How to Be a Strengthskeeper in 6 Simple Steps

We need people who help us to stay connected with our strengths—the inner resources we have inside of us that help us to survive, thrive, and handle life’s challenges. This is why my goal is to get you, and as many people as possible, excited and curious about being Strengthskeepers.

Just like a scorekeeper keeps track of the score in a game and the timekeeper keeps track of the time, a Strengthskeeper is the person in a group or team who keeps track of people’s strengths. The Strengthskeeper takes responsibility for helping people to recognize and remember the strengths within themselves and one another. Because let’s face it, we all forget about strengths sometimes.

Since it is almost impossible to have well-being or to work well with others without using and sharing our strengths, being a StrengthsKeeper is one of the most important roles that you can ever play.

You don’t have to be an expert on strengths to start being a Strengthskeeper. You can and will learn as you go, so don’t be afraid to begin today!

Here is all it takes to be a StrengthsKeeper for your people in 6 simple steps:

1.      Select a group of people who you would like to help recognize and remember their strengths. It could be your family, a team, a committee or a club. It could be a group that already exists or a group of friends, classmates, acquaintances, neighbors, or co-workers that you bring together. Commit to acting as a Strengthskeeper for them. Once you’ve made this decision, find a way to remind yourself of your commitment.

2.      Learn what your own signature strengths are in less than 15 minutes by taking the free, scientifically-validated VIA Character Strengths Survey.  Once you know your signature strengths, make it a habit to keep looking for new ways to understand and use them in your daily life.

3.      Encourage your people to take the VIA Character Strengths Survey for themselves and to share their results with you and the rest of your group. Don’t forget to share your strengths with them as well. Keep a list of everyone’s strengths so that all of you can remember what they are.

4.      Start conversations and organize activities that help the people in your group to recognize and remember the strengths within themselves and one another. Share information that helps your people understand and remember why an ongoing practice of focusing on strengths is so important. Check out www.allourstrengths.com as an always-growing source of ideas, tips, and encouragement.

5.      Look for opportunities to recognize and celebrate the strengths of the people in your group! Help them celebrate each other’s strengths!

6.      Repeat these steps often!

There you have it! The “art of Strengthskeeping” summed up for you in 6 simple steps.  Of course, there are many ways to approach each of these steps, so stay in touch with us at allourstrengths.com to keep learning more.  Also go to the viacharacter.org site to stay current on the latest and greatest news and research on the science of character strengths.

The world needs all our strengths.

We need the Strengthskeepers of the world

to help us remember them.

So You’ve Taken the VIA Survey to Find Out Your Signature Strengths…Now What?

So, you did it. You took the VIA Character Strengths Survey and now you have your results. If you are like most people, chances are that at the very top of the list there are some pretty, wonderful qualities that you recognize as key parts of your personality. But, also like most people, you probably can’t help noticing that there are some pretty important character strengths at the very bottom of your list as well.

And despite all the good things near the top of your list of strengths, is it really okay that some things like Love, Honesty, Kindness, or Self-Regulation are at the very bottom of your list? What do these character strengths survey results say about who you are? And what should you do next now that you have them?

Let’s go ahead and answer one of the first questions that most people ask. What about those strengths at the bottom of your list? The qualities at the bottom of your list are not weaknesses. They are your lesser strengths. Like pretty much every human being in the world, you have and use all 24 of these character strengths in your life from time to time.

However, the strengths near the top are the ones that you use most often. They are the ones that come most easily and naturally to you. They are called your “signature strengths” and they are the ones that you find most energizing to use. Your signature strengths best describe how you tend to show up to others and for others. 

Your lesser strengths at the bottom are the ones that are least energizing to you and that you do not rely on as heavily in your day to day life. If you choose to do so, you can always put more effort into developing those lesser strengths. You can work on making your lesser strengths a bigger part of your daily life. But the best way to develop your lesser strengths still involves using your signature strengths to help. For example, if Creativity is a signature strength of yours, you can use it to come up with some creative ways to grow your lesser strength of Self-Regulation. Or if one of your lesser strengths is Humor, you can use your signature strength of Love of Learning to learn more about how to be funny or find humor in everyday situations.

When your finances allow you to do so, you will gain a lot from purchasing the more detailed “VIA Me Profile” report of your strengths from the VIA Institute on Character. At the time of this writing, it costs $20 for the adult version of this report, and $10 for the youth version. The price is definitely worth it if you can afford it. The VIA Me Profile report provides more in-depth information about each of your strengths, how your strengths work together, and ideas about how you can apply your particular constellation of strengths in your daily life. However, even if you are not able to purchase the VIA Me Profile report right now, there is a lot that you can learn and do with your free VIA strengths results.

