12WBT Blog-A-Day Challenge #5 – My 5 Personal Strengths

Today’s 12WBT Blog-A-Day Challenge question is What are your 5 personal strengths?

I must admit I was a little stumped with this question - I think I was having a bit of a down night last night.  So I went and googled surveys :)

Found this great site:
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter.aspx

According to a 240 question survey:
Strength 1: Citizenship, teamwork and loyalty
"You excel as a member of a group.  You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group.

Strength 2: Modesty and humility
"You do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let your accomplishments speak for themselves.  You do not regard yourself as special, and others recognise and value your modesty."

Strength 3: Kindness and generosity
"You are kind and generous to others, and you are never too busy to do a favor.  You enjoy doing good deeds for others, even if do not know them well."

Strength 4: Love of learning
"You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own.  You have always loved school, reading, and museums - anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn."

Strength 5: Fairness, equality and justice
"Treating all people fairly is one of your abiding principles.  You do not let your personal feelings bias your decisions about other people.  You give everyone a chance."

A shorter survey (maybe 24 questions?) gave the results:
Strength 1: Persistence (perseverance, industriousness)
Strength 2: Integrity (authenticity, honesty)
Strength 3: Citizenship (social responsibility, loyalty and teamwork)
Strength 4: Fairness
Strength 5: Gratitude

So I think the longer "test" is more accurate.  It does make me sound a little like I love everyone, and will give everyone a chance - which isn't entirely true.  I'm easily annoyed and will hold a grudge.  I do like helping people however - so it has been fun doing the 12wbt program and being able to comment on people's forum posts.  Persistence is something I thought I needed to work on.  I'm a classic starter but not finisher.  I even bought Michelle Bridges Crunchtime book AGES ago and didn't read it completely.  I think I got to the part about exercising, skimmed over her meal plan and only recently re-opened it after signing up to the program.  There's actually a lot of good information in there. But I am determined to complete the 12 week program :)

So personally I'd say:
1. Loyalty & Teamwork
2. Intregrity/Honesty
3. Love of Learning (although I can be lazy at times, I do enjoy reading and learning new things :))
4. Modesty/Humility (most of the time I don't like to talk myself up ;))
5. Persistence (though not in all areas of my life - when I set my mind to do something, eg. Complete a 14km fun run, I do achieve it)

It feels kind of dumb making this post - so it's been a good challenge :)

Go check out Erin's post too!
http://eatsmarttrainhardlivelife.com/2012/09/04/12wbt-blog-a-day-challenge-5-my-5-personal-strengths/