...be it relationships, fitness, business or finances, you just seem to be like a butterfly hitting a glass ceiling in search of that magical opening that will let you out into the open skies...  

The answer lies in understanding your "Recipe for Success".

 We all develop strategies for achieving results in life.  We try different strategies, continuously test them and when they prove themselves successful, we become more and more attached to them.  We list them in our "Book of Recipes for Success".

The challenge is that there comes a point where the formula stops working.  That's when it becomes a glass ceiling.  That thing that got you to where you are now is the exact same thing preventing you from moving forward to the next level.  

Countless times I hear from my clients "I'm such a good worker and I became a line manager 3 years ago, but now I can't seem to move forward into a middle management role" or "I am so focused on my sporting acheivements and I've got into the top 3 of my class or competition, but can't move forward to become the winner" or "I've been single for such a long time and now I've attracted a wonderful partner but something seems to be missing in our relationship" and so on. 

The truth is that the Recipe is merely a pattern of how you utilise your strengths.  The Recipe for Success limits your creativity, growth and choices.  So what is the actual strength - the innate talent that you have?  Equally, what are your non-strengths (commonly referred to as weaknesses)?  How can you learn to develop new strategies using your strengths and mitigating your non-strengths?

The answers to these questions can open that magical door to the next level.

Working your way through the questions below will assist you in gaining an understanding of your true strenghths:

• What did you enjoy doing most as a child?
• What strength did this activity cultivate?
• What are the results of this strength?  (the wins)
• What results are you wanting, that you have not achieved with this Recipe for Success?
• What are other consequences of this formula?  (unintended ones)
• What is the flipside of this strength?
• What limitations have you created with this formula?
  

Most people believe that we should work on our weaknesses because the strengths will take care of themselves.  This is an interesting belief.  Let's say you are not a pilot, whatever other occupation you may have.  In other words flying planes is a non-strength for you.  If you decide to go on an overseas holiday, do you go and study for a pilot's license to fly yourself there or do you "leverage out" this task to someone for whom it is a strength?

What about if doing dentall surgery is your non-strength?  Do you get a dentist's degree to remove your own wisdom teeth? 

The idea of focusing on our strengths and mitigating the weaknesses seems to be so commonsense in these extreme examples.  Yet in other areas of life, there is an expectation that we continuously focus on our non-strength in order to develop in those areas.   

What would happen if instead, you were to focus on your strengths and mitigate your non-strengths?  Mitigating a non-strength can take many forms - you may be able to get somewhat better at it, team up with someone for whom it is a strength, find a different way of achieving the same outcome or any number of other ways.  

I challenge you to focus on your strength for 30 days, to look for ways of mitigating your non-strengths and to notice the results you are getting.  Become divorced from your Recipe for Success, but stay married to your strength and the outcome you are after.

See you at the top!

Katia Leonaite, BA, BEd, MBA, NLP Practitioner