We all have many strengths that we use in our relations to others and in our daily lives. Some are particularly empathetic, others are good at collaborating. No matter what strengths we have, these resources function like our other skills. They need to be identified and used in order to improve.
This page contains an overview of all the exercises you can use to get to know and reflect on your strengths! We have divided the exercises into two categories. Exercises that help you find strengths and exercises that help you develop strengths. Start by choosing one of the categories to get started.
Awareness of ones strengths is needed to be able to use them actively 6. It turns out that you are more likely to achieve goals that match your strengths, values and interests 8.
The exercises you will find here can help you become more aware of your strengths and thereby help increase your goal attainment.
Once you have found your strengths, it is wise to start developing them further. A study by Seligman and colleagues 7 showed that activities that involved participants using one of their top five strengths in a new way every day for a week had a significantly greater effect on happiness after six months than activities that prompted participants to become more aware of their top five strengths and use them more often. In addition, greater well-being was found six months later for those individuals who continued to apply their strengths after completing the study. It’s not enough to only identify your strengths. The positive effect comes from actively using them.
Below you will find exercises that can be done to develop all 24 strengths and the additional 3 multicultural skills. The strengths are grouped together according to the virtues to which they belong. According to Peterson & Seligman
2 it is through developing strengths that one becomes virtuous. For example, one can achieve the virtue of wisdom through creativity and curiosity. Therefore, the strengths creativity and curiosity are grouped under wisdom.