Work Mode with Brown Uzoukwu: Focus On Your Strengths So You Can Improve Your Productivity

Some years ago, I was an intern in one of the leading banks in Nigeria. Recently, I began to reminisce about various people and events during my banking days: my wonderful colleagues and bosses; the friends and fiends I made; the customers I served (both the friendly and unfriendly ones), and of course… how I made a bit of a boob in my job functions.

One of my primary duties was to receive customers’ cash deposits and balance my account to the teeth each day. But beyond that, I also had a duty to ensure that customers paid in genuine currencies and not counterfeits. While a few counterfeits eluded my prying eyes and touch, I usually caught a good number of them. And whenever I did, according to the law, I was expected to perforate them; and I did that with obligatory alacrity. Absolutely, some of my counterfeit-borne customers got their knickers in a twist because of my actions. However, I was only showing allegiance to my employer, to my nation, and to my conscience.

Apart from being illegal, the truth is that counterfeit money is harmful to any system. Why? Well, without going into much technicality, the reason is this: counterfeit money is bad money that assumes undeserved economic powers and tries to act like good money, eventually hurting the system that it exists in. Simply put, counterfeit money brings a system down rather than lift it up! Okay, I guess by now you’re wondering what the matter is all about. Well, before you find out, I will like you to check out my next sentences.

During the sixteenth century, a certain man known as Sir Thomas Gresham wrote a powerful letter to Queen Elizabeth I to inform her that bad money was taking the place of good money in England’s economic system. After many years, what he stated in that letter ultimately became an economic principle known as Gresham’s Law.

According to Gresham’s Law, when a system overvalues one type of money and undervalues another, the undervalued money will eventually leave the system, while the overvalued money will take over the system. Now, let me paraphrase this law and give it a human connotation so that it could have a contextual applicability:
Gresham’s Law states that…

“When an individual overvalues his weakness and undervalues his strength, his strength will begin to dwindle or peter out, while his weakness will grow and take over him and eventually bring him down.”

Having stated the above, I guess your light bulb has come on and you’re close up to getting into my drift. If yes, then let’s borrow your light bulb and flash it into the next paragraph.

Every human being carries two monies in life known as: weakness (bad money) and strength (good money). And how he gives value to these two monies respectively determines the state of his output and the direction it takes. Now, if we juxtapose the preceding two sentences with Gresham’s Law (as paraphrased above), then a powerful truth about life emerges—a truth that says: If you want to succeed in the workplace, then stop giving powers to your weakness and transfer those powers to developing your strength.
Unfortunately, many career persons spend a huge chunk of their lives worrying about or fighting to eliminate their weakness. Then we ignore, or allow our strengths to gather dust and eventually lose its true value. Many of us are pursuing our career dreams from the weakness side of the equation, rather than focusing on our strength, yet we keep getting frustrated or, at best, only achieving pint-sized progress at work.

Listen, your strength is your good money, so go ahead and increase its value by recognizing, appreciating, and developing it. Rather than focusing on your weakness, go ahead and deploy your strength to your career endeavors.
The truth is that, the world is more interested in your strength, and they will pay you to just have it. Hence, don’t overvalue your weakness and undervalue your strength. Because if you do, according to the Gresham’s Law, your weakness would assume undeserved powers and bring you down. It’s high time we became wise, or much appropriately, wiser in handling our two monies!

When you focus so much on your weakness, you empower them. Focus on your strengths and stay productive and happy.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime