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What’s your greatest strength?

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Don’t be bashful. Don’t be humble. Unless humility is your greatest strength, of course.

I’m talking character, traits, attributes. Rather than skills. Such as your ability to play Scott Joplin rags on the piano with one foot , while operating the Sky remote with the other.

My greatest strength is decisiveness. The ability to assess, plan, act and then move on.

Have I always made the right decision? Probably not. Supporting Spurs turned out to be pretty hairbrained. Going to a Boston project at 4 a.m to score coke, monumentally stupid.

And it’s not to say I don’t reminisce about people, places and events, I do. Often. Just that, broadly speaking, I am comfortable with what I did and why I did it. In business and in life.

So, look us in the eye and say

“My greatest strength is…”

4

Comments

  1. I’m mediocre at everything I’m good at and crap at the things I’m not, I’m afraid. Were it not for my extraordinary physical beauty I might be considered something of a let down. However I can do these four things:
    1. Solve a Rubik’s Cube
    2. Juggle
    3. Speak Italian
    4. Play the guitar (badly)
    My as yet unrealised aim is to combine these four skills into one all-encompassing party trick.

    • Oops. Just noticed you don’t want skills. Rather puts my cv in the dumpster.

      I don’t know what character traits to boast. I don’t know that I have any. Unlike your good self, I’m not even decisive. In fact, when I go to a restaurant I’ll always opt for whatever someone else is having, to avoid having to think about it. I do have a sunny disposition though. So that’s nice.

    • Ooh, ooh, I have one: I’m punctual. Very and always.

      It’s entirely thanks to me that my boy band are the (admittedly self appointed) “Second Most Punctual Boy Band in Southern Italy”.
      I have a punctuality award from my local Bridge club. And I don’t even play Bridge. So.

  2. My greatest strength is that I’m not a worrier. I do let things take there natural course and if things don’t go the way I want then it was never meant to be. And I’m probably better off anyway!

    That doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about things but I don’t worry about them. If you can do something about any problems you have then do it, if you can’t then don’t worry. Things I find have a way of working out.

  5. Without a trace of vainglory, I can say that my major strength (of which there are many) is my sexual prowess. My expertise in bed is legendary amongst the many hundreds of women with the good fortune to have been serviced by me, and regularly tops the list of their H.P. Saucecraft Top Hundred Godlike Qualities. I am at once tender and sensitive in foreplay, yet unflaggingly vigorous and inventive in coitus, regularly releasing multiple orgasms in my partner and engendering a sense of devotion verging on awe that lasts the rest of their lives. In all modesty, my penis has the proven ability to cure women of lesbianity. The only downside to this gift (my humility forbids me to claim credit for that which the Good Lord has bequeathed me) is that the Chosen Ones, once having experienced the act of sexual congress in Technicolor Cinerama, as it were, are seldom satisfied with the grainy, cathode-ray sex they get from their husbands and partners, and a steady stream of suddenly inadeqaute menfolk is forever hounding me at my very fireside, begging for advice that will increase their performance to the point where my name no longers escapes their partners’ lips during the brief heights of passion. To them I say; you would as well ask Mozart to help you write a symphony.

  6. I’ll follow that., easy.

    I’m really practical, organised and I generally always know where I’m going and how.
    I’m great to go on holiday with. You can just mumble around all day doing what you do, but when you need a bag clip, or a screwdriver, or need to know how to use the local public transport, I’m there.

    Better that than some tantric love God, surely? (and who except Sheldon Cooper says “coitus”?)

  7. Reliability and dependability. If I say I will do something it will get done, by God, and on time. 🙂

    Extremely dull strength, but it has served me well in work and friendships, with the downside that you become the person everyone asks to do stuff/help with stuff/be an all-purpose fixer.

      • Fin’s right, Ruby. Yours is the trait I wish I had. I’m a dilettante, a fly-by-night. No stickability. If I say I will do something, it will hopefully get done, by god, in which case it certainly will be on time, but there’s a decent chance I’ll forget.

