You Don’t Have to Choose the Hardest Thing
A few years ago, my son Cory had to make a tough choice at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He had to choose his major field of study. As he thought through his choices he asked my advice. The advice I gave him was much different than I gave my older children prior to becoming a business advisor and coach.
As a coach, I have learned how important it is to play to your strengths. In his book, Now Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham tells the story of a player on the Chinese Olympic ping pong team. The player had a very strong forehand and was working on his backhand determined to improve that as well. His coach advised him to work much harder on his forehand instead, the theory being that if you work on your strength the opportunity for improvement is exponentially better. The result was that with his formidable forehand the player became the Olympic champion.
My advice to my son was to choose a field of study that was “easy” for him. He was rather taken aback by this advice as he thought he should do something challenging, not a subject where he could get an “A”. I asked him what the second easiest course was for him and suggested that perhaps a double major might be a good way to play to both strengths and still give him enough of a challenge.
I am very proud to say, that Cory graduated Magnum Cum Laude with a degree in both Business Administration and Accounting. Now how is that for playing to strengths?
Do you choose was is difficult or take the time to discover your own strengths?
