Is the current state of the world making you examine your life more closely now than ever before?
Times of uncertainty do that.
Covid 19 has changed the way we live. It has impacted upon many things, including the choices we have and the goals we can set for ourselves.
For this reason, it is important now more than ever to set goals and make choices for our lives that are aligned with our character strengths.
The Pursuit of Greater Happiness
Martin Seligman and other leaders in the field of positive psychology have identified that people who cultivate their character strengths and are regularly able to use them in their lives experience greater happiness than people who don’t.
Seligman and his colleagues believe there are 24 character strengths that are measurable and universal across all cultures and nations. They theorise that everyone possesses all 24 character strengths in different degrees.
Each character strength falls under one of six categories, which Seligman and his colleagues call virtues.
I encourage you to take the free VIA (Values In Action) Survey of Character Strengths that Seligman and his colleagues at Pennsylvania University have on their Authentic Happiness website.
You will need to register with the Authentic Happiness site and then answer 240 multiple choice questions before receiving a personalised ranking of the 24 strengths.
The results you get reflect your overall ratings of yourself on the 24 strengths in the survey and how much of each strength you possess. Your top five character strengths are the ones to pay attention to and find ways to use more often in your life.
Authentic Happiness
I did the survey today and these were my top five character strengths:
| Character Strength | Explanation Generated By The VIA Survey | Associated Virtue |
| 1. Self-Regulation | You self-consciously regulate what you feel and what you do. You are a disciplined person. You are in control of your appetites and your emotions, not vice versa. | Temperance |
| 2. Judgment | Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind. | Wisdom |
| 3. Humility | You do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You do not regard yourself as special, and others recognize and value your modesty. | Temperance |
| 4. Honesty | You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a “real” person. | Courage |
| 5. Fairness | Treating all people fairly is one of your abiding principles. You do not let your personal feelings bias your decisions about other people. You give everyone a chance. | Justice |
How I apply my top five character strengths in the pursuit of greater happiness is now something for me to consider and possibly explore in another article.
In the meantime, I want you to do two things after you finish reading this article:
- Take the free VIA Survey of Character Strengths on the Authentic Happiness website.
- Post a comment here or on Advantage Education’s Facebook page that shares your top five character strengths and how you might apply them to your life.
2 thoughts on “Identifying Your Strengths In A World of Uncertainty”
Comments are closed.