        When I was a kid, my favourite teacher called me an “absent-minded professor”. It tells you everything you need to know that I didn’t realise he wasn’t complimenting me until I was about 27.

        I’d give anything to be dependable. Dependable people are the best ones, full stop.

        • It’s interesting; I always like absent-minded professor dilettante types (many of my friends fit this description) as they are so different to me, and force me help me to loosen up a little.

          On the flip-side I’m guessing as strengths you have more openness to change and spontaneity and lack the rigidity that I have.

          I was bemoaning my boring and sensible dependability with the friend who first pointed it out to me, who replied: ‘Yes but you don’t realise how many unreliable people there are in the world’. I think it’s why I’ve always done quite well at work; I have no astounding talent (not being falsely modest, I’m just fairly averagely good at what I do) but a reputation for reliability helps a bit.

          But oh to be unreliable, just for a weekend or so…. 😀

          • As I’ve just mentioned on my “weakness” blog, I’m not just open to change, I’m addicted to it. I suppose people like me can be useful, but we’re never bloody satisfied – it’s the flipside to your success at work thing: I’ve done pretty well because I’m restless and I suppose that can drive things along a bit. But I think perhaps reliable people are a little bit more likely to be happy.

  11. I’m quite a handy guitarist, in the versatile sense. I can play decent lead guitar, rhythm, fingerstyle, bass, slide, lap steel/dobro, use open tunings, 12 string…not world class at any, but pretty good at most. I can blow a decent harp, and whilst my lead vocals are pretty average I’m good at singing harmony. I can bluff on keys and mandolin. In a band I’m the utility guy, able to cover most bases.

    I have never said anything like this about myself before. In general I maintain a robust internal dialogue of self criticism about pretty much everything I do.

    • Twang – your string plucking skills do you credit but it’s not a strength, it’s a skill. What facet of your character do you consider most admirable? Don’t do that self-criticism thing. Be less British! Come on, have another go…

      • No idea. I’m inclined to say I don’t have one. However, everything being relative, I guess I’m quite intuitive. Like Fin I’m reasonably decisive and live with my decisions; invariably the facts turn out to support my initial instincts.

  12. Once, it was imperturbability. I was famous for it. But various slings and arrows knocked that one out of me over the years, and now I’m no less cranky than anyone else.

    I am very musical. This of course shades into skills like playing the piano etc, but in general I have an instinctive understanding of what’s going on in most sorts of music most of the time. I like to think that’s a strength.

    I also have an occasionally inconvenient sensitivity to the music of language and the way words and sentences flow and fit together. Handy for a publishing career, living with and getting on with people in the real world, not so much.

    I am observant. I notice things. Except when I’m completely oblivious to them, of course, eg when I’m composing a symphony in my head.

    I can make people laugh.

    I’ll get you to the airport on time.

  13. I don’t mind bragging, here’s the list of (some of) my many strenghts:
    I’m organised and efficient (that’s the upside of being lazy). I’m good at solving problems and coming up with ideas. I’m generous. I’m observant and considerate. I’m positive, and I get more and more positive the worse a situation gets. I’m intelligent and a quick learner.
    (I’m also very humble…)
    Don’t worry, when the “What’s your greatest weakness” post arrives, I have an even longer list for that one!

  14. I spent some time under the care of a Psychiatrist some years ago, & something that came out of my treatment was that I had (have) huge problems with low self esteem/ belief.

    Whilst in group therapy, I was asked to list my strengths/ good attributes – I gave up after sitting in front of a blank piece of paper for about 15 minutes.

    I was then asked to list my bad points – I couldnt write them down quickly enough.

    This will (hopefully) explain why I cant think of a single strength.

    Please excuse me, my Prozac is calling…

  18. Bud zeriouzly.

    I don’t hold grudges. Like, at all. I tend to see the best in others, to the point of naivety. I assume that everyone is probably acting in good faith and is probably doing their best.

    I think if you see the world a certain way, that’s probably a weakness, but I’d rather live life my way than theirs.

