Better understanding of my 5 Themes.

During my last year in college, I had the opportunity to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder for I was part of my home org’s executive board of officers. It served as our training to be able to get to know ourselves better, and in turn, perform better in our respective tasks.

After taking the test, I got my Top 5 Themes:

• Empathy

• Learner

• Communication

• Strategic

• Responsibility

The Top 5 Themes, from what I understand, are the ones that are most prominent and most used in one’s everyday life. In total, there are over 34 themes that can be ordered in whatever way possible, depending on how much you use them.

For now, I’ll just summarize what I realized for each one, and how they all work together in me. I plan on writing a post for every theme though, in order for me to look back at the workshops we’ve done and reinstate these ideas or realizations in me.

A quick look at each of my 5 themes

First on my list is Empathy. Based on the name of the theme itself, I try to understand the feelings another person has, maybe by putting myself in their own shoes or by relating my own experiences with theirs.

As for Learner, well… again, as the theme’s name says, I like learning things. I’d like to think that I like learning new things, and seeing this on the second of my list makes sense to me. There’s really not much more to say about this.

Next, I have Communication. This one also makes sense for me because I know I like conveying certain messages across. I also know I like talking. A lot. I’ve already accepted this fact about me, and now I just try and do my best to make it useful.

The fourth one I have is Strategic, and this one surprised me at first. During the time I took this test, I wasn’t sure I could consider myself Strategic. I didn’t really get the specific description that was given to me by the test. Also, I was at that part of my life where I felt like I just did things because they were there, or that I didn’t really have any “plan” about what I did. Eventually, I came to realize that I do plan a lot of things, I just didn’t give that much meaning into them.

Lastly, I have Responsibility. Again, like the first three, I understood why I got this one in my Top 5 themes. I know that I like taking control when I think there is none—although this might cause some harm along the way, haha—and I take responsibility for my actions, too. I also think being an officer that time had something to do with this result, but that might just be me.

How they all work together

Right off the bat, I think I make Strategic and Responsibility work side-by-side. I don’t remember any instance wherein I didn’t plan anything when there was something I knew I was responsible for.

During the times when I talk to friends, I know Empathy and Communication surface the most. I know this also helps when I’m trying to convey my plans (hello, Strategic!) to my fellow team members (yay, Responsibility!) and understand their perspective when participating in meetings or discussions. I might need a bit more practice, though. Haha.

Learner lets me go through life as a curious person that loves learning about all the cool and exciting things. It lets me look at the world through a “curious” lens: there’s always something I don’t know about some thing. I want to know what that thing is.

More realizations

After I learned my Top 5 Themes and went through the workshops with my fellow officers, I felt like I was smarter with how I worked. By that I mean, I knew when I could utilize certain things I was good at, and I’d focus to hone those more than obsessing over the things I knew I wasn’t good at.

I eventually got to know myself better. I also learned how to trust myself. I still have those days wherein I doubt my own decisions and still hesitate on certain things (even when everything else has already been taken cared of), but I’m still working on it.

Learning about my strengths made me feel like I was doing something right. And that’s not to say that I don’t do anything wrong anymore, no. I still am aware and acknowledge my faults—sometimes… to a fault (ha!)—but it’s a nice to also be aware of the good things that I do, however small they may seem.