My favorite approach for focusing on your strengths is a 3-step process I like to call “ACE-ing Your Strengths.” ACE stands for Attention, Conversation, Exercise and the really good news is that after you finish reading this post, you will already have access to everything you need to begin:

ACE-ing Your Strengths:

1)     Attention – This first step involves paying attention to your strengths and learning more about them.  Start by asking yourself these 3 great questions from The Power of Character Strengths, by Ryan Niemiec and Robert McGrath, an excellent resource for learning about what is best inside yourself:

• How does this character strength describe the real me? In what ways is it a true description of me?

• How is this strength of value to me? Why is it important to me?

• What are the costs of this strength for me? In what ways does this strength not serve me well?

Answer these questions for each of your Top 5 strengths. In addition, if the strengths that appear in the #6 or #7 slots of your results feel equally essential to who you are, chances are that they could be one of your signature strengths as well. Answer these 3 questions for any strengths that you feel to be essential to who you are. However, limit your focus to no more than 5 to 7 primary strengths for now. Information about each strength is also available for free on the www.viacharacter.org site.

2)     Conversation – The second step is conversation. It’s important to talk about your strengths with others. Have a conversation about your results with 3 other people in your life. Share your results with them and ask them “How have you seen these results show up in me?” Be curious about their strengths as well. Encourage them to take the VIA and to share their results with you. Once you have both have had time to do some self-reflection about your signature strengths using the 3 questions listed above, talk about your answers with one another.

As an ongoing practice, identify a couple of people whom you can continue to talk with about each other’s strengths. From time to time, take a few minutes to talk with each other about these questions:

How are my strengths showing up in my life right now? How can I use my strengths to help me: face a current challenge, improve a relationship, or make progress on a goal or dream?

Offer each other encouragement and ideas for using strengths. And if you don’t already have a friend or two with whom you can share these kinds of things, talking about strengths together, and appreciating each other’s signature strengths, is a great way to turn almost anyone into that kind of friend.

3)     Exercise – The third step of ACE focuses on using or “exercising” our strengths. Most of the proven benefits of signature strengths come from actually using them and not just from knowing about them. Start a list of the small ways you currently use each of your strengths in your daily life. On the www.viacharacter.org site you will find a list of “101 Strengths-Based Actions to Connect from a Safe Distance” that you can use during the COVID-19 pandemic and anytime. Also, on the Resources page of this site, you will find a list of questions to help you think about ways that you can use your strengths to be helpful to others during this pandemic and beyond.

Whether you are working on your strengths for your own well-being or serving as a Strengthskeeper* for your family, team, group, or community, the important thing to remember is that “ACE” is not something that you do just once after taking the VIA survey. Understanding and using your strengths in your daily life is an ongoing practice that is essential for your well-being, just like brushing your teeth, working out, and eating healthy foods. But the good news about this well-being practice is that you will find it to be easy, energizing, meaningful…and fun!

So now that you have your character strengths survey results and a simple plan for what to do with them, it’s time to get started. Enjoy “ACE-ing your strengths!”

*Just like a scorekeeper keeps a record of the score, or a timekeeper keeps track of the time, a Strengthskeeper keeps track of strengths. The Strengthskeeper is the person in a group who is responsible for helping people to realize and remember the strengths within themselves and one another. Find more info about becoming a Strengthskeeper for your people throughout this site.

Desperately Seeking Strengthskeepers: Can You Help?

We need our strengths to make it through the most difficult times. Yet even in the best times, it can be difficult to remember what our strengths are and how we might use them. And it only gets harder when we are feeling disoriented, anxious, and alone as so many of us are during this time of global pandemic. 

To help us recognize and remember our strengths, every family, team, or community needs its own Strengthskeeper. Could that person be you? Or perhaps you and a partner or two? 

“Keepers” are people who take care of things. Housekeepers make sure that household chores and duties are completed. Peacekeepers take responsibility for helping people manage their conflicts without fighting or violence.  We use phrases like “keepers of the dream” to describe people who do not let us forget our most important values and principles.  And now I encourage you to make way for a new and urgently-needed kind of keeper – the Strengthskeeper.

Strengthskeepers make sure that people are frequently reminded of the strengths within themselves and one another. Any pair or group of people who are trying to work together towards a common goal will need help remembering their strengths. Our strengths are the positive ways that we think, feel, and behave. They are the inner resources that we have to deal with challenges and overcome adversity. Using our strengths energizes us and restores our well-being. It is impossible to be successful in any effort without using and sharing strengths.

