By: Rachel Reva
When I was in the 9th grade, I had a teacher tell me that I was a great communicator. He said when I spoke, I could command everyone’s attention around me – BUT – my writing wasn’t up to scratch.
I’ll never forget what he said: ‘When you learn to match your writing to your verbal outpourings, you’ll be unstoppable’.
Firstly, I had never actually been told this before. Secondly, I thought my writing was pretty darn good.
But, when I looked at it, my writing was a weakness. It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t as engaging as my presentation skills.
He was right – my writing wasn’t as strong as it could be.
I heard his words in my ears: ‘Match the two and you’ll be unstoppable’.
I wanted to be unstoppable and I knew this weakness would hold me back.
So, I attacked my writing the same way an athlete would train for ninja warrior. I did everything I could to get experience writing in different formats. I interned at newspapers, wrote for local publications, and did work experience at radio and TV stations.
I knew for me, even when I went to university, a communications degree wouldn’t be enough, I needed on-the-ground experience that would quickly help me build up my writing skills – so I could write for anyone, in any format, at any time.
And what happened? Writing has become my greatest strength.
I ended up working at TV networks, as a news publicist and an associate producer, where good writing was essential for the job. I also wrote and edited health publications, news stories and created stories and headlines that commanded the attention of editors, TV writers and journalists all over the world.
I attacked my ‘weak spot’ with such ferociousness that getting stronger in this area was inevitable.
Now, I write for the Huffington Post, Goalcast and a number of other publications – and one of my greatest offerings as a coach is my ability to help clients get clear on their unique selling point in their career and business – using my writing skills.
Let Your Weakness Become A Strength
So many people talk about focusing on your strengths – but that’s not always the best course of action . Acknowledging your strength is massively important BUT identifying a weakness that is holding you back and working on it purposefully is a huge key to success.
It can be the difference between you standing out in an interview or making that pitch to a potential client or transitioning to that new career that you have been pining for.
Your weak spot can become your greatest asset.
What’s your weak spot? We all have them. Write it down and think ‘how can I practically improve myself in this area?’ – and start taking action every day to improve it.
Match your weakness to your strength – and you’ll be unstoppable.
If you are an entrepreneur who has an incredible service or product but you your sales copy doesn’t totally showcase your awesome – check out my copy-writing intensive. Let me help you show the world who are – through the power of authentic story-telling.
Article supplied with thanks to Rachel Reva at Life On Her Terms.
Feature image: Photo by Matt Reiter on Unsplash
About the author: Rachel Reva is a PR consultant and author with a career that has spanned TV, writing, radio and politics. Born in Georgia, USA, Rachel now lives in Australia with her young family, and is heard every week on radio.