5 Ways to Soar Through a Transition with Your Strengths

5 ways to soar transition

Whether you are excited about your transition or in the stages of complete overwhelm, you can intentionally use your Strengths to help you fly through with less stress and more energy.

So, for a transition of role, career, parenting, marriage, or even location {like us right now!}, use 1 or 2 of these 5 ways to manage your transition with your Strengths.

StrengthsFinder Soar through Transition Pinterest graphic

1 :: Remember Your Tools

I rehash this point in different ways over and over again…we have to think about our Strengths — what they are and what they mean — in order for them to be ready as tools.

Especially in the uncertainty and chaos that can accompany transition, the preeminence of our Strengths can get lost in the shuffle.

I know mine can.

This week, during the third week of our transition from the towering buildings of the City to the sprawling greenery of Maryland, I have been more than a little overwhelmed here and there.

When I finally stepped back this week {after a debilitating 24 hour flu–yes, why don’t we just throw that into the mix, too!}, I realized that I had been expecting my Strengths to show up without actively thinking about them.

Becky Strengths Lockscreen

So, I made a simple change and put them in a place I would see them ALL the time…on the lock screen of my phone.

There, now they are in front of me…with every glance in its direction!

Key Takeaway for You :: Find a way to put your Strengths in front of you, so you know what tools you are really working with during your Transition.

2 :: Choose One to Help a Specific Point of Uncertainty

Don Clifton, the father of Strengths-based psychology, said that we could spend a lifetime understanding, developing, and refining even just ONE of our own Strengths.

While I’m glad we have our Top 5 to work with, we can overcomplicate the application of our Strengths to our lives because we see more than one of them in front of us.

In a transition — whether that’s a new role, a new job, a new baby or the newness of marriage — when the routines have been rocked and the securities we once knew have been altered, moments of overwhelm break their way in to bring unwanted uncertainty. The paths that we saw so clearly become muddled by the uncertainty.

To face that uncertainty in a simple and straightforward way {that does NOT add another list of to-dos during the transition!}, choose ONE of your Strengths to help address it.

I have always leaned on my Connectedness Strength in times of transition. The reliance on my heart felt truth that “everything happens for a reason” has carried me through many days of uncertainty.

Volume Control

This week, though, I realized I needed to choose something more tangible to address my SPECIFIC uncertainty. My greatest source of uncertainty was our schedule — we have no “net” of folks nearby, we have no sitter set up, we have no plan for kids’ activities…and the list goes on.

So, this week, it is Arranger to the rescue. If I put all of my energy toward the steps it takes to arrange our schedule and our home, I will be meeting the needs of my Strength and using it to set ourselves up for success…and work past the uncertainty!

Key Takeaway for You :: In your transition, get a handle on one uncertainty that is getting to you, and choose ONE Strength that can help you turn that around. Put all your energy into using and meeting the needs of that ONE Strength, and you’ll work past that uncertainty.

3 :: Leverage Your Strengths in Your Transition Narrative

What is the narrative you have built around your Transition?

Whether it has been a long-pursued life-change or the result of a last minute change of plans that you did not have much control over {frequent in the military life for sure!}, you have created a story about it.

The narrative explains what the transition is like, what it is for, how you feel about it, what it will do to you or for you. And if it is well-built, it explores who your most natural talents — your Strengths will help you successfully through it.

write your own narrative

A client of mine made a significant role transition recently. As we talked through the transition, he began to create a narrative that included the healthy integration of his Strengths — including asking for what he needs and communicating the unique perspective and contribution he can have in the new role and on the new team.

The story he crafted, before he even started, set him up for success in the introductory meetings with the leadership and his team. And, it helped him to hold the pen for the opening chapters of success in his new role going forward, too.

Ensuring that your narrative includes your Strengths at a hearty and healthy volume is a fantastic way to ensure that your next chapter gets started off right.

Key Takeaway for You :: Bring awareness to the narrative that you have told yourself and others about your transition. If it does not already include the elements of your Strengths, bring those into the story to help ensure well-being and success in your new place or role.

4 :: Bring a Complementary Friend into the Mix

Next week, in our Isogo TV miniseries on Life-Balance, we are going to be diving into the role and impact of involving others as you strive for greater balance in your life. {If you have not jumped into the ITV Balance series, be sure to catch up here!}

In a career or family transition, the effect of partnership is much the same. A partner — especially one with complementary Strengths — can add perspective that we do not see, as well as an element of supportive accountability to the goals or narrative of the transition.

StrengthsFinder Bring Need Tool

When I started coaching Don, he had recently lost his job and was in a new role. One of the first stories he told me was that of an effective partnership with a friend who was wired with a completely opposite set of Strengths.

Don thrives in Consistency and Responsibility, while Bob thrives in the worlds of Ideation and Command. When Don called Bob to lament about losing his job, Bob’s response was shocking. He paused for a moment and then shouted a loud, “Congratulations!”

From that moment on, Bob was a key player in the success of Don’s career transition. He added a perspective and motivation that Don did not naturally see or have.

Key Takeaway for You :: In your transition, intentionally include a friend or colleague or family member with complementary Strengths.

5 :: Take an Intentional Break to Refuel

No matter how excited you may feel about your transition, the fact is — transitions are stressful. Even “good” stress adds an element of stress to your body, mind, and schedule that had previously not existed.

In and amongst that stress, we have to incorporate an intentional time to refuel. The most effective refueling will be in direct alignment with how well you can meet the psychological and emotional needs of your Strengths.

refuel your strengths

These past couple weeks, during our moving transition, for David, the intentional rest has included exploring our new surroundings that are wrought with history {a Context Strength smorgasbord!}. For me, I have found the most rest in taking a few extra beats to connect with the people who are helping us through it all — a dear friend who came to help unpack and play with the kids, my dad who came to refinish furniture and paint walls, the unexpected new friends who had us over for dinner and helped during move-in day {Connectedness Strength just thrives in these meaningful relationships}.

We get the most bang for our breaks when we 1) carve out time to intentionally take them and 2) align them with meeting the needs of our Strengths.

Key Takeaway for You :: Take a break. And when you do, refuel most effectively by aligning your break with something that really, truly feeds your greatest Strengths!

 


LINKS | RESOURCES | CONNECT

Links & Resources from today

Volume Control FREE printable tool
Bring It | Need It FREE resource
The Balance We Are All Looking For {balance series 1 of 8} | Isogo TV Episode 46
Use 1 of these 5 ways to help you Focus on Strength
{9 Steps} to Life Change through your StrengthsFinder Top 5 Strengths
StrengthsFinder is Life Changing | Meet Your Own Needs {Step 8 of 9}
From Below Average to Brilliant: A Strengths Career Story
What do you do when you’re stressed?
Quotable Quotes from 8 of the World’s Top Strengths Coaches
Isogo TV
Who is Don Clifton?

StrengthsFinder LifeChange Checklist Ad Image

Maven Insights Inbox

Connect

As always, one of the best places to join the Strengths conversation is over at our Facebook Group — Energy Up Frustration Down by Strengths. Join us as we all try to figure out just how to use our Strengths to impact the most important things around us—in our work and life.

If you’re thinking about the way a Strengths-perspective could impact your marriage or your family or you’re just not so sure about it all, reach out, and let’s connect about it. You can catch me at Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, all at @isogostrong, or by this handy contact form.

Enjoy your day, and {be strong}!

Share this article

SHARE THIS POST

Do you want a monthly free resource + blog snapshot from Isogo?

It’s free! No spam, no risk, just good stuff. 

Most Recent

Related Posts

Do you want a monthly free resource + blog snapshot from Isogo?