Building a business and raising a child have many things in common.  Besides the obvious (sleepless nights, anyone?), both work best when the focus is on areas of strength rather than areas of weakness.

Building a business based upon your strengths is not only easier, it is smarter.  You will get more done in less time by constructing your business around your strongest skills and talents.

In the beginning, you may have to do everything yourself but go ahead and identify the tasks that someone else could take on more effectively.  That way when money becomes available or you meet someone with those skills, you will be prepared to pay or barter for them.  For more on playing to your strengths, listen to this Startup Nation podcast on “Business Planning Smarts: Identifying a ‘Screaming Need’, and Playing to Your Strengths”.

If you need help identifying your strengths, think about:

1. Tasks you enjoy
2. Tasks that make you happy
3. Tasks where time flies for you

Raising a child is also easier when your focus is on strengths.  Here you need to examine both your own strengths and the strengths of your child.  It is easy (I think especially for moms) to fall into the, “What would a ‘good’ parent do?” trap.  Instead keep the focus on what your particular strengths are and how you can use them to parent your child.

For example, Richard is fabulous at making tedious tasks fun.  Cleaning up toys is a ball for our girls when he leads the way.  From a race against the clock (complete with bone-us points for the winner – thanks Ruff Ruffman!) to a never-ending round of “the clean up song,” he has a knack for getting them into the swing of things.  Go Daddy!

Also look at the strengths of your children and give them opportunities to engage their strengths whenever possible.  As another example, our youngest loves to “help” us.  She helps Richard cook pancakes (she mixes the dry ingredients) and helps me water the plants.  She clearly wants to be in on the action.  So we let her whenever possible, even if it takes a little longer.  And we use this trait to our advantage.  If we frame a request in terms of asking for her help, she is excited about the chance to act like a “big girl.”

For more about fostering your child’s strengths, see Raising Resilient Children by Dr. Robert Brooks and Dr. Sam Goldstein.  This is a helpful book, complete with examples.

Have fun discovering and using your strengths in work and in parenting!

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