So I'm chatty, now what?

Yesterday, I attended The StrengthsFinder, a workshop presented in part by Gallup and Future Women Leaders, designed to help you identify the "patterns in your life that lead you to success and teach you how to apply them to maximize what you do best". This workshop was twofold, first you take an assessment test at home and then you go to the workshop to learn about your results. I'm not going to lie, but at first I was hesitant, I mean, how accurate is this test? and is the way I see myself really the way I am?

I took the test and showed up to the workshop with low expectations (how accurate are these things anyways?), but I was pleasantly surprised by my results. Here are my top 5 according to the StrengthsFinder test:

Communications - You like to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write Ideas are the beginning, you like to bring them to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. And so you turn events into stories and practice telling them.

Input - You are inquisitive. You collect things - words, facts, books, quotations. The world is exciting because there is a an infinite variety of information. If you read a great deal is not to refine your theories, but rather to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts.

Woo - stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. You like to learn strangers names, and find an area of common interest so that you can strike up conversation and build rapport.

Restorative - You love to solve problems. Whereas some are dismayed when they encounter yet another breakdown, you can be energized by it. You enjoy the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, identifying what is wrong and finding a solution.

Ideation - you are fascinated by ideas. You are delighted when you discover beneath the surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are.

The workshop taught us that we need to focus on our strengths to maximize our potential, that we have to forget about the idea that improving our weaknesses will makes us stronger, because innately even if we improve, the improvement will not be as high as to make weaknesses turn into strengths. I get it, focus on what you have and stop coveting what you don't have (disclaimer the workshop presenters never used the work weakness).

OK, so this sounds pretty awesome right?And if you know me, my results are pretty dead on. Well yes, I was very happy. But also kinda disappointed. During the workshop we were given sets of activities that helped us share our strengths with other participants, and realize how different yet similar we can be. Again and again, I was reminded that I was in essence a communicator, a chatty social butterfly that loves talking. This is true, but it made me feel so one dimensional, which I guess its something I've kinda always known. Sadly, this shattered my idea that I was complex and full of contradictions. In a weird way I wanted to look at the report and feel like a "Renaissance Woman", I wanted to see it and see a better version on me, I wanted to discover something new and use that to my advantage. Hmm the big we want what we don't have thing...

As I vent, I realize that I am being ungrateful, the workshop was lovely, and I learned a lot about the way we view strengths and weaknesses; the way we perceive each other and how I come across. It also made me feel secure about my career path, I am interested in communications, relationship building, research and creation, and I am working in a position that plays to my strengths. But now what? Should I stop striving to be this "Renaissance Woman"? Should I never consider other career options? What does it mean to be a communicator and how can I better display this without seeming one dimensional? and more over, why am I being so critical of something that is good?

First, I think I need to come to terms with the fact that I am chatty, that I love talking to people, that I do love dialoguing, arguing and debating; that I do check Wikipedia compulsively, that I am the queen of "Googling it", that I get excited when new ideas, technologies and developments come around, and that I have a freaking blog cause I like writing (tho I don't do it enough). I guess I need to be happy being me, cause its ok to be me. To be honest, I'm going to keep trying to be the Renaissance Woman, who says that just because you suck at something you shouldn't try?

I will take what I've learned in this workshop and continue to master my strengths; but I am also going to continue to waste my time trying to improve my weaknesses. I guess that is the Restorative part me, looking at my problems and trying to fix them.