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Some cynics may reject your energy, but you are rarely dragged down. Your Positivity won’t allow it. Somehow you can’t quite escape your conviction that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one must never lose one’s sense of humor.
After learning about myself (there is much more detail in the actual book), I read through every strength to learn how others tick. It gives insight into how different each person is and how we all bring a variety of strengths to the table. I found it VERY interesting, that some strengths did not make sense in my brain at all. Perhaps these are areas in which I am a bit weak.
Overall, I highly recommend this book/survey for educators. When you know your strengths, you can utilize them better. Not to mention the fact that it gives you better self-awareness and self-confidence. I am seriously considering purchasing this for my teacher relatives. So teacher relatives, if you already have it, you might want to let me know so I don't waste money :).
XOXO,
As per usual, the antics of Stephanie Plum and her crazy entourage made me laugh out loud. I don't want to give anything away but know that at one point Lula has reason to believe she's becoming a vampire. I'm chuckling just remembering. Compared to recent publications in the series, Smokin' Seventeen sure is smokin' as there is way more romance than usual and both Ranger and Morelli fans will be equally satisfied. However, I'm glad I waited until now to read the book, 2 days before the release of Explosive Eighteen (which I've pre-ordered and should show up on my Nook on Tuesday) because this one leaves you hanging! I hate when Evanovich does that and would be thoroughly annoyed if I had to wait more than a couple of days for satisfaction.
My Heart Remembers might be the biggest tear-jerker I've ever read. I cried through the first 70 pages, at various points within, and through the last 50 pages.
Twisted, the 9th installment of this addictive series was just as drama and action-filled as the others. I thought number 8 was a great end to the series though Shepard has managed to extend it through another couple of books at least. After reading 9, it's apparent that Shepard will drag it out for at least a couple more novels as it will surely take that long to wrap it up again.
As I was looking for an audiobook before a recent road trip, I saw this one for only $.99. I decided it was worth the dollar even if I didn't like it. I figured, based on the movie, the story would at least be entertaining. Sadly, it was not at all like the movie. While the movie was filled with action and intrigue, making the viewers care about what happens, the story itself does none of this. I guess that's why they say the movie is "loosely" based on the story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high is a great book for anyone who ever has to deal with conflict. So basically EVERYONE can benefit from this book.
The Help depicts the relationships between the white wealthy ladies, their families and their "colored" maids. It is an amazingly written story from the perspective of three very different women living in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s.
The conclusion of the trilogy includes more outrageously horrifying moments but also unexpected hope. Princess Sultana's risky move to share her story at least brings awareness to the true situation for Saudi Arabian women. Before reading this trilogy, I was living in ignorant bliss. Though I had read the fictional account of life in Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns, it makes the reality more appalling when you know it's a true account--as is the case with the Princess Trilogy.
I've heard people complain about life in the United States, citing examples of how other places in the world are better for various reasons. I myself am very grateful that I was born in a country with equality and freedom. Princess: A true Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia is the story of Sultana, a Saudi princess--royalty who has ZERO rights simply because she was born a female, not a male.
The most recent installment of The Southern Vampire series had more action than the last novel though it still seemed to lack the flare that kept me interested in the first 9 novels. I don't know if Harris is running out of ideas or is perhaps trying to stretch out the series to get more money out of it, but she's needs to step up her game. Frankly, the fairy business is getting old, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the next book will be focused on something big with the fae. Dead Reckoning has setup the next novel to focus more on the fae than the vamps though we are left with a cliffhanger in the vampire department at the end that has enticed me to read it when it comes out.
Madeleine Wickham is Sophie Kinsella's real name. Sophie Kinsella was made famous by the Shopaholic series which are fun, lighthearted chicklit novels. She also published a few other fun fast reads that scream "Kinsella" when you read them--Remember Me, The Undomestic Goddess, Can you Keep a Secret? and Twenties Girl. When I pick up a novel by Kinsella, I know I'm going to enjoy the journey through the book, probably laugh out loud several times, identify with at least some of the heroine's inner-dialogues, and be satisfied with the resolution of the story.