Something that is this important to both our resilience and our wellbeing is too important to be left to chance, yet that is what we most often do. We hope that people will remember their strengths instead of making an effort to make sure that they do. This is the reason we need Strengthskeepers – lots and lots of Strengthskeepers! — to step up during this time, and for the rest of time. Reminding people of their personal strengths is a job that should never be left vacant.

You don’t have to be an expert in strengths coaching or positive psychology to be a Strengthskeeper. You just need to be willing to help the people you care about stay focused on remembering what is best inside of them and how that can be used to help themselves and others. Strengthskeepers learn as they go. Both adults and youth can do the job well. Sometimes all that is required to be a good Strengthskeeper is to ask the people in your circle of care a simple question that helps them remember the unique, individual strengths that they already have inside of them. Other times enjoyable, uncomplicated activities can be planned that help people to refocus on understanding and sharing their strengths.

Going forward, I’ll be using this www.allourstrengths.com site to share easy and effective ways for you to be a Strengthskeeper in your corner of the world, so please keep checking here for new resources and ideas. Also be sure and bookmark the www.viacharacter.org site for the best and most current research and information on the science of character strengths. Right now, they are sharing some wonderful, free tools to help all of us use our strengths to face the challenge of COVID-19.

If you have not already taken the free, scientifically-validated VIA Character Strengths Survey* to identify your own signature strengths, what are you still waiting for?  It takes 15 minutes or less to complete the assessment online and it is available in multiple languages in versions for adults and youth. 

Once you have an idea of what your signature strengths are, start thinking about family, friends, and others in your world. Who can you inspire to take the VIA survey? Who can you help to remember  and contribute their strengths? Who and where can you serve as a Strengthskeeper? You can start your Strengthskeeping duties today by sharing your own VIA results with some of the people in your circle of influence. Encourage them to take the survey and share their results with you. Talk with each other about how your top 5 to 7 strengths (a.k.a. your “signature strengths”) are showing up during this time of pandemic.  How might you help each other to use these strengths during this challenging experience?

Now more than ever, and for a long time to come, the world is going to need all our strengths, but we need the Strengthskeepers of the world to help make it happen.

* These 24 Character Strengths are ©Copyright VIA Institute on Character. Used with permission. All rights reserved. 

Love in the Time of COVID-19 (Along with Bravery, Creativity, Kindness...and All Our Other Character Strengths)

“Love becomes greater and nobler in calamity.”

― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

We often borrow the navy phrase "all hands on deck" during times of challenge and crisis. This phrase reminds us that there are times when everyone, no matter their role or their level in the hierarchy, needs to drop what they are doing to help the larger team achieve an urgent, common goal. We are beginning to learn that the global pandemic of COVID-19 is just such a time.  We are all being called to do our part to stop the spread of this potentially deadly virus throughout our communities. 

 In addition to having "all hands on deck" during this global public health crisis, now more than ever is when we also need to have "all strengths on deck." I am speaking in particular of our character strengths which are the positive ways that we humans think, feel, and behave. Examples of character strengths include qualities such as love, kindness, creativity, leadership, honesty, bravery, and humor, to name a few.  

 Positive psychology researchers have found there are 24 universal character strengths  that are valued across all cultures and faiths. Out of these 24 universal character strengths, you (yes, you!) have 5 to 7 that come most naturally to you and that feel like an essential part of who you are. These are called your signature strengths. When you use your signature strengths, you feel happier, more energized, you have a greater sense of meaning and purpose, and you are better able to bounce back from life's challenges. And who doesn’t need all this right now?  

Although we often think of using our strengths as a way to increase our personal well-being, the truth is that sharing these strengths with one another is absolutely critical for our collective well-being too. Humans have always survived by cooperating and sharing our strengths with one another. Working together we are able to accomplish what none of us is equipped to do on our own. 

Our strengths should not be treated like luxuries that we only use to live our best lives when times are good. Instead, we need to remember that our strengths are the inner resources and tools we can rely on to help us face life’s toughest challenges.  To borrow from the words of the late Nobel Prize winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, love, and all the rest of our positive character strengths, become “greater and nobler” during the most difficult times. If we remember to use them. 

