Now Discover Your Strengths explores the powerful idea that success and fulfillment come from developing your natural talents rather than focusing on fixing your weaknesses.

Why Now Discover Your Strengths changed the way people think about talent

Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton introduces a powerful idea: instead of focusing on fixing weaknesses, we should identify and develop our natural talents.

In this post I share my experience reading Now Discover Your Strengths, what the StrengthsFinder profile reveals, and how discovering your strengths can help guide your life and career.

This work is based on the research of Donald Clifton, who used Gallup surveys to ask millions of people around the world questions such as “What are your strengths?” (along with other positively framed questions),

Donald Clifton and Marcus Buckingham wrote this book to begin what they call the Strengths Revolution.

Resource, book on Amazon: Now Discover Your Strengths

Now Discover Your Strengths — so THIS is what I’ve been doing!

OK, that may sound a little flippant 🙂 However, the first few lines of the book really resonated with me and made me smile.

Guided by the belief that good is the opposite of bad, mankind has for centuries pursued its fixation with fault and failing.

Doctors have studied disease in order to learn about health.

Psychologists have investigated sadness in order to learn about joy.

Therapists have looked into the causes of divorce in order to learn about happy marriage.

And in schools and workplaces around the world, each one of us has been encouraged to identify analyze and correct our weaknesses in order to become strong.

I had come across this idea of discovering strengths rather than fixing weaknesses before.

I first encountered it while attending NLP™ (Neuro-Linguistic Programming™) workshops with Richard Bandler, who once asked me directly:

“How much bliss can you stand?”

Nobody had ever framed the world quite that way before.

What is a Strength?

A Strength, as defined in Now Discover Your Strengths, is:

“Consistent near-perfect performance in an activity.”

Now, before we get too put off by that definition, the aim is really to find your natural talents — the ways you naturally think, feel, and express yourself that come most easily because your brain is wired that way.

Or, even more simply:

What are you really good at?

The book identifies 34 different strengths, including examples such as:

• Achiever
• Maximizer
• Learner
• Ideation
• Strategic
• Restorative

Because the book comes from the relatively new field of Positive Psychology, some of the terminology may feel unfamiliar at first. New paradigms often require new language.

How to discover your strengths using Now Discover Your Strengths

The book includes a sealed packet at the back containing a code.

(If you want to complete the StrengthsFinder profile yourself, make sure you buy a new copy of the book, because the code can only be used once.)

After reading to a certain point in the book, you’ll be directed to open the packet, visit the website, and enter the code to complete your StrengthsFinder Profile.

The assessment takes about 35 minutes.

Each question has a 20-second time limit, which encourages you to give your immediate “top of the brain” response rather than overthinking it.

Once you’ve finished, you receive a report showing your Top 5 natural strengths. You can either have the report emailed to you or print it out immediately.

One of my strengths: Connectedness

One of my strengths is Connectedness, which is defined in the book as:

Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it.

You feel deeply that we are all connected.

Yes, we are individuals responsible for our own choices and free will, but we are also part of something larger.

Some people might call this the collective unconscious. Others may call it spirit or life force.

Whatever language you use, this perspective brings confidence in knowing that we are not isolated from one another, from the Earth, or from life itself.

This sense of connectedness also implies responsibility.

If we are part of a larger whole, harming others ultimately harms ourselves. Exploiting others means exploiting the system we are part of.

This awareness shapes a strong value system – one that tends to be considerate, caring, and accepting.

People with this strength often become bridge builders, bringing together individuals from different cultures, perspectives, and backgrounds.

They also tend to sense that there is a deeper purpose behind everyday life, offering comfort to others during life’s uncertainties.

Connectedness — not only a strength for me, but a life value

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while and following my spiritual journey, you’ll know that after many career twists and turns, I’ve spent the last 16 years studying energy work and the concept that we are all connected.

My clients often give very positive feedback after their EMF Balancing Technique® sessions, and when I read the definition of Connectedness in Now Discover Your Strengths, it really resonated.

My beliefs, worldview, and relationships all naturally arise from this strength.

So by working in this area of life, I’m essentially working within one of my natural talents.

(In the book, talents are defined as “naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior. Your various themes of talent are what the StrengthsFinder profile measures.”)

This isn’t meant to sound egotistical, nor am I suggesting everyone should become an energy worker.

What I’m demonstrating is how discovering your strengths can be both empowering and enlightening. It may confirm the path you’re already on — or suggest that a new direction might be calling.

What do you think about the Strengths Revolution?

If you’ve read Now Discover Your Strengths, I’d love to hear about your results and experiences.

The idea of building on your strengths instead of constantly trying to fix your weaknesses is quite revolutionary.

And yet, once you begin exploring it, it makes an incredible amount of sense.

Key lessons from Now Discover Your Strengths

• People grow fastest by developing their natural talents.
• A strength is defined as consistent, near-perfect performance in an activity.
• The StrengthsFinder assessment helps identify your top five strengths.
• Understanding your strengths can confirm the path you’re already on – or help you choose a new direction.

Final Thoughts

In many ways, reading Now Discover Your Strengths helped me recognize something I had already been doing instinctively for years – following the areas of life where my natural talents and interests felt most alive.

Rather than constantly trying to “fix” ourselves, this book invites us to now discover your strengths and develop the abilities that already come naturally to us. When we do that, work feels more aligned, our contributions become more meaningful, and the path ahead often becomes much clearer.

For me, discovering the strength of Connectedness helped explain why my work with energy, spirituality, and helping others make sense of their own journeys has felt so natural and fulfilling.

And that, perhaps, is the real power of the Strengths Revolution — learning to trust and build upon what is already strong within us.