What Do Your Strengths Need to Thrive and Survive?

Today on the podcast, we’re revisiting an idea we’ve talked about several times. Brian Schubring, our president and CEO, helps us understand the inextricable link between thriving and surviving. One cannot exist without the other. Brian’s use of his Strengths helps us think specifically about how our own Strengths show up when thriving and or surviving.

As you listen to it today, perhaps for the second time, pay attention to the questions he poses at the end. I don’t want to give anything away, but his challenge of asking someone we know to help us better understand ourselves and our strengths. It seems like a great conversation you could have with your team as you prepare to enter the final quarter of the year.

We’ve also turned this into a video podcast you can watch on our YouTube Channel here.

Thriving vs. Surviving

Brian defines thriving as that sense when things in life are going great.

We feel like we’re coming to life, our relationships are healthy, and we seem to be living a life that is just who I am. We don’t have any sense of discontent with what it is that we’re trying to do. We understand where we are, the people that are around us, and we truly have that sense of enjoyment to the things that we’re doing and the people that we are with.

The idea of surviving is more of that sense that you’re hanging on. When difficult situations arise, we may feel stuck and unaware of the next step.

To survive is not knowing what’s next. To survive is to face something that we think is insurmountable, that we would say ‘I can’t get through this, I’ve tried. I don’t know how to do it.’ And also that fear that if we make the wrong move something worse might happen. That’s what we’re faced with [when we] survive.

Thriving mode and surviving mode are two key concepts. In this episode, Brian will share how Strengths can point us towards what we need to thrive; to keep the good times rolling, and also what we need to survive; to keep putting one foot in front of the other to get unstuck when those inevitable life challenges arise.

Two Questions for Reflection

After listening to this episode, ask yourself these two simple questions:

1. What do I do when I’m thriving?
2. What is it that I need to survive?

After you’ve spent some time wrestling with those, find a friend, partner, or family member and ask them what you are like when you are thriving. Ask them what you do when you’re trying to survive and how you appear to make it through.