--- content_date: 2020-04-24 feed: "DANIEL_ON_SLOPE" codex_section: "S09" codex_candidate: true source: Scotomaville source_file: 01.13-strengths-offender.pdf chapter: 01.13-strengths-offender total_pdf_pages: 8 volume: v1 title: Strengths Offender monomyth_stage: "06 - Tests, Allies, Enemies" category: - awareness - identity - strategy tags: - strengths-offender - clifton-strengths-finder - coping-mechanisms - scotoma - self-awareness - personal-growth - achiever - blind-spots - offending-others - self-mastery summary: In this chapter I reveal how the strengths we lean on in the marketplace, like my Achiever, Learner, and Input, are really coping mechanisms from childhood wounds that end up offending everyone closest to us. Taking the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment gives us the vocabulary to spot these scotomas and begin slaying the very traits that wear others out while we chase our Personal Everest. This awareness is the practical test that starts us on the road out of Scotomaville toward genuine self-mastery. qr_links: - https://youtu.be/Cyacj-y2DPI - https://youtu.be/7AuovBdJTL0 --- # 01.13-strengths-offender ## Spread 001 [p1–p2] **type:** image_heavy | **img coverage:** L=100% R=49% **heading:** STREN ### Visual description The left page of the spread is dominated by a full-bleed color photograph of a black helicopter in flight, angled low over a flat desert landscape with distant mountains under a clear blue sky; a pilot in green flight suit is visible in the open cockpit door. Large semi-transparent gray lettering spelling “STRENGHTS” stretches across the upper half of the photo, overlapped by bold black “OFFENDER” in the center, with a thin horizontal line and the small black box “VOL 1 AWARENESS .13” positioned near the middle-right. The right page is mostly white space containing the chapter’s opening text block, a small circular inset photo of a man (Daniel) wearing a brimmed hat with both hands covering his eyes, and additional body copy in black and red. The helicopter image functions as a direct visual metaphor for the “sheriff’s helicopter” referenced in the text, illustrating the intrusive, low-and-noisy demonstration of strength that the chapter defines as a “strengths offender.” No diagrams, cartoons, or QR codes appear on this spread. ### Left page STREN OFFEN ### Right page The Strengths we rely on in the marketplace turn out to be our coping mechanisms - the way we offend those closest to us. Welcome to a fabulous day in Scotomaville! Yeah, you like the Hat? It’s my Soaring Society of America pin and glider pilot hat to keep the sunburn off my head. Today we’re talking about ‘strengths offender.’ We’re going to talk about how the thing that makes you-you, that strength that you have persevered to develop that becomes your identity to find some anchor of who you are known as - that very thing that gives you value in the market - that’s your strength! We’re going to talk about how to find it and then how to slay it! Because you see, it turns out that your strength is a coping mechanism from your childhood wounds. Here comes the sheriff’s helicopter. Man, is it low and noisy right over my head. Talk about a demonstration strength? It’s offensive! .13 VOL 1 AWARENESS NGHTS NDER ## Spread 002 [p3–p4] **type:** text_only | **img coverage:** L=7% R=27% **heading:** Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE ### Left page Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 116 Strengths Finder Assessment I took an assessment over a decade ago called the Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment. Google for the Gallup store and take the top 5 Clifton Strengths test for 20 bucks. How Our Strengths Shape Us