Should you work on your weaknesses or focus on your strengths?

I recently listened to an episode of the podcast Seeking Wisdom where David Cancel and Dave Gerhardt from Drift talked about why you should forget about your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. Read the blog post here and listen/watch the video at the end after you finish reading this post. :) This point of view certainly makes sense. It's frickin hard to learn or get better at something that you're not good at. And because it's hard, you'll also get frustrated when you make slow progress. So maybe that time would be better spent on focusing on your strengths so you can turn them into superpowers, and delegating the stuff you're not good at. Here's an excerpt from the episode's blog post about one of David's weaknesses:

For example: I’m not great at following up (especially with email). I’m a momentum maker. And that means I’m better at focusing on the here and now than I am at staying organized and creating process. But I used to fight it and I would focus on every single hack and trick to try and help — from to do lists on my laptop, reminders on my computer, phones on my phone, notebooks, etc.

This lesson took me a decade to learn. But eventually I learned the secret: I needed to double down on my strengths and surround myself (and team) with people who complement my weaknesses.

As a non-technical startup founder, it would be faster for me to recruit a technical co-founder or a contractor to help build the app. So instead of learning how to code, I could focus on customer development, marketing, and sales, all stuff that I'm much better at doing.

I do think there are situations where spending time on your weaknesses makes a lot of sense.

High-leverage activities

The first is if that weakness is a high-leverage activity that will have a substantial benefit if it's improved. In David's example, being good at responding to email is a positive trait to have. But is it a high-leverage activity? Is it worth spending a decade trying to figure out how to get better at it? Or can David easily hire someone to help him respond to emails and be more organized? On the other hand, for my situation, coding is a high-leverage activity that would benefit me greatly to know how to do. Software developers are tough to recruit, but I was able to snag one on a contracting basis to help build WinOptix. Things are going great, but what if he decides to leave? I'd be shit out of luck. And if we continue to work together, understanding how to code will allow me to 1) better estimate how long it will take him and others to build features of the product, and 2) contribute to the development of the product myself (eventually). If your weakness is a high-leverage activity, it might make sense to put in the time to improve it.

If you don't really like your strengths, enjoy working on your weakness, or both

Let's say I'm strong at marketing. But one day I just get sick of writing blog posts, promoting them, running paid ads, and all of the other tasks that marketing entails. What should I do then? The first thing I should do is assess my career. But what next? Should I continue working on my marketing skills, even though it kills me inside? And let's say I'm weak at programming (I am), but I looooooooove it (I don't. It's aight, but I don't know enough to love it yet). Should I not try to improve my coding skills, just because I'm not really good at it? Or what if both were happening at the same time? Focusing on my strengths certainly wouldn't make me any happier or necessarily better at my job.

Over to you

While I do see David's point, there are certain situations where shoring up your weaknesses might make sense. I think the decision will be unique to each individual's situation. What's your situation like? Are you focusing on your strengths, or working on your weaknesses? I'd love to hear from you. BTW, David Cancel was an awesome guest on my podcast. Thanks David!