CliftonStrengths in Action! (DAY 22)
For today’s lesson, I’m sharing a select handful of examples to demonstrate how our CliftonStrengths® can be aimed at challenges related to our relationship with alcohol. Our Strengths are the talents we are born with and can purposely develop into strengths to help us reach our potential. I’ve selected several of the more common strengths and shared below how they can be leveraged to help you examine your relationship with alcohol and/or set goals for going alcohol-free.
Remember there are 34 CliftonStrengths in total, and the chances of meeting someone with the same unique combination of YOUR Top 5 Strengths are 1 in 33 million!
Do you know your CliftonStrengths®? You might recognize some of your behavior patterns in the strengths described below! If you haven’t completed the prior lesson yet, be sure to watch the Introduction to CliftonStrengths video, which explains the four domains of talent (Strategic Thinking, Executing, Relationship Building and Influencing), as color-coded below. Here are a few examples of how to put our CliftonStrengths into action:
LEARNER (in the Strategic Thinking domain): Has a great desire to learn and continuously improve. The process, rather than the outcome, excites them. Described as curious; inquisitive; passionate; studious; competent. Needs exposure to new information and experiences. ACTION: Lean into all the learning content, journal prompts and resources this learning program has to offer! You might consider doing The Alcohol Experiment (Annie Grace’s free 30-day program) next to further your learning. Or read some of the resources recommended throughout this program. Take a look at the blog post called, “What’s Next After Dry January” that gives you lots of ideas to fuel your curiosity and drive for continuous improvement, ranging from one-on-one coaching, to book recommendations, podcasts and recovery programs.
ACHIEVER (in the Executing domain): Works hard and has a great deal of stamina. Takes immense satisfaction by being busy and productive. Described as driven, self-motivated, diligent, ambitious, independent. Needs freedom to work at their own pace. ACTION: Consider this Alcohol-Free Challenge something that must be accomplished; stay motivated by leaning on your Achiever talents to reach the goal you set at the beginning of the challenge. Once you reach that goal, set another one that’s a little farther out of reach, in order to keep yourself motivated by a new accomplishment to achieve.
RELATOR (in the Relationship Building domain): Enjoys close relationships with others; finds deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal. Described as friendly, genuine, caring, authentic, truthful, transparent. Needs time and opportunities for one-on-one interaction. ACTION: Find at least one other person or a small group of people on the same path with their relationship with alcohol to develop relationships with (whether in-person or on-line). Working toward the same goal with these friends will fire up your Relator talents, and these friends can be used as accountability partners. Consider joining The Sober Club! There are a ton of on-line groups out there (The Luckiest Club, Sober Sis, She Recovers, etc.). Find the one that’s the right fit for you.
COMPETITION (in the Influencing domain): Measures their progress against others; strives to win first place and revels in contests. Described as intense, driven, competitive, measuring, winning. There is no second place for someone with Competition talents! Needs peers for comparison and motivation. ACTION: Turn your Alcohol-Free Challenge into a contest that must be won (with yourself or with others). If 30 days was easy, set a bigger goal and turn it into a game! This is a game you’ll be motivated to WIN if you have high Competition talents! Example: One of my Executive Coaching clients with high Competition talents told me how his wife had expressed concern about his drinking. He made her a bet that he wouldn’t drink for a year. It happened to be the end of 2019 when he made this bet, so he went all of 2020 — in the midst of COVID — without a drink! It was a bet he wasn’t going to lose! He instinctively leaned on his Competition talents to stay motivated to win!
TALENT THEMES TO WATCH OUT FOR IN RELATION TO ADDICTION:
EMPATHY (in the Relationship Building domain): People with high empathy talents can feel the emotions of others. They can sense other people’s feelings by imagining themselves in others’ lives or situations. They are described as emotional, caring, intuitive, listening, expressive, sensitive, instinctive. They are sometimes referred to as being an “Empath.” I have numerous clients with high Empathy talents who use(d) alcohol to numb the feelings of others that they were feeling. They can not turn off this talent (just like you can’t selectively numb only the bad emotions with alcohol), and it can be overwhelming to feel so many feelings — especially if they are negative. If you have high empathy, having a better understanding of the benefits of this talent is important so you can aim it productively instead of wanting to turn it off and numbing it with alcohol.
MAXIMIZER/ACHIEVER: Those with high Maximizer talents seek to transform something strong into something superb and focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They can be described as excellence-aware and can have perfectionist tendencies. Along with ACHIEVER, those with high Maximizer talents can look like “Strivers,” as described by Arthur Brooks in From Strength to Strength: Finding Success , Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. Brooks defines “Strivers” as “people who strive to be excellent at what they do” and explains that they are prone to alcohol addiction, workaholism, and other addictive things, from cocaine to social media, because it stimulates the neurotransmitter dopamine.
Do you know your CliftonStrengths?! NOTE: We will have a BONUS Group Coaching Call on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 (3PM Pacific / 6PM Eastern) to review your Top 5 Strengths and how they can be aimed at your relationship with alcohol!
I also wrote a blog post about how my CliftonStrengths influenced the early days of my alcohol-freedom journey. Read about it here! If you’re interested in working with me as your Coach, I also wrote about how my CliftonStrengths inform my coaching approach with my clients.
