Your Biggest Weakness?
I'm in the middle of Ray Dalio's "Principles". He aggressively seeks out people's personality baselines in order to have more effective communication- i.e. put a detail-oriented person with a big picture person to stay on track but produce quality work, but have them know and accept that they will disagree about the priorities.
It got me thinking if the subset of us here on this forum have similar problems/strengths, and how we have learned to deal with or improved them. For me:
Shitty at concisely stating my view. I address this by having all important conversations face to face, writing in a journal daily, talking to strangers, and trying to express my unvoiced ideas on online forums.
Good at connecting the dots (stole this from Strengths Finder test). I hone this skill by expanding my knowledge base and drawing up metaphors every time I learn a new topic.
How about you, monkeys? What is it you do to recover from your biggest fault and enhance your greatest strength?
alcohol, overconfidence, back problems
Back problems are rough man. Had them since I was 18. Although the prescriptions for it are awesome.
You both should try yoga and deep stretching. I cleared up mine this way.
I'm a perfectionist, and I never give up on something.
The perfectionist part of me sees things in binary - either it's good or it's shit, no shades between. This can be a huge problem when time constraints pressure you to deliver something that's "just good enough", because it absolutely kills motivation.
Never giving up is also a problem. Sometimes it's better to just accept something for what it is, cut your losses, and move on. But it never works like that for me. I actually envy people that can simply cut something off, and never look back again.
Both combined will just drain energy and resources
Both of these were famous traits of Steve Jobs. If you haven't already, go through Walter Isaacson's biography of him- it goes into a little detail of how he was able to address these double edged swords. From my memory, Steve surrounded himself with strong-willed people he trusted to tell him when to stop. He didn't always heed their advice but from the sounds of it, the method helped a ton.
Of course almost everyone in the world has seen the benefits of these particular traits when manifested in him- so don't think of them as totally negative.
Interviewer: "What's your biggest weakness?"
You: "I work too hard, I never give up, and I always try to be the best that I can."
Don't be this guy.
Didn't you retire?
he works too hard and never gives up
I'm entirely incapable of respecting anybody's opinion unless I perceive them to be more successful than myself at whatever the subject at hand is. I'd rather be wrong than believe someone I'm not convinced is right. I'm the kind of guy who you state a basic fact to and I surreptitiously whip out my phone and wiki it to confirm.
Hah nice, that must work excellently for keeping things straight, but dealing with the pre-google generations must be a major pain. I keep a buffer in my head of shit I don't believe from people, I'll just kinda go along with them until I can verify. This sounds like a manifestation of the Halo Effect, and seems super common with the IT crowd. One quote that helped me was Emerson's “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.”
I can't find the link but I remember reading about people finding ways to address this trait on lesswrong.
Funny you mention IT - I used to work in IT. And I agree entirely on the Halo effect; I assume things about people based on the initial impression I get from them, and it's very difficult for me to shake that impression. I do this with everything. As a matter of fact, just an hour ago I skipped on a dental appointment at a clinic I'd never been to simply because they called to ask me to come in early. I had a moment in my head where I went "why is your time more important than mine?" Then I envisioned them wasting my time in the future, and then I came home and decided to study instead.
I will say this: the quote about everyone you meet being superior in some way is also a crucial part of my belief system. Maybe this should go in that thread about conflicting beliefs we hold on to.
Ah, so you're an asshole.
Nailed it
Very raw but I feel ya.
Comparing myself to other people.
Also, bonus: I used to have a massive problem with ego - and would constantly compare myself to peers. I made everything into a competition, and would be seething with rage if/when someone else did better than me.
This turned into a problem because I refused to seek help, and especially from those performing better than me. I was basically equating them to opponents and competitors, even though we were co-workers and colleagues - so as you can guess, team work was not my strongest point. If I was performing better than them, they were dead weight losers, if they were performing better than me, I would avoid them in a jealous rage.
It took me years to learn how to park my ego at the door, and to cultivate an open mindset - and it's one of the best thing I've ever done. I've since noticed that some of the smartest and most successful people will enthusiastically and genuinely seek help, and also teach others.
Don't be afraid to ask for help, just because you fear it will make you look dumb or inferior.
Glad you're getting help with this. Super annoying to work with people with this attitude.
Personally, I always try to do my best at work....Just a personal work ethic thing for me. I'm not trying to compete with anyone. It's very frustrating when other colleagues with this attitude start getting pissed at you for doing your job well when you are in no way trying to compete them.
