Exercise is to increase your awareness of activities that rely on your strengths or weaknesses.
According to Linley (2008), a strength is “a pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking or feeling that is authentic, energizing to the user, and enables optimal functioning, development and performance” (p. 9). In this definition, perhaps the most important characteristic of strengths is that they are energizing. Activities that rely on our strengths are enjoyable and feel as if our energy levels are being raised. While high performance can be the result of both strengths use and learned behaviour, the experience of increased energy most often applies when using character strengths.
Moreover, the perceived amount of energy also provides information on weaknesses.
According to Linley, Willars, & Biswas-Diener (2010), “Weaknesses are the things at which you both perform poorly and find de-energizing or draining. When weaknesses are used, they lead to feelings of negativity, disengagement, and lack of motivation”.
In this exercise, awareness of personal weaknesses and strengths is being increased by analyzing daily activities in terms of the energy levels that you experience.
Goal:
The goal of this exercise is to increase your awareness of activities that rely on your strengths or weaknesses. An advantage of this exercise is that it relies on daily reflection to increase your awareness of strengths and weaknesses. Rather than relying on general post hoc reflections, daily reflection is often more specific and accurate.
Step 1. Introduction
To clarify the concept of energy, we refer to mental energy here. Activities that allow you to use your strengths may cause you to become physically tired but psychologically more energized than before.
The current form of exercise requires you to record activities for one week.
However, you may also decide to spread the reflections over a longer period. In any case, it is advisable to use multiple measurements because more measurements will provide more accurate and detailed information.
A hallmark of strengths is “energy.” When we use our strengths, we feel energized and engaged. Activities that rely on our strengths are enjoyable and feel as if our energy levels are being raised.
In contrast, using weaknesses drains us. When we operate from our weaknesses, we feel negativity, disengagement, and lack of motivation. Activities that rely on our weaknesses feel as if our energy levels are being drained.
Step 2. Record Red and green moments:
During the upcoming week, record your “green” and “red” moments daily. Use the list below to identify whether it is a green or red activity.
Green Activities: Strength related with high energy
These are activities that:
■ You genuinely enjoy doing
■ Make you feel energized
■ Make you forget the time
■ You look forward to
■ You can do well even under conditions of stress or fatigue
Red Activities: Weakness related and deplete your energy:
■ You do not like doing
■ Make you feel depleted
■ seem to pass very slowly
■ You don’t look forward to
■ Require a lot of effort and self-control to do well.
Use the table in Appendix A. In the first column of this table, provide a brief description of the activity. In addition, indicate energy levels per activity by registering the extent to which the activity at hand enhanced energy or depleted energy. In the second column, put a sign next to each activity to indicate the change in energy level. See below:.
— Required a lot of energy
– Required some energy
0 Did not require energy but did not give energy either
+ Gave me positive energy
++ Gave me a lot of positive energy
Appendix A: Daily Reflection Form
Step 3: Strength’s reflection
After completing the reflections, closely examine your answers. Select the five activities that make you feel most energized and use the first column of the table in Appendix B, “My Top 5 Green Activities, “ and list them. Next, use the second column of the table to indicate what strength(s) you may be using during each activity.
Step 4: Weakness reflection
Now do the same thing for the 5 activities that depleted your energy. Select the 5 activities that make you feel most depleted and use the first column of Appendix B, “My top 5 Red Activities,“ and list them. Next, use the second column of the table to indicate, for each activity, which strengths you lack during this activity.