Thought Experiment – Greatest Superpower and Biggest Weakness

It could be the nostalgic reflection that seems to come on at the end of the calendar year but I’m giving this some thought to see if it affects my goals going into 2023. I asked myself two questions:

1. What’s your Greatest Superpower and how are you going to leverage it?
2. What’s your Biggest Weakness and how are you going to work on it?

As I started to consider these questions, I realized that each of them could be answered differently based on the role areas of my life. This is something I’ve put a lot of thought into after reading books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Getting Things Done. Habit 2 in The 7 Habits has a whole section on identifying role areas of your life and the goals you want to accomplish in each area, I highly recommend giving it a try!

So I’ve decided to answer these questions from two different role perspectives that each loosely combine a few roles I try to be mindful of each week, personal and professional.

Greatest Superpower#anchor

Professional#anchor

My greatest superpower professionally has been patient persistence, I don’t easily give up on something I believe in and will keep chipping away at it until it’s done. For the most part, this has revolved around making progress towards something tangible. For example coding a web application, or completing the coursework and training to become CPACC certified.

This year, I plan on leveraging this superpower more for progress towards the important but less urgent intangibles to which I often don’t give enough attention. Thinking areas like thought leadership and outreach.

Personal#anchor

My greatest superpower personally has been organization, everything I want to accomplish is in a list on Todoist, long form notes are all compiled together in Evernote, and I generally am able to find what I need when I need it.

This year, I plan on leveraging this superpower to do more self reflection. I want to put more effort into figuring out what’s working for me and what isn’t. Finding a sustainable balance in my personal productivity is often rather elusive, I’m hopeful that this intentional reflection will help clarify what I’ve been missing.

Biggest Weakness#anchor

Professional#anchor

My biggest weakness professionally has been analysis paralysis, I tend to get pretty far into the weeds on things that – in the moment – seem to matter a great deal but end up not being so important in the grand scheme of things.

This year, I’m going to work on it by approaching challenges with a more structured plan. I’ve used many tools over the years that have helped me calm the paralysis but I’ve not been consistent and fall back into bad habits. Tools like pomodoro timers, time blocking, and OKRs all help clarify “what is important now?” but they all take a level of advance effort and planning that I need to work on.

Personal#anchor

My biggest weakness personally has been procrastination, I’m sure this is a familiar one to many but the aspect of it that I’m still trying to determine is if I’m really procrastinating too much or if I’ve set expectations on myself too high.

This year, I’m going to work on it by making sure I’m setting the right goals for the right time. I’ll continue to try following the mantra of “Less but Better”. When I’m planning out my week, I’m going to make sure to prioritize some down time to recharge and do things that I enjoy. Rest is vitally important to maintain the energy to tackle all my goals.

Final Thoughts#anchor

This was a really nice thought experiment, I’m feeling pretty optimistic about these plans and about the tools I’ve compiled to leverage my strengths and improve on my weaknesses. Here’s my action plan:

• Prioritize progress in thought leadership and outreach.
• More self reflection by way of weekly planning and daily journaling.
• Structure the week ahead with more clarity and purpose, utilize pomodoro and time blocking when appropriate.
• “Less but Better”. Prioritize some down time to recharge and do things that I enjoy.

If this sparked a similar thought experiment for you I’d really like to hear about it!