Refresh February and Talent Tools

A couple of weeks ago I went to my regular 6 am bootcamp workout. I always take the spot front left from the instructor so I can hear the instructions. But this morning a newcomer had taken my spot and one of my buddies said, “looks like you lost your spot.” I smiled and said, “No worries- odds are 93% in my favor they won’t last more than two weeks.” (Since I know that only 7% of people have Discipline in their Top 5). Last Tuesday I resumed my old spot. Should have wagered on it.

For many people a new resolve turns into resignation about this time of January. But before you wave the white flag, realign your year for success with a February Refresh. Instead of pitching in the towel on your 2024 aspirations, take a breath and restart the new year on February 1^st and accelerate playing to your strengths with more intention and the 4 following tips.

1. Review your Road Map - Take out your CoreClarity Pyramid with your Top 5 CliftonStrengths and read through the bullet points. We often make plans and set goals without consulting our talents for help on how to bring out our best in generating momentum to go from good to great. Remember there are things you could do, and there are things you should Your talents provide the road map to what you should do.
2. Pursue Greatness over sucking less – (Click here for video) If you haven’t already, laminate your pyramid with your Top 5 talents on the front and their descriptors on the back. (You can do the same with your CoreDrill Descriptors). Put it in your workspace and review a talent a day for the next 5 weeks. Review the bullet points you most strongly desire to display. Recently, one of my clients reached out for some team help. I suggested that to prepare for our time, everyone on the team get their CoreClarity Pyramid out review their Top 5. A week later he said that small, simple task helped him get some clarity for himself and created some positive, energizing discussions with his teammates around the office.
3. Cap your Kryptonite – Think about your January and ask yourself two questions: Which of my talents were not being leveraged or engaged? What are ways the 5^th bullet point or Kryptonite statement has shown up over the past month? January is a demanding month with holiday overflow and end of the last year backlash from tax forms to credit card bills. Identify what types of pressures exasperate your talents. In the hurry and scurry from Thanksgiving to New Years it’s easy to slide into the Kryptonite zone which leads to recycling old patterns and habits in January.
4. Invest in yourself – It is estimated that before the end of the year nearly 30 million people will have taken the CliftonStrengths assessment, but less than 1% have engaged in significant personal strengths coaching. Whether you do it with us or someone else, find a Strengthsfinder or CoreClarity coach and spend a few hours digging deeper into your unique brilliance to make it shine. Be sure to check in with us each month as we will be sharing a free Talent Tool to help you turn those talents into strengths.

So give yourself some grace, and use the shortest month of the year to shine more in ‘24!