

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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How can you develop your weaknesses into strengths? What does it take to strengthen your skills?
Improving weaknesses and developing strengths requires not only seeing where you’re doing well but also being able to self-criticize and find weak points that you can develop into strengths. You can do this with a simple four-step process.
Learn how to walk through this process and get better at anything.
Step #1: Identify the Weak Point You Want to Improve
The first step in improving weaknesses is to identify a specific weak point to focus on. You can’t work on more than one weak point at a time because it would be difficult to track your technique and progress properly. If you’re moving erratically between weak points and techniques, you can’t be certain which of them actually improved your performance—thus, you can’t replicate that improvement or move on to solving the next issue. In contrast, devoting your energy and time to excelling at one aspect of your field lets you accurately identify which techniques improve your performance and correct weak points in a steady, consistent process of developing strengths.
To choose a weak point, first choose a task you need to complete. Then, determine which skills help you complete that task. Finally, identify which of those skills needs the most improvement—which skill you’re worst at. Returning to our manager example, the skills that help you give feedback to your team members are active listening and clear communication. If you’re already an active listener but you struggle to articulate your thoughts, you most need to develop clarity. Thus, you decide to focus on improving that weak point.
(Shortform note: When choosing which task to work on, it may be helpful to use the assessment and prioritization method outlined by Jeff Sutherland in Scrum. Make a list of your tasks and then identify which of them will generate the most value in the least amount of time. That’s the most important task, so you should complete it first. Arguably, you could then apply this method to identify the skill you should focus on. First, make a list of skills relevant to the task. Then, identify which skill you’re worst at that will best help you complete the task.)
Deliberate Practice and the Scientific Method This approach to tackling weak points one at a time mirrors the scientific method, which scientists use to develop and test hypotheses. In addition to isolating one element of an experiment so you can accurately understand cause and effect, the scientific method requires that you control for bias—that you don’t let your own opinions or desires influence your interpretation of the results. You may need to control for bias in deliberate practice, too. For instance, you may be biased toward seeing progress where there isn’t any. If you believe that you’ve sufficiently improved your weak point, you may move on to another one prematurely. Scientists control for bias by having other scientists replicate their experiments and seeing if the results match. Since deliberate practice is personalized to your specific tasks and weak points, though, this method may not work here. Instead, you could potentially control for bias by asking your peers for feedback: If they agree that you’re improving in your chosen skill, you know that you’re actually making progress, instead of simply seeing improvement because you want to see it. |
Step #2: Create an Improvement Plan
Once you’ve chosen a weak point, you must create a plan for how you’ll improve that weak point while completing your task. This helps you commit: You know exactly what you need to do, so you can focus on performing the skill to the best of your ability. (Shortform note: As well as helping you commit, some management experts say making plans can increase adaptability and ensure you use resources effectively. However, they caution against becoming too fixated on a plan: Monitor how well the plan is working and be ready to adjust it if necessary.)
To create this plan, consider the process you usually use when completing your task. Then, set a specific goal for what you’ll do differently to practice your chosen skill. For example, your normal process for giving feedback might be to briefly outline all your feedback and then ask your subordinate if they have any questions. You only go into more detail about the points they ask questions about. Instead, you might decide to practice clarity by discussing each point in more detail from the beginning. Specifically, you decide to devote at least five minutes to discussing each feedback point and to include an example of each in your discussion (if you praise their leadership, you’ll share an example of a time they were a strong leader).
How to Set Specific Goals You should set specific goals because they’re more motivating, some productivity experts say. To set a specific goal, answer five questions: 1. What’s my goal? 2. Why does my goal matter? 3. Who’s involved in my efforts to complete my goal? 4. Where do I have to go to complete my goal? 5. Which resources or limits do I have in completing my goal? When setting a goal for how you’ll complete your task differently, you may want to analyze your strengths as well as your weak spot. Finding a way to use your strengths to improve your weak spot can help you overcome the discomfort of confronting your weaknesses, some psychology experts say. To do this, make a list of your strengths and then highlight the ones that could help you overcome your chosen weak spot. Continuing our example, your strength might be keeping meticulously organized records. You can use those records to find relevant examples that boost your clarity. You could also keep a record of how your team members react to your new feedback methods, so you can track your progress. |

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Here's what you'll find in our full Talent Is Overrated summary:
- How some people can perform at a globally impressive level while the average person can't
- Why you need to shift your mindset from talent to training
- How to use the two approaches to deliberate practice successfully