          • Interesting thing grudges. The Italian side of my family have made holding long term grudges into an art form. My mum was treated none too kindly by her father when my dad died. She never let her acute disappointment develop into a grudge and when he was on his deathbed, he apologised to her. It was far too late, she had long since got over it and she was the better person for never allowing it to poison her life or change the way she behaved towards others. It’s not good when people who should know and behave better, but really life is too short.

  19. And Les – echo what Bingo and Ruby have said. You’re a very sweet man, a very loving man and you’re a funny fucker too. Those are the best things you can be, in my book.

  20. I am the person you want in a crisis. My feathers cannot be ruffled, even when my insides are churning like a cement mixer. If you ever need to, say, escape the Boston projects at 4 a.m., you would be wise to bring me along.

  21. Apart from a general sweetness which can be attested to by London Underground passengers over the years, can’t think of anything, but it seems like a good opportunity to post this.

  23. I know when a job is done. Therefore I am not a perfectionist.

    I will do enough to achieve whatever task is at hand and then stop and move on. I will not let myself fail however.

    I will never be suited to a job in “Customer Services”.

  24. Probably the ability to stay calm whatever else is going on.

    Though I have to admit that’s partly driven by fear-related paralysis, general inertia and usually a basic lack of comprehension as to what’s actually happening.

  25. I wouldn’t say I definitively am but I certainly try to be pleasant. Or nice. Though nice really means accurate and I’m much too woolly headed to be that.

    So, pleasant then.

    I had, and still have, a stammer so became by default a good listener. Friends talk to me and seem to trust what I think. I could never tell jokes or stories too well but in this online world I can simply write that sort of shit down. Some people seem to like that and it gives me a buzz. If you know me on Facebook you’ll know I bombard with daftness . I note recently though it has become sarcasm, which is a worry. Because I want to be pleasant.

    I’m not all the time. I don’t give to beggars and I dislike cats. So, I’m not pleasant. I merely aspire to be.

  26. Ooh, ooh! I just had a chat with a friend about this who said my greatest strength is not actually reliability but the capacity to forgive and not bear grudges. Which I include here, as it makes me look rather saintly. 🙂

    I would never have thought of it myself; but I really don’t bear grudges and can’t think of many people I really dislike. I forget arguments as soon as they are over.

    Adds to ‘weaknesses’ thread: ‘has ego the size of a planet’.

  27. Spatial awareness / sense of direction / map-reading skills. Call it what you will.
    You could drop me with a parachute but without a map anywhere in England and I’ll guarantee that, with decent visibility, I would suss where I was within quarter of an hour or so and thence navigate my way home.

  28. Much the same as Weakness – Logic, Process and Method.
    Attributes learnt as a Planner/Project Manager which has the ability to infuriate people, when applied to normal life.

    I once produced a Gantt Chart for cooking Christmas Dinner – my family looked at me like some sort of weirdo (whats new?), but the Dinner was a success – Cost, Time and Quality all adherred to.
    I think it was the Review, Learn & Improve exercise I instigated afterwards which was perhaps a step to far …
    Never mind, I did it again when moving house. And that one worked to. Supplemented by a full set of Balance Sheets and Profit & Loss accounts.

  29. I am very laidback. Not in any lazy sense, I work hard and I don’t like being idle, but very very little fazes or worries me. I have a pretty good grasp of what I can influence and what I can’t, and I don’t sweat about things I can’t control. I had a case of skin cancer a couple of years ago. I was lucky that it was a very mild instance, one where I was reassured by the doctors that it had been caught early and they were confident simple surgery would do the job. Fine, I thought, it’s sorted, and then got on with the hospital appointments without being that bothered about it. When I told my mother, she freaked out like, I don’t know, I’d told her I had cancer or something.

  32. I can improvise.
    I think that’s what makes me a reasonably good teacher. If the tech stops working, or a kid does something unpredictable (which is in itself a predictable part of the day) I can work around it. Yeah improviser / problem solver = primary school teacher.

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