If you have not already done so, now is the time to quickly and easily identify your signature strengths by taking 15 minutes or less to take the free, scientifically-validated VIA Character Strengths Survey*, available online in many languages for adults and youth. If you can't take the online assessment right now, you can start by reviewing the list of VIA character strengths and asking yourself "Which 5 of these strengths feel most essential to who I am?" You can also encourage the people around you by naming the character strengths that you see in them or by asking them to guess what their signature strengths might be. You can even get them to take the VIA Character Strengths survey and talk about their strengths results with you. Discovering and encouraging each other’s signature strengths can be a fun and meaningful activity for friends, families, and communities to share together right now when so many other activities are unavailable because of quarantines and social distancing.

Once you have an idea of what your signature strengths are, here are a few questions to get you thinking about how you can use them to help strengthen yourself, your family, and your community during these uncertain times. Remember, this is just a starter list. Research shows that we are all more creative and resourceful in the areas of our signature strengths, so you are bound to have some great ideas about how to help with your strengths that are not listed here. The world needs all our strengths every single day, but most especially during a global pandemic! 

How Can Your Strengths* Help You and Your Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic? 

If your signature strength is: 

• Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence – How can you help us to see what is beautiful, excellent or awe-inspiring during this time? How can you shine a spotlight on examples and role models that inspire us to be our very best selves right now?  Who is doing something great that we should try to copy?

• Bravery – What can you show us about moving forward with what must be done even though we are afraid or anxious? How can you demonstrate speaking up for what is right? What helpful task can you take on that might be too frightening for others? 

• Creativity – What are some fresh, new ideas that could be helpful right now? What could you create that would be useful? 

• Curiosity – What questions need to be asked that no one else seems to be asking? What questions can you help find the answers to?  

• Fairness – How can you help make sure that everyone is being treated fairly? Who is being left out or forgotten and how can you help? 

• Forgiveness – How can you help us be more patient and understanding with each other? How can you encourage us to give each other second chances to grow and learn from our mistakes? 

• Gratitude – Who needs to be thanked right now? Who and what are we taking for granted? How can you express gratitude to someone who is putting their own comfort or health at risk to help others? 

• Honesty – What are the truths that need to be spoken or shared right now? How can you help ensure that things are done with integrity and accountability and that trust is maintained?  

• Hope – How can you help us believe in a better future?  How can you help us see possibilities and opportunities? How can you share your positive vision or encourage one in others? 

• Humility – What are the small, quiet ways that you can be helpful or make things go more smoothly? What are the humble but necessary jobs that others might overlook? How can you help recognize the overlooked contributions and efforts of others? 

• Humor – How can you help us find things to laugh about despite our challenges? How can you help us lighten our spirits, brighten our moods, and feel less stressed? 

• Judgment – How can you help us tell the difference between what is fact, fiction, or opinion?  What situations could benefit from your ability to thoughtfully consider all of the evidence before making a decision or suggesting a plan of action? 

• Kindness – What are some ways you can do good deeds for others to help them make it through this tough time? How can you remind us to be thoughtful, caring, and encouraging to others? 

• Leadership – How can you help us get organized to work together and achieve our common goals of keeping people healthy and safe? What results can you take responsibility and ownership for making happen in your corner of the world? 

• Love – How can you make sure people feel valued and cared for right now? Who might feel lonely or could use your warmth and attention?  

• Love of Learning – What could you learn more about that would be helpful right now?  What are the best ideas and practices that need to be shared?

• Perseverance – How can you help us keep going when things are tough, and we want to quit?  How can you help us stick to the plan and maintain healthy habits so that we can achieve our goals of personal and community well-being? 

• Perspective – How can you help us make sense of what is happening? How can you help us to be wiser and to keep the bigger picture in mind?  

• Prudence – How can you help us be to be safer and to pay attention to important rules and guidelines? How can you help us think through the potential consequences of our actions and to plan and prepare more carefully? How can you help prevent us from doing things we might later regret? 

• Self-Regulation/ Self- Control – Where are some places where your self-discipline could be useful to others? How can you help us monitor ourselves and stay on track with what we have committed to do? 

• Spirituality/ Sense of Meaning – How can you find and share a sense of purpose or meaning in this crisis that we are experiencing? How can you help others experience more calm, inner strength, and peace? 

• Social Intelligence – How can you help us better understand each other's different emotions and needs during this time? How can you help people relate to each other's differences in a more positive way? 

• Teamwork – What can you pitch in and help with right now?  Who could use your assistance? What part can you play in helping us succeed? 

• Zest – How can you help us reconnect with our sense of energy and enthusiasm?  How can you help us get excited and stay motivated to do what needs to be done?