This post is a follow-up to: What are you weaknesses?
Consider for a moment that you are a boat.
I know it sounds silly, but do it.
You are a boat. And your life is an ocean.
With the proper skills, attitude, and approach you can navigate to wherever you wish to go.
But how quickly & easily you get to your desired destination depends not only on how efficiently you operate — and how resilient you are to challenges you encounter along the way — but on the overall integrity of your vessel.
In other words, how well you do in life depends a lot on how well you can handle and navigate less than desirable circumstances.
Now consider that your weaknesses are like leaks in the hull of this boat.
Under normal circumstances — and if the leaks are small — one can often bail out water quickly enough to keep their boat afloat.
Now, because a boat with leaks takes more energy to manage than one without, the ideal approach is to locate and plug as many leaks as possible.
The more leaks that one can plug, the more efficiently the boat will float and the less one feels the negative effects of the leaks that remain.
In short, identifying one’s weakness and then working on ways to overcome them makes one’s life more manageable.
On the flip side, if the leaks in one’s boat become too prevalent — perhaps while navigating a stormy sea — one’s vessel will take in water faster than one can bail it out.
And whether we’re talking about leaks or personal weaknesses here, not being able to manage them effectively can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, helpless, and depressed.
So you can see why identifying and actively working on one’s weaknesses can be beneficial and empowering.
How to overcome weaknesses is beyond the scope of this post, but it should help to point out that the more that one can identify their weaknesses, triggers, and bad habits, the more that they can make a conscious effort to reduce them.
The more a person makes a conscious effort to reduce the impact of their weaknesses, the more they’re able to direct their life where they want it go.
The more control a person gains over their self, the more control they gain over their life. The more control a person has over their life, the happier they tend to be.
One of the biggest steps toward gaining control over one’s life is gaining control over one’s self.
Plug your leaks.
(And if you can’t plug them, at least learn ways to minimize them).
“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” — Carlos Castaneda
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