Play to your strengths or seek challenges?
By elsino91
@elsino91 (440)
Poland
December 1, 2012 8:54am CST
When deciding what to do in life, do you think that a person should play to their strengths and stick with what they're good at so that they can continue to succeed or do you think that a person should look for things that may prove to be a challenge for them? On the one hand it is a good strategy when trying to succeed in anything to find something you're good at and to exploit that. But on the other, staying in your comfort zone hampers any chance of self-development and shouldn't people learn new things all throughout their life and not just at the beginning?
What do you think?
4 responses
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
8 Apr 13
I think that it can be tempting to stick to the things that you are already good at, it is easier than doing new things and based on your experience you know that you are probably going to succeed. But if you stay in your comfort zone all the time you miss the chance to learn new things and you miss the chance to challenge yourself. I think that a life without challenges is boring and I find it exciting to learn new things. If you seek challenges you can't be sure that you are going to succeed, but I still think that it is a great idea to experiment with new things. Sometimes it is a failure and sometimes you might discover a hidden talent that you would never have discovered without the courage to experiment with the unknown.
@elsino91 (440)
• Poland
9 Apr 13
I totally agree. I don't want to miss out on learning new things so I tend to ease out of my comfort zone often. And you're right, you can either meet success or failure, but I've learnt to view failure differently than I did before. Before it would put me down, but now I actually enjoy it. Because failure drives me to try again and again until I succeed. When I put my mind to something and I want it bad enough I'll fail however many times I have to finally do something right.
I wouldn't recommend staying in your comfort zone to anyone, you miss out on so much in life. I do agree with playing to your strengths, but when you ONLY play to your strengths then you're just restricting yourself from possibly gaining new strengths in other fields.
@roshigo58 (4859)
• Pune, India
10 Mar 13
Hi,
you are right. Every person has his limitations and he has to work in the limits of his strength. But if he don't try to go beyond his comfort zone he can not improve himself and become idle. No challenges and no change in the work. Doing same thing again and again he may bored and no enthusiasm for him.
@elsino91 (440)
• Poland
10 Mar 13
Exactly, what I try to do is to do something new, something I might not feel comfortable with at the beginning but then I stick with it until it becomes something I can do with ease. I don't believe in staying in one place, that place in which you feel comfortable. If you're not going forward then you're going backward.
@eagletrek2 (5499)
• Kingston, New York
2 Dec 12
Hi if everything working in life
and they are happy then the person
should do what there good at or they can
use there strengths to get better
at what there good at and find more chanelngs
in life ok have a good day.
@watchamacallitz (1171)
• Philippines
1 Dec 12
That is correct, there are disadvantages and advantages when you just stay in your comfort zone and when you try out new things. You tend to excel when in your comfort zone but after a long run, you become stagnant and acquire no new knowledge and skills. Whereas when you try new things and explore the world, you might find it hard at first but you will soon get the hang of it, learn new skills and eventually excel.
Just dont be afraid to try and explore new horizons. life is a constant struggle to learn.
@elsino91 (440)
• Poland
1 Dec 12
you're right. Personally I believe that people should never stop learning, education shouldn't end after school. Even though sometimes I'm afraid of things that seem hard, I try to push myself to learn the things that I don't know, that will help me become better.
