JDP

In the 80’s & 90’s one of my favorite television shows was The Cosby Show. The obvious reason for this is none other than Bill Cosby himself; the way he blended comedy with educational values was masterful. Whether it was a conversation on where your dreams could lead you, Theo feeling pressured by his parents success, Vanessa’s under-age drinking, or the disappointment from your oldest daughter attending Princeton University, only to want to pursue opening a camping store with her husband; the Cosby Show addressed it. Beyond these issues they also provided an outlook into what an African American middle-class family could look like. You may be asking yourself, “Is this entire blog about how great The Cosby Show was?” No. However, the lesson today comes from Phylicia Rashad (Mrs. Clair Hanks-Huxtable).

Phylicia Rashad almost missed her opportunity to play Mrs. Huxtable. Although she had a stellar audition, the writers and producers of the show wanted someone who could speak Spanish fluently. During the audition the script provided had no lines that required Spanish. However, immediately after stating this, she began to speak Spanish fluently. Surprisingly, catching the writers and producers off guard. On that day Phylicia Rashad had a (plus one) card that she played at the right moment.

I say all of this just to ask what is your plus one? What’s the one thing you have that will make people want to hire you or admit you into their school, graduate program, etc? Being qualified is no longer just enough. For every one position they’re a hundred people, if not thousands that are qualified. What separates you from the pack?

In order to establish separation, you must stand out. To stand out you need to identify your strength. How does one identify their strength? Good question. You could start with developing a list of everything you’re not good at and pick what’s left. Or you can follow the equation I provided for you:

T+P=S

When your Talents (T) meet your Passion (P) it will equate to your Strength (S)

The following equation won’t steer you wrong. Your success is attached to what you do best. All the great people we admire trusted their strength. They capitalized off their gift. Your gift is not what you work the hardest at; it’s the thing you do without effort.

If we stop spending time training ourselves to learn something new, something that will only produce mediocrity at best. WE will be on the path of true success.
When you finally identify your strength all you have to do is the following:

1. Put yourself where your strengths can produce results
2. Work on improving your strengths
3. Discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance and overcome it

“It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.” – Peter D. Drucker