This is a really weird thought, right? That the way you handle your “handicap” frees or chains other women who have that same exact trait?
Listen to what Jennifer Allwood says: “The enemy wants to take what God has gifted you with and distort it. Quit thinking that it’s going to hold you back.”
That’s powerful.
Let’s break out the journals here and start excavating.
- What would you say is your big weakness?
- What do you feel almost handicapped by?
Write it down. (For me, it’s planning. The need to plan before I can respond.)
Now, let’s flip the script here.
- How could your disability, quote unquote, actually be a tool to help others?
- What is it you understand about yourself, and therefore everyone else who functions like this, and how could you help *them*?
I’d say I understand the planner people really well. Any kind of anxiousness, any kind of mental inflexibility, I can empathize because I’ve got it too.
I know how to cope with it. How to turn planning into a tool to help me when my thoughts are running wild. I can use it to calm myself down – which means I can help you do that, too.
- What about you?
- What are you really good about functioning with, coping with, turning seldom-used strategies into really effective coping mechanisms for?
Write that down.
How is this trait your greatest asset in life? (Not a weakness?)
Now, let’s move into the really fun part of this exercise – the greatest strength part.
- How is your (insert trait here) your greatest asset in life or business?
- How is it propelling you to succeed?
I’ll go first. My ability to plan anything and everything means I can plan meals, create schedules for my family, and always come up with a new to-do list when the situation changes.
And for my business, it means I’m really good at self-directing, always know what needs to get done that day, and have the ability to break down a huge project (like a launch) into a ton of little pieces that I can easily put on my to-do list.
Because I planned it.
Listen – “You do not need permission from anyone to do what you’re dreaming of.” That’s from Jessica Paxson.
Really, you don’t.
So take that goal, take that business, take that revenue dream, and start using your supposed handicap to one, connect with other women who share the same shortcoming, and two, reframe everything about your #momlife and business as “look how good I am” at that same trait.
It’s both and. It’s both sides of the coin.
How freeing is it to view your mental disability, your “not like other people” handicap, your one single weakness, as something that has evolved to be your greatest strength?
So much more positive view to take.
And I’d rather think positive than negative any day.
What about you?
