George Herman Ruth, known as Babe Ruth, played major league baseball from 1914-1935. He started his career as a pitcher for the Red Sox but later became know as the famous “Bambino Slugger” for the New York Yankees. During the season of 1923, he broke the record for most home-runs. He slammed 60 of them right over the fence. He also broke the record for highest batting average during that same year. But what most people do not know is that during this same season, he also struck out more than any other player in Major League Baseball. Yet, he is not remembered for his strikeouts; he is remembered for being the record-breaking home run hitter. He was so good when he hit the ball that no one focused on his strikeouts. 

People will be more impacted by your strengths than your weaknesses. Your legacy is not about what you did not do well, it is about what you did do well. The questions we have to ask ourselves are: 

• What do I do well?  

• What are my strengths? 

• How do I make the biggest difference? 

• What has God called me to do? 

To find out your strengths, ask yourself these 4 questions:

1) What Are You Passionate About?

The areas you are most passionate about usually involve your skills. What do you read about, think about, and ask questions about? These insights will help you know your true passions. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.” What keeps you up at night because you can’t get it off your mind?

2) What Have You Succeeded At In The Past?

It doesn’t matter what you have talked about doing; what matters is what you have successfully done. What tasks, events, programs, or opportunities have you excelled in? Success in a particular area indicates an individual’s skill. You will obviously not excel in things you are bad at. What have you done well at no matter how big or small it may have been?

3) What Comes Easily To You?

We are naturally intuitive in the area of our skills. When you are able to learn a new skill quickly or accomplish assignments efficiently, it is usually a great indicator of your strengths. What comes easily to you? What do you accomplish faster than anyone else? What do you inherently know faster than others? What area do you just have that “gut feeling” that seems to guide you in your decision making?

4) What Do You Make Better?

When you have a strength in a given skill, you are clearly good at it. If you want to know if you are gifted in an area see if you make it bigger or smaller. Highly gifted individuals will take a project and add to it rather than subtract from it. They will tend to be more thorough in the execution than average. What do you do that seems to be better when you get a hold of it?

If you want to raise your influence you have to operate in your strength zone. Discover it, develop it, and discipline yourself to do it.