Do you know what your strengths are? And are you using them?

If you’re not, you’re probably missing out, big time.

Strengths are only really strengths once you recognize them and use them.

Strengths are the areas in your life where your talents and skills develop naturally. They are the areas in your life where you’ve had the most success.

One of my core strengths for climbing is that I have a +4 ½ ape index, meaning that my arms are 4 ½ inches longer than my height. As a result, I can reach holds many climbers cannot. I climb fully extended most of the time, which allows me to do fewer moves than most (this is great because I have a lot of leg mass pulling me down).

While this is an advantage for me, I want to compare my strengths to the strengths of a friend who is not only shorter, but also has a -2 ape index. There are several advantages to this. Because of his shorter arms, he has an incredible amount of lock-off strength, which allows him to do one arm pull-ups and front arm levers. Shorter people are more compact, can scrunch up, weigh less, have less leg mass pulling them off the wall.

True, sometimes short people have to do twice as many moves, but keep in mind that it comes down to strength-to-weight ratios.

I like these two extreme examples because my friend and I can do the same projects. We just don’t do them the same way. We typically can’t share beta, but we can both work our way through the project using our individual strengths.

It’s crucial to understand what your strengths are and how to use them to overcome the sorts of projects and challenges that you want to take on.

Ask yourself, “What am I good at? What are my assets?” Take inventory. Are you good at big moves or delicate techy moves; short powerful routes or long endurance routes? Are you persistent and patient, good at memorizing beta, calm under pressure? Do you have nerves of steel and the determination to never let go?

Consider where your successes have come from and figure out what sorts of things come naturally to you. What unacknowledged resources do you possess? Once you see your strengths, you can start leveraging them. Then you’ll stop making excuses and get to work on that project.