Review #2
Review of Now, Discover Your Strengths, Section II
Krista L. Botton
California State University, Northridge
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Review #2
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Abstract
Paper discusses section II of Now, Discover Your Strengths, a text by Marcus
Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. that considers a method of self-improvement based
on focusing on an individual’s strengths. Included are a summary of the text, analysis of the text
as it pertains to the results garnered from the StrengthsFinder Profile online test and discuss of
how these results may be used in the author’s continuing professional development.
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Review of Now, Discover Your Strengths, Section II
Summary of Section II
Section II of this text discusses how you can find your talents. For those not in a hurry
and with the ability to step back and really examine their decisions the text tells you to “monitor
your spontaneous, top-of-mind reactions to the situations you encounter” (p. 67). Most of us will
find this near impossible without a ton of time and the ability to be totally objective about the
things we see in ourselves. The book goes on to have us consider a few more clues to our
talents. “While your spontaneous reactions provide the clearest trace of your talents, here are
three more clues to keep in mind: yearnings, rapid learning, and satisfactions” (p. 69). Through
several examples provided for each of these topics we learn that yearnings are deep desires to
perform a skill, often noticeable from early childhood. These are things that frequently we pass
off to being a part of our “genes” (p. 69-70). Rapid learning is your ability to pick up a new skill
with ease and speed even if it is not performed until later in life. This kind of ability to pick up a
skill is compared to the flipping of a “bank of switches” that allows the individual to move much
faster through the steps of learning a skill than their peers (p. 72-73). Lastly, we are asked to
consider our satisfactions. The book describes these as those things that feel good, “if it feels
good when you perform an activity, chances are that you are using a talent” (p. 73). Thankfully,
the text provides another means of discovering your talents, the StrengthsFinder Profile which is
described and administered with in the next chapter of the text.
The text concludes this section by allowing you to examine the thirty-four themes
represented in the StrenghtsFinder Profile. Each of the themes is represented on simply one page
which includes a brief description of the characteristics held by those strong in the theme and
several examples of people who fall within that theme.
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Analysis of Section II
I completed the StrenghtsFinder Profile online “test” to acquire my results and found the
test to be, at times, frustrating. Some of the questions were easily answered, I was clearly one of
the two choices, and many times I found myself saying that I was neither or the choices. For
these instances it was very easy to mark “neutral” and move on. What I found frustrating were
the number of times that the choices both described me and I was only able to choose one or
mark neutral…which I wasn’t. I’m sure with the number of questions and different choices of
answers those issues get resolved but it was challenging for me to get over marking neutral if
both of the choices truly described me.
The results of my profile are as follows: I am strong in Discipline, Analytical, Harmony,
Achiever, and Consistency. The fun part was reading through the pages on each of my strengths.
The numbers of times I said, “yep, that’s me,” or got a giggle out of an explanation or example
were, for the most part, frequent in each of the themes. The text describes those who are strong
in Discipline to dislike surprises, be impatient with error, have routine, be detail oriented and
have an “instinctive method for maintaining…progress and…productivity” (p. 96). Yep, that’s
me. The examples describe the need to keep track of everything or make lists. I don’t know if a
day goes by that I don’t create some list or another, you could hardly go anywhere in my house
or classroom without finding a list; lists of things to do, things I need, gifts to buy, students who
need to make up a test, projects to create, etc. It is this theme that always lends me the label of
organization granted by my friends and family. Next, Achievers are described as having a
“divine restlessness,” that “no matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the
day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied”
(p. 83). Yep, that’s me. Never okay to sit and relax, always something to do…and again, more
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lists, always something to accomplish, I am obsessed. Those strong in Harmony “can’t quite
believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others,” (p. 101). I
don’t think a faculty meeting, coaches meeting, WASC preparation meeting, goal setting
meeting, etc. has passed where this hasn’t been foremost in my mind. It continues to say “we are
all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is
no need to rock it just to show that you can” (p. 101). Yep, that’s me.
The last two themes were a bit more difficult to accept or analyze. First my theme of
Consistency, although I do not disagree that I enjoy and create consistency, I could not properly
analyze this theme because it is not included in the thirty-four themes in this book! This bit of
“inconsistency” was disappointing and frustrating…I guess you could say it goes against my
theme of Consistency and even the theme of Discipline . Lastly was the Analytical theme.
Although I do not disagree, I saw myself far less in this theme than I had in the others. I did not
have the same amount of “yep, that’s me” moments as I did with the other themes. I do
appreciate good research and want numbers to substantiate claims and frequently look for
reasons (evidence) of certain patterns that are seen in my classroom and in the world around me.
It is definitely not the all-consuming process that it seems to be in the examples. The description
and examples are FAR more probing that I am when it comes to analysis than I have every found
myself to be. Perhaps this is a theme that I need to learn to better master and develop because it
is one in which I could find personal success.
Application of Section I
Now that I have discovered my strengths I need to find how best to utilize these strengths
in my career and personal endeavors. I also would like to determine how best to create
relationships and work effectively with those of different themes.
Review #2
References
Buckingham, Marcus and Clifton, Donald O. Ph.D. (2001). Now, Discover Your Strengths.
New York: The Free Press.
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