Strenghs Finder Test

After a recent trip to Myrtle Beach to visit family, I had a discussion with my cousin about communication and character strengths. Meaning, things that we naturally excel at. She told me about a book she read called Strengths Finder and how the premise is to determine what your strengths are and work on those instead of spending that time working on your "areas of improvement". Interesting idea.

We chatted about this for a good 15 minutes and I was intrigued enough to buy the book when I returned home. The next week, I made a trip to the local book store and purchased Strengths Finder 2.0 (they have a new version since the one my cousin read) . Here's an excerpt from the very beginning of the book, "At its fundamentally flawed core, the aim of almost any learning program is to help us become who we are not. ... From the cradle to the cubical, we devote more time to our shortcomings than to our strengths."

I found this to be a logical, and insightful way of looking at things. So, I read the ~30 pages that gives you the background, took the test (~30 minutes) and have a set of results. The results are meant to summarize your strengths, specifically your top 5 strengths. Then, give you a more detailed look into those strengths and some suggestions on how to build upon them. Backing up a bit; a strength is determined by taking your talent multiplied by your investment (time practicing, developing, etc.) = the strength.

So, my top 5 are:

• Intellection
  People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

• Discipline
  People who are especially talented in the Discipline theme enjoy routine and structure. Their world is best described by the order they create.

• Deliberative
  People who are especially talented in the Deliberative theme are best described by the serious care they take in making decisions or choices. They anticipate the obstacles.

• Futuristic
  People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

• Empathy
  People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.

I love shooting...uh, and catching up w/friends

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was going to Phoenix for my 20 year HS reunion. This was a quick trip out last Friday and returning on Sunday - just me. Knowing that its rare these days that I have a block of time to myself, I wanted to take advantage of this time and setup a photo shoot with a model, Monica, on Saturday. This was the first time I was shooting the whole thing, from concept to lighting to post on my own. I was nervous and excited at the same time.

We met up around 11:00 at the Hyatt Scottsdale (wow!) and walked around to pick out a couple locations. We had been exchanging email for a couple weeks which really helped flush out some ideas. We shot in 7 or 8 settings with different outfits each time. She was so fast at ducking in and out of the bathroom to change. A pleasant surprise.

We ended around 3:30 and had lunch in there somewhere too. Monica is 19, in college, and hoping to go to med school soon. She has a younger sister and does modeling as a hobby. She's Egyptian and speaks Arabic which was pretty cool. I'm really happy with how the shoot turned out and I've posted a few images on my flickr page. I've also included a sample here.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My reunion. :-) I attended that in the evening on Saturday. It was fun to catch up with people I haven't seen in many years and Facebook has certainly helped to keep those conversations going. Until next time.

Feeling inspired

I took last week off to do some work in the house. Oh, this was hard to take 5 days off only to spend that time in the house doing manual labor. Had to be done, so I did it. Fortunately, I had help. My father flew out from Dallas and helped me with tearing down walls in the basement (photos to come later), hanging doors, and several other miscellaneous projects. At the end of the week, it did feel good to check a few things off "the list". If only I could prevent more from being added.

On Friday I'm off to Phoenix to my 20 year HS reunion. Hard for me to believe I've been out of high school for that long. It'll be interesting to converse with people I haven't seen and barely spoken to in many years. Through the magic of Facebook, I have been in contact with several that I hope to see over the weekend. I've also planned to get a quick photo shoot in while I'm out there as well. All fun stuff. More tk...