In life our strengths can also be our weaknesses.
We are told to improve our strengths and to spend time to maximize our skills. All valuable and true. However our strengths are not universally helpful, and they are not always needed in the degree that we think.
For example one of my strengths is problem solving and researching. I love to research and discover new things. When I have been asked in the past to research and report something at work, the feedback I have gotten is that it is too through and complex. I gave them the summary of all information that was public knowledge, when they just wanted a quick google query apparently.
So I learned to ask more carefully what exactly the scope of what they wanted was. You sometimes need to be very explicit. I would ask them specifically, how many pages would be ideal for you? Then tailor it around that.
This is not to glorify me but to use my mistakes as an example. What we want to know or do is not always what our client is asking of us. We have to carefully listen to their intension and ask them to confirm that we understand their intention. So besides asking how many pages, I would ask for the purpose of the research and then state the intention they want to achieve. Once that key deliverable was identified, I would laser focus on that.
Being successful and happy isn’t just about having the skills to do something. It is not even having the communication skill to verify it. It is when you give the person exactly what they had in mind, when sometimes it isn’t very clear in their mind. We need to take a step back from our personality and inclinations and try to emphatize and put ourselves in our customers shoes. Can we state to them what they want? Do they agree that is what they want? If yes, then continue.
If we push and use our strengths in only the way we want, we will never achieve for others what we are capable of giving them. We need to give each person a personalized effort, not what is easy for us.