What are your strengths?

We all know that we have our strengths and weaknesses, but in what concrete terms do we know this? Martin Seligman, pioneer of the Positive psychology field, has developed a test to measure your strengths. It's called the VIA Strengths test and comprises 240 questions.

You can register and take the test at http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx

It's free to register and there are many other tests you can take. Of course, there's an implicit assumption that you know yourself well. Answering these questions requires you to think more about yourself and then assess how much each of the statements describes you. Also, these strengths can change with time, especially if you have just experienced a major shift in your life, be it work, family or others.

These character strengths are classified according to the following criteria*:
1. Ubiquity -widely recognised across cultures
2. Fulfilling - it must contribute to individual fulfilment, satisfaction and happiness (in a broad sense)
3. Morally valued - is valued in its own right and not as a means to an end
4. Does not diminish others - elevates others who witness it, producing admiration, not jealousy
5. Nonfelicitous opposite - has obvious antonyms that are "negative"
6. Traitlike - is an individual difference with demonstrable generality and stability
7. Measurable - has been successfully measured by researchers as an individual difference
8. Distinctiveness - is not redundant with other character strengths
9. Paragons - is strikingly embodied in some individuals
10. Prodigies - is precosiously shown by some children or youth
11. Selective absence - is missing altogether in some individuals
12. Institutions - is the deliberate target of society practices and rituals that try to cultivate it

* Seligman et al (2005)

While you might think that with 12 criteria, it might be difficult to even find a single strength, you will find that there are 24 altogether, classified according to six overarching virtues that almost every culture in the world endorses. They are: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence (Dahlsgarrd, Peterson & Seligman, in press). Which virtue category, if I may call it that, do you fall under?

I would think that for some people it would be extremely obvious i.e. when they find out what their signature strength is, they will not have an 'aha' moment, but simply nod in agreement. That's what happened for me. However, it doesn't warrant it useless, instead it is a clearer articulation of what really you are good at. It also doesn't mean that the other strengths listed are your weaknesses; it simply means that amongst 24 strengths, there are some that are your signature strengths. As the word signature implies, it exemplifies you. You embody these characteristics and most of your friends would be able to identify it.

I have to add here that I find this test diferent from tests like the MBTI (Myers-Brigg) Personality test. The MBTI seeems to categorise people according to personalities and it almost seems as if personalities cannot change. Although it has been explained that the results of the MBTI only explain generally what type of person you are (for instance, I'm an ENFP), but it should be noted that personalities exist along a continuum. This means that while I'm generally an F (Feeling), at work, I can be a T (Thinking). For signature strengths, I have this feeling that it's not so much determining the personality of the person, but what the person can harness in themselves to make themselves lastingly happy - and that in itself lies the difference. The MBTI only tells you how you would like things to be done, but the VIA strengths test tells you more than that - it tells you who you are and how, by exercising these strengths, you can find happiness.

This notion might seem unbelievable to many, but it certainly has opened my eyes to a different way of looking at myself. I hope it will open yours too.