Knowing Your Strengths AND Weaknesses!

written by Emma Bartley

“Humility is the mother of all virtues – purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent. If you are humble, nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed, you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint you will not put yourself on a pedestal.” 
 Mother Teresa

The most important part of humility is about truly knowing yourself. One way to better know yourself is to become aware of both your strengths and your weaknesses and recognizing that others have the same. Some may think that humility is always putting yourself down or underplaying your strengths so that you can raise others up. But this is not true. Instead it is knowing your whole self, strengths and weaknesses, which will help keep you from becoming too inflated or deflated. Truly knowing yourself and being comfortable with who you are allows you to begin to move past yourself and focus on the needs of others.  It allows you to truly connect with others.

This, however, can be very hard. It can be especially difficult to examine yourself for your weaknesses. A tool to help you accomplish this and to learn more about yourself, though, is the Myers Briggs test.

The Myers Briggs test is a personality test, and you can take a modification of this test at this website that will determine your personality based on 4 different factors. Then, at the end, you will be given a list of your personality type’s strengths and weaknesses.

This test is scarily accurate. I, as an INTJ, learned that I have a quick, imaginative mind and am hardworking, but I also learned that I can be overly analytical or arrogant. While I may have known some of these things, it is very helpful to see it in words to better understand yourself.

After becoming aware of these strengths and weaknesses, I am able to work on my weaknesses and nourish my strengths. I encourage you to take this test and to look at the information. Awareness is one step closer on the path of humility!