“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”   ― Albert Einstein

You’ve heard me talk about leveraging strengths, and you’ve probably heard me tell the story of the poor little bunny who ended up in a gang and addicted to crack.  While this great quote certainly speaks to playing to our strengths, it also reminds us to pay attention to the strengths in others.

If you’ve ever dismissed someone because of the uniform they were wearing, the position they held, or because after a conversation you thought to yourself, “Now he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed”, I’d encourage you to look again.

Everyone is a genius…in some way.  There’s a great story about Tommy the bagger.   If you haven’t had a chance to watch this video, I’d highly recommend it.  Click here to see the video.

While identifying your strengths and talents is critical to success, your ability to see the best in others plays a huge part in determining  your happiness.  In every interaction, we have a choice.  We can be judgmental and look for the flaws in others, or we can take the time to find their genius.  Which do you look for?

27 Comments

27 Comments

  2. I watched the Johnny video and love it! I hadn’t seen it before. Thanks for the good reminder, Anne. It’s true, you never really know who you are talking to and should never be too quick to judge.

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  6. Thank you for sharing. That is a great story about Johnny the bagger. It really is the little things that make a difference.

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    • Hi Eddie! Great to hear from you. I had seen that story a while ago, but the quote reminded me of it. It gives me goose bumps every time 🙂 Hope you are doing well! Have a great week.

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  7. Finding the positive in everyone also encourages the positive vibes. When someone is being judgemental of others usually are the negative people around that are not happy with the way they live and so they must belittle others on their strengths to feel better. Thank you Anne!! Have a great day! 🙂

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    • Hey Juanita,

      You are so right. It’s unfortunately all too easy to get sucked into that negativity and unhappiness if you’re not deliberate about it. I hoep you have a great week!

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  8. Hey, I am sure you are familiar with Strenght Finders, it is such a quick read and I love it! I just wanted to let you know how many people walked out of your session last week at SW Showcase and loved you. I attended another session and missed seeing you, but you were a crowd pleaser for sure. I hope you little guy is having a better year this year. I asked, but no one seemed to know.
    Take care,
    Barbara

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    • Hi Barbara! Great to hear from you. I love both Strenghfinders and Now, Discover Your Strengths…all of their books are great. You made my day 🙂 I’m so glad the session was well-received. I had a blast at the conference. Evan is doing really well (thanks so much for asking). He has now been home from the hospital for just over a year and is workign hard every day. Thanks for thinking of us and for taking the time to comment!

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  11. Anne, Look forward to your weekly motivational and uplifting messages. You’ll brighten up the lives of many folks today as this message will be shared within our team. Thank you!

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  12. Great words of wisdom to live by & I loved the bagger story. WOW how wonderful is that.

    Thanks so much,

    Stephanie Coats

    Reply

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