You may have strengths you haven’t needed yet

Do our character strengths change over time?

Recently someone wrote to me after hearing an interview I did on The Imperfects podcast.

Years ago she had completed a strengths assessment which she reported as ‘life-changing’, but now wanted to know if our strengths change over time. Should she repeat the survey?

Before I answer her question, let me explain a bit about strengths.

I’ve dedicated much of my time over the last 15 years investigating the difference that taking a strengths-based approach has on our lives - on our relationships, on our confidence, on our resilience and wellbeing. Building on the ideas of my friend and colleague, the late and great Chris Peterson, who famously reminded us that what is right with us is as important as what is wrong with us, I’ve loved helping individuals and teams identify their personal and collective strengths and learn how to play to them.

Why knowing and using your strengths matters

My own published research, analysing data from more than 5,000 workers, found that people who knew their strengths were around nine times more likely to be psychologically flourishing than those who didn’t. Even more striking, those who reported using their strengths were around nineteen times more likely to be flourishing.

Importantly, these findings held regardless of gender, age, income, education level, occupation or ethnicity.

Knowing your strengths matters, but using them matters even more.

However, this reader’s question raises another interesting possibility. What happens when life calls on strengths we haven’t needed before?

The Truman Effect: when adversity reveals hidden strengths

Psychologists sometimes refer to this idea as the Truman Effect.

The name comes from Harry Truman, the relatively unknown vice-president who unexpectedly became president of the United States after Franklin Roosevelt died. Almost overnight he stepped into the role and proved remarkably capable.

The lesson researchers draw from this is simple. Crises do not necessarily create character, they reveal it.

In other words, we may possess strengths that simply have not been called upon yet.

Strengths are not something we suddenly acquire. Often they are capacities we already have, waiting to be called upon.

Strengths you carry in your back pocket

When I used to teach character strengths to children in schools, I often explained it to students like this.

Imagine you have extra strengths tucked away in your back pocket: they might not be immediately visible, and you may not use them every day, but they are still there - ready for the moment when the situation calls upon them.

The real value of understanding strengths is recognising that these ways of thinking, acting and being are always available to you.

The strength was always there. It simply had not been needed yet.

Identifying our strengths helps us understand what brings out the best in us, and how to draw on those capacities more intentionally.

Identify your own character strengths

So to answer the reader’s question. Studies show our core strengths tend to remain relatively stable across time. But the strengths we rely on most can shift, especially when life challenges us in new ways. I wrote about this in one of my earlier books, Resilient Grieving, when forgiveness suddenly became a strength I could intentionally draw upon – one that had not previously been particularly significant for me.

Which is one of the reasons I encourage people to identify their strengths in the first place, and revisit them when their life circumstances change.

If you have not already done this, we have created a simple Strengths Profile worksheet you can access and download here, to help you identify the strengths that feel most like you. I encourage you to do it, because so many people have told me how life changing and revealing this can be.

Some will be strengths you already use every day. Others may still be quietly waiting in your back pocket, ready for the moment when life calls them forward. But all of them are available to you, and the more you use them - in work, love and play - the better, more energised and engaged you’ll feel.

If you found this useful, please consider sharing with a friend or colleague.

If you’re interested in me running a strengths workshop at your event, please get in touch here, or you can waitlist for my next public webinar here.