Use Character Strengths to Unlock Your Potential

Measuring your Character Strengths

By undertaking the ‘VIA Character Strengths Survey’ you can reliably measure your inherent character strengths. This will enable you to start developing greater self-awareness and skilfully take advantage of your unique personality traits. Right, let’s go, complete the free, 10 minute survey (above).

Now that you have identified your unique set of character strengths you can start exploring how you can consciously employ them for improving your mental fitness and life-satisfaction levels.

Some of the benefits of understanding your, and other’s, character strengths include: increased happiness and well-being; greater personal clarity; healthier relationships; manage stress and energy; accomplish goals.

Here’s what the VIA Institute have to say:

Ways to use your character strengths

Character strengths and goals

Now that you’ve identified your signature strengths (Top 5) you can use them to make greater progress on personally-relevant goals. Some character strengths are inherently linked with goal setting, especially hope, prudence and perseverance. Hope helps you envision the goal, prudence helps you plan the goal and perseverance helps you carry out the goal. Now explore how your unique set of character strengths can set you up for success if you consciously infuse them into a goal-setting action plan.

Strengths-based career building

Considering habits run on a neurological loop: a cue that triggers off the desired behaviour, a routine that we practice, and a reward that creates a craving to repeat the habit next time the cue goes off. Here’s 8 x 8 minute ways to intentionally employ your top character strengths at work.

1. When you turn on your computer (cue), use your strength of curiosity to spend 8 minutes reading and learning something new (routine), then share this idea with a colleague (reward).
2. When you arrive at work (cue), spend 8 minutes using your strength of creativity to mind-map new ways of doing your job (routine), then get your morning coffee (reward).
3. When you have your lunch break (cue), spend 8 minutes using your strength of kindness to check in with a colleague (routine), then get something to eat (reward).
4. When you pack up to go home (cue), use your strength of honesty to spend 8 minutes acknowledging areas for ongoing learning and improvement, and make a note of these for tomorrow (routine), then go home (reward).
5. On your way home from work (cue), spend 8 minutes using your strength of gratitude to identify the best thing that happened to you that day (routine), then walk in the front door (reward).
6. When it’s time for a morning break (cue), spend 8 minutes sharing an idea (bravery) that is important to you with a colleague (routine), then head outside for a short walk (reward).
7. When you travel into work (cue), spend 8 minutes thinking about a leader (leadership) you’ve admired (routine), then write down ways to use their approach in your own work (reward).
8. When you get to work (cue), spend 8 minutes looking for a quote on perspective that inspires you (routine), then spend 8 minutes meditating on it (reward).

Discover more about Character Strengths

We hope you’ve enjoyed discovering your personal character strengths and how you can start to leverage them to  boost your self-awareness, overall mental fitness, and work-life satisfaction.

If you found this article helpful, check out our related articles below:

Character Strengths and Personal Virtues

Character Strengths: Benefits of Discovering Your Top 5

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