“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me”
Great book
Passionate Debater: Can be considered as both a strength and a weakness. I love to debate in order to listen to different view points. However, my inquiries often rub people the wrong way, which brings me plenty of people trouble
Natural Contrarian: Never been a yes man and never will be. I often used my skill in 'politician response' to avoid responding to view points i don't agree with, especially when they come from my superiors. But people can tell when i think they are idiot.
Massive Ego: Naturally unhealthy to relationships. Also spend too much time talking about myself
What's your Myers-Briggs? You sound like textbook ENTP (takes one to know one). 16 Personalities had a writeup that helped me deal with being a debater, and now that I know it's a thing I let people know upfront that debate doesn't necessarily mean disagreement.
INTP. Aside from my propensity to debate, I don't talk much unless I have something valuable to add. One of my friends is an ENTP, so he often debates me on different issues. It can be fun during the intellectual debate but during a normal conversation, it can more contentious especially when it comes to morals (i have none)
I was about to write the above poster that I am the exact same, then I came across your reply. I am an ENTP, also.
Weakness is that I tend to defer to authority, even if just to stroke their ego, even if I'm fairly confident I know more about the subject at hand. Could probably be better at picking a stance, and not changing it when one of my superiors has a different opinion. But how confident am I in the subject versus a superior who probably has more experience in the area?
Another weakness, and also sometimes a strength, is that I tend to hold grudges and will be extremely petty sometimes, and am always skeptical towards others' actions. For example if someone doesn't reply to my message, or doesn't make eye contact when I see them around, a lot of times I assume the worst, instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt, and it'll take a lot for me to hold them in the same regard as before.
Your dialogue is important to your development and growth as well as the company's. In some circumstances, you might have a different approach than your boss.
With a different approach, you either get the right answer in a different way or the wrong one in the wrong way. Both are important as they foster learning and development. If you're not approaching things in the company in a proper manner and don't voice feedback to your boss, it may hamper your development.
I don't ask people for help when I need it. Too damn independent.
I can bullshit better than most people and exude confidence. This leads me into situations where a lot is dumped on me and I have literally no clue what I'm doing. A house of cards in a sense.
I’m too competitive. I’d risk everything to go from 2nd place to 1st.
Women and alcohol. In all seriousness though probably being a perfectionist and maybe being bi-polar. Some days I feel on top of the world and I have some great self belief. Other days I feel like shit, stressed and think I'm a failure and won't get anywhere worth while. Its bad for my mental health but in those bad days I work a lot harder and try and better my position.
Remember that all the mental diagnoses are scales, not binary options. You're probably just a little higher than most on the bipolar scale. This is what I tell myself anyway...
I always just call it riding the wave, when I have mania hit I go with it and focus on improving my life, when the lows come just recognize it and maybe don't make major life choices, especially related to personal relationships.
Honestly, my biggest weakness is that I cannot perform at a job that I am not interested in. If I do not take great interest in the job itself, the industry, my colleagues and manager, etc., my performance tends to lack. It almost got me in trouble in investment banking where I found myself in a coverage group covering an industry that I found extremely boring and senior bankers who I could not stand.
This applies to me too. At my job areas of interest, I'm excellent. In the administrative stuff, I'm terrible.
Funny because I actually enjoy the administrative aspects of my job (e.g. scheduling management meetings, managing due diligence trackers, etc.). It gives me a nice break from the other areas of my job that require a lot of brain power.
Ah that's a good one. Shit projects or shit managers are great incentives to not give a shit.
Not asking questions or admitting I do not understand something. I would rather act like I completely understand and look it up later than admit I have no idea.
Weakness: I can be too abrasive and visceral when I'm angry. I probably get too angry too quickly too. I don't consider myself mean to people.. I just have a strong sense of loyalty. So when someone seems to do something to intentionally screw me, I say things I shouldn't say. Same goes with laziness.. I just cannot stand it when someone makes excuses to not do something or that something is too hard. Figure a way out and execute. If you fail, adjust and execute again. The days/months/years will pass regardless if you wallow in excuses feeling sorry for yourself or if you keep executing on intelligent plans.
Strength: I consider myself a strong contrarian. I think being abrasive to people allows me to be comfortable disagreeing with them. And I am able to admit when I've been wrong. And as mentioned in the weakness section, I am very driven. I don't care to have a well rounded life. I just want to maximize what I do while I'm here.
Those can also be considered strengths.
