Taking Action…Why It’s So Hard for Some People to Do
- He says, “I’m stuck in my career.” The career coach, who is built with Visionary and Strategic abilities, knows precisely how to get his prospective client un-stuck. Sadly, the prospective client doesn’t take action.
- He needs to lose weight. His life literally depends on it. Why is it so difficult to leave one’s comfort zone of over-eating and not exercising to do better? He has such a hard time acting to do what he knows he needs to do. He’s been reprimanded and held back in his career because he comes across too harshly to his peers and subordinates. He knows he has a problem, but rather than taking action to identify and address the problem with someone who specializes in solving such problems, he continues repeating the same behavior. Why is it so difficult for this person to leave their comfort zone that includes bad behavior to pursue behavior that others will appreciate?
- She wants to get in better shape. She doesn’t like to exercise alone and she knows that if she tries, her get-up-and-go and motivation won’t last long. Rather than finding a way to connect with someone to exercise with her to create accountability, she keeps putting the idea on the backburner and fails to act.
StrengthsFinder™
The Clifton StrengthsFinder™ measures 34 traits that each one of us possesses. The StrengthsFinder trait that leads to taking action is called Activator®. A person who is gifted with this trait “can make things happen by turning thoughts into action.” This is the person you want to call on when you need to get a project out of paralysis of analysis mode and get it moving forward.
If you have trouble getting things started in your professional life or in your work life, chances are that your Activator® trait as measured by the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ may not be high.
Take Action
Why not find out where your Activator® sits amongst your 34 traits? Once you know, you’ll develop clarity around why getting started might be difficult for you. A strengths coach can help you to build a strategy to compensate for your lack of Activator® if that’s who you are.
Out of 34 traits that make up the Clifton StrengthsFinder™, Activator comes in at number 29 out of 34 in terms of frequency of landing in a person’s Top 5 traits.
What this means is that only 11% of people who have taken a StrengthsFinder™ find Activator® showing up in their top traits. If you possess this trait high in your traits list, you have something special.
If you’re not an Activator® but you need to get an effort moving forward, find someone who has high Activator® and/or consider hiring a personal coach who is gifted with Activator® to help you get moving in a positive direction.
Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, Strengths Coaching, 719.686.8810
