Recently in my travels around the internet I came across the following statement: " sometimes recognizing how bad I am at something renews my appreciation for how gifted my colleagues are at it."
I'm not sure if the author meant it to be, but how incredibly profound!

It's like Rubin's Vase - the whole picture lies not in just where the ink is, but equally important, where it is not. Too often in we look only at those areas where we rise up shine. Those darker areas where we don't shine, perhaps even fail miserably, also have a great deal of value in our lives.


As the blogger above says, sometimes it is in recognizing our areas of weakness that we can appreciate those around us who are so very different. Early in my working life, I discovered a number of jobs that very clearly should not in my future. It is because I know exactly how bad my performance would be in that job that I really value those skilled enough to make it seem effortless.

This is also the foundation of teamwork. Teams need a variety of players with different skills, working together to accomplish the shared goal. Just think what would happen to a grocery store that hired only excellent cashiers. Cashiers are very important to the success of the store, but so are many others - the bakery, meat, deli, and produce departments all need to bring their talents.

This idea of recognizing your weaknesses can also help you in your career choices - by knowing what tasks you hate or perform badly, you can eliminate jobs that rely on those tasks from consideration. For example, if you do not like the sight of blood or other bodily fluids you need to think twice about going into health care. Just because it is today's 'hot' career field doesn't mean it is going to be a good idea for you. If you really love the health care field, then you could also use this information to narrow your options - consider only those jobs in health care that do not involved bodily fluids: medical receptionist instead of medical assistant.