“You are the only version of you to ever exist in the universe. You are great, you are powerful, you are special.”
–Merrymaker Sisters
“Enjoy being you!” What?
I was listening to a podcast on leadership and those words stood out to me. Lately, I’ve been too focused on my weaknesses. Big smile here, because I coach and train to focus on our strengths.
Old mindsets can come back if we’re not careful. We always need to be vigilant when it comes to our thinking. We were meant to become so much more. And not just me—every single one of us.
Take a look at our DNA. DNA is a 3-billion-character code that paints a picture of you and me. It’s a picture of our hair color, personality, physical attributes and every other thing about us. Nobody else has the same DNA. You have strengths, talents and gifts that nobody else has.
In a study done by StrengthsFinders, a product of Gallup, who has done decades of research on people’s strengths, consider the uniqueness in your Top 5 themes/strengths. The chance another person has the same group of strengths in their Top 5 is roughly one in 275,000. The AT&T stadium in Texas holds 80,000, so that is nearly 3 1/2 times the stadium’s capacity.
Not quite unique enough? Your strengths are listed in order of your intensity, making the combination of your talents even more distinctive. If you wanted to find someone with the same Top 5 strengths in the same order as you, the odds are one in 33.4 million. That’s nearly every person in the Greater Tokyo Area — the world’s most populous metropolitan area.
THESE ARE JUST THE TOP 5 STRENGTHS!
They test for 34. AND if you add your distinct personality style and your spiritual gifts and your specific talents, less than 1% of the world’s population would be anything like you. YOU, YES YOU, ARE SPECIAL.
For years, I compared myself to other people. If only I were prettier. If only I were smarter. If only I could speak like her. If only I had what he had. But comparison is exhausting because it asks us to abandon who we were created to be.
What if instead of trying to be someone else, we became the fullest version of ourselves?
Martha Graham, a very famous and inspiring dancer, whose works were intended to reveal the inner working of people says this.
“There is a vitality, a life, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”
So, enjoy being you. Not because you’ve arrived. Not because you’re perfect. Not because you don’t have room to grow.
Enjoy being you because there has never been another you, and there never will be again.
Written with enjoyment,
Jan
P.S. I recently finished writing an inspirational keynote based on my personal story. It’s about overcoming limiting beliefs, changing our thinking, and becoming who we’re meant to be. If you’re looking for an encouraging message for your organization, I’d love the opportunity to share it.
Jan McDonald
Maxwell Leadership Certified Team