How To Turn a Weakness Into a Strength.

There are certain things in business that I am great at. Although I don't specifically boast about these things that I think I am great at, I would hope they shine through in my words, training, support and my activities.

However, these are not the things that carry most of my focus. It is always the things that I "suck" at, or could be better at, that consume my focus. That is how we, as affiliate marketers and business owners (and people) can continually improve and evolve.

There are things that I am really not all that good at, and things that I truly KNOW I am not good at. I am not talking about riding horses or knitting, or playing water polo (all of which I am probably not great at), but things that I do with regularity but I do a mediocre job.

That is what I want to discuss today. I also want to not only be honest with myself, but this is going to be an exercise where I want you all to do the same.

What I Perpetually Suck At, But Shouldn't!

I cannot presume anyone is horrible at anything, I simply won't judge. But I am a very good critic of myself and some areas in which I lack.

Typically, when I sense a weakness in myself, I work extra hard to make that a strength...in particular if it is a skill I need moving forward and one that is required in business. I used to be mediocre at writing, at building websites, didn't know a thing about business, wasn't efficient at helping people...the list could go on and one. I have, with time and effort turned these once weaknesses, into strengths. That is how we should approach all weaknesses.

There are a few things that I simply don't put forth the effort to change. That is what I want to focus on here, because there has to be some reason why I don't change my ways, even when I know it is a freakin' problem! lol

So here is what I believe my biggest weaknesses are, that I do nothing about.

(1) I Don't Delegate Non-Trivial Tasks Soon Enough.

I have a tendency to do the same thing over and over, without thinking of ways to get these tasks off my plate. When you are running a business, there are many tasks and demands that you have to deal with on a daily basis, some of them are brand new...but many are arduous and don't equate to more "business".

Sometimes I find myself doing things that I could hand off, but don't? Why don't I hand them off? That is what I need to uncover, but sometimes I feel that it will be more work to hand things off than it will to do them myself. The reality is that there is a process to be able to delegate a task, but in the long term it leads too much more efficiency and scalability.

(2) I Cope With Inefficient Processes.

I will find a way to make a process work, but sometimes I don't invest into the time it takes to make that process more efficient and/or automated. There are circumstances where I find myself doing the same things over and over, not because I have to, but rather because it is easy to accomplish these tasks and instead of seeking out a more efficient solution I just do them.

There are two ways to add more time to your day. First, you can become more efficient. Second, you can hire people to perform tasks and functions within your business that can be handed off and/or scaled.

(3) I Can be Terribly Disorganized.

My office desk is a big mess at times, and my work habits are sporadic. I can move from project to project within minutes, and certainly work on 10-15 different things on a daily basis. It is systemic chaos, but it is how I work the best and I how I have always worked. Perhaps this to a certain degree is a blessing in disguise.

This disorganization doesn't come without some drawbacks. It is something that I can certainly work on, but my natural instinct tells me it is more important to work hard and get things done than to have an organized environment to do this. I think a happy mix of both would be best and I this is one thing that I have been actively working to improve.

These are the obvious day to day issues that I can see in my personal activities. Things that lead to more efficiency, and more productivity. But this leads me to my next question...

Why I Don't Do Anything About It?

I have spent some time thinking about this. Why do I do things that could be stifling my personal progress, my own efficiencies, and ultimately income. If I know this, why the heck do I continue doing them.

The answer.

I enjoy doing it.

There are certain things in business that create a sense of enjoyment, even if they are not the best for business. For those of you that are operating a business or have a job that at times can be overwhelming, you will probably understand what I am talking about. There are some things that you love to do, other things that you don't.

The things that you LOVE though, can likely be done another way or in some cases, YOU may not need to do them at all.

I spend a lot of time supporting and helping people every day. I think to a large degree, this is one aspect that truly separates us from the rest of the industry. Carson and I are very active and engaged with our community and members here. I often times feel I am inside the walls of WA actively engaging with others more than I am in the real world.

But I love it. I love helping people. I love connecting with people. I love seeing people achieve things they never though t were possible.

Surely I could hand that off to someone else that is way below my pay grade. I could hire a virtual assistant to manage all of my communications, and I could step back, cross my arms, and have time to dedicate to something else. But that is not me, even though I know it can be done and I could have more time to do other things.

Could I be more efficient though? Yes. Could I change my ways and be better off, of course. Will I. That leads me to the next aspect of this. I know what's going on, I know what I am bad at. I haven't changed things up to this point. However, will I change or make an effort to do so.

How I Am Going to Solve This!

Nobody in business, regardless of their stature or what level of success they reach has it all figured out. Ask Warren Buffet if he knows everything about finance, and I think you would soon discover that he is constantly learning even after 70 years involved in the finance world.

Self assessment is important and it keeps you humble. It will also lead to you establishing a new skill set, and expertise within areas of your business that are potentially weaknesses at the moment.

Are all of my weaknesses stated above worth getting better at, and turning into a strength? Yes. Although I enjoy doing them, I want to focus on getting them better and I am going to show you my approach to do so.

It is sometimes hard to look at your activities and realize that you have flaws. I find some people are not critical enough of themselves though, and they have the tendency to blame others for their issues or feel that any lag in their business must be the result of something else. I have even caught myself doing this on occasion.

We get better by being humble. The minute you realize that nothing you do will ever be "perfect", is the same moment when you are able to continually get better and improve upon your own skill set (and business).

So, my questions to you are this:
(1) What are some things that feel that you are not good at or could be a lot better at?
(2) What are the steps that you are going to take to improve?
(3) Is there anything we can help with on our end (other than advice) to help speed up this process).