Choose Your Battles Wisely.

Have you ever heard "Work on your strengths, not your weaknesses" or a similar phrase? If you are like me you have heard many phrases like this. They hold within them oceans of wisdom, and yet you are doing something in your life that contradicts them. I have noticed that I do this, all the time. I am fairly certain most people, successful, average, or otherwise, also struggle with this, and I am not just talking about this quote.
A few weeks ago I was struggling to fall asleep at night as well as struggling to wake up in the morning. I wanted so badly to be able to wake up at four in the morning and go to sleep at eight at night. I really prefer waking up early, I like to see the stars in the morning and watch the sunrise. Aside from that, I really wanted to have a few hours of productivity in the morning before things got crazy. It wasn't working though. Want to know the funny thing? I have ALWAYS had this problem. It is funny how when you get older you have things like this in your life that you feel are new, recent, or just not that old. Then, you actually stop and think about it and realize, damn...this thing has been here for years, decades, or ever since I can remember. Well, this was one f those things for me. I think back and realize that I used to jump off the top bunk to silence my spider-man alarm clock, only to climb back in bed and fall back asleep. I have always been this way.
I think what had me fooled was that I started a new job about two and a half years ago. I knew that it was important to make a good first impression and I made sure that I was on time, every single day. I managed this through various means; three obnoxious alarm clocks, begging my wife to help me, and even some bouts of sheer willpower. I even had some stretches where I got into a routine long enough that my body automatically woke up at the time I needed too. Then we had a baby. My perspective changed just as much as my life did, and all of that went out the window. You may be wondering about my job before that, the one I had for ten years and started when I was sixteen. Well, After a few years, I was kind of the boss...and I was "late" almost every day.
So, I spent the last few months struggling with this until for some reason that I do not actually know, I decided to not try to wake up early or go to bed early. In fact, I did the exact opposite. Want to know what happened? I started getting a lot more done, started feeling more accomplished, and was happier. I even started a blog that I had been thinking about for about a year. Staying up as late as I want or as late as necessary has always been one of my strengths. Waking up early has always been hard for me. Why was I fighting it for so long? One answer that I hate myself for allowing is, because that is what everybody else does...so that is what is expected of me. Poopoo on that friend. Another reason is because I wanted to. Wanting gets you nowhere.
Don't get me wrong, I can in fact wake up at any time if the reason is something I deem to be important. I also have methods of falling asleep if the need is very important, but my sleep situation is not the point. The point is, improve on your strengths, capitalize on what you are good at, don't fight things that will result in little to no gain. Take the hand you have been dealt and maximize what can be done with it, look for the twist you can apply to multiply your strengths and use your weaknesses to your advantage. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to see the opportunities in such things. I didn't even realize that I was fighting this sleep battle in the way that I was. I also had no Idea how much benefit I would get from just going with the flow and controlling my trajectory rather than trying to paddle upstream. How do you use a weakness for cake to your advantage? I do not know, but I am certain there is a way. If I ever develop a weakness for cake and then find a way to use it to my advantage, I will let you know. Learn to recognize your weaknesses and how to make them work for you. Learn how to recognize your strengths and make them superpowers. It's not always black and white or right out in the open, sometimes you have to dig a bit and look at things in ways that nobody else does. Once you see it though, you open up a whole world of possibilities.

What weaknesses are you fighting? Choose your battles wisely.