I believe these are still reasonable weaknesses since they expose you to harm. For that reason many people protect themselves against these traits. In the long run I believe your positive nature will win the day.
Weakness: I'm really bad at explaining things to other people. I have a very chaotic thought process that ultimately gets me to the right answer. But when someone tries to break it down into a structured approach, they usually get a different answer. Ultimately the structured approach of thinking gets them the wrong answer because they typically missed something. Because my brain works in a less structured manner and tries to consider every single possibility, I waste a lot of time arguing why someone else is wrong.
Strength: After people realize I'm usually right, they just stop questioning me and take my answers.
But what I really should work on is turning the chaos into something more digestible.
ADHD^100
Interview answer: Getting caught in the weeds (cliche, but extremely true for me -- I can spend over an hour alone making a graph on a pitch look perfect while I could have been focusing on something more important)
Real answer: Mental health
Impatience and anxiety. Creating or blowing up minor problems in my head which weigh me down or make me paranoid.
Biggest weaknesses I could never let go, which comes from my introvert personality/ego:
I don't like to small talk/talk about useless shit with people I don't like or find useless for me (eg. dumb analysts/unrelated colleagues at work). The bottom line is that I talk too little, and only with who I like. Implies that extroverts sitting next to me never understand my personality and always think that I am quiet because I don't like them or I am stressed, despite that when they talk to me I can manage to respond very naturally and friendly. I just simply never start a conversation with them and only start with selected people most of the time. I just refuse myself to talk for the sake of talking.
Anyone else have problems being like 5-15 minutes late everywhere? I'm just constantly a little optimistic about how long shit will take. I really need to put some system in place to stop this. I was late to eviction court yesterday. That's pretty bad.
yeah kind of. At the last second I'll think of a bunch of things that i should do before leaving to go somewhere (bathroom, grab charger (can't find it so have to spend a bunch of time looking), something else random) and end up leaving just a bit too late. I care about not being late so I'll walk really fast to try and get there on time and make up for leaving too late.
I also have this thing where I'm very productive and do a lot of shit and productivity begets more productivity and I feel better and more and more energetic as I do more shit - it's like a frenzies mixture of driving around the city from spot to spot, taking calls, doing texts, emails, computer work, and then intense workouts thrown in usually earlier in the AM or somethings in the early afternoon, and always some heat and cold exposure, until eventually, rarely, once in a while, I get these little heart episodes where my heart starts beating out of my chest and pain radiates from my chest down my arms and up my neck and I'm forced to lie down or curl up in a ball for like 20-30 minutes until I feel more normal again. Don't know what that's all about. I almost called 911 once. But then I decided I'd rather just take what's coming than enter the fucking medical system again.
You can't be that busy if you've got the time to call me a "big gay fag" on an anonymous online forum there, champ.
I'm as busy as I want to be. I take little 2-minute WSO breaks when I'm on my PC all the time. And shitting on you was top of the list. But you're getting boring and I'm going to begin to pay you less mind.
possibly a mini panic attack? Sounds similar to how I've heard people describe it so maybe look up descriptions and see if it matches what you experience
While I've been told my attention to detail is good, I think it could be better. I hate checking models, etc., so I try and make them as easy as possible to audit.
A bigger problem is that sometimes I have a hard time commanding respect / projecting authority. I have worked with a number of people I would consider the strong, silent type. I think I talk too much and reveal too many personal details. I'm not going around telling my life's story at the drop of a hat, but making an effort to maintain a certain mystique is valuable. It's similar to the dynamics at play in flirtation/romantic relationships.
So far as a newby, it's been getting flustered with ambiguous expectations. When I got my first real assignment I was totally bent out of shape about not having enough direction. What I've found is that you just gotta sack up and make executive decisions yourself. The superiors will always respect someone that presents them a deliverable with a clear direction and cohesive vision. It costs your VP/Associate very little to mark up your draft IC memo and cross out certain slides. But if you're leaning on them to basically create the entire outline for you, then you're not adding a lot of value.
I live in the future and thus never give myself the chance to enjoy my accomplishments. I think a lot of the people here have this mentality of "on to the next". Also, more often then not I am extremely hard on myself and take minor criticism to heart.
Anxiety
Being afraid to speak to truth to power because I value being employed
Caring far less and performing not to my standard if I'm not inspired by the project or project leader
Procrastinating by posting on WallStreetOasis.com
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Yeah I do this anxiety thing where I reread an email before sending it 500 times...
You send an email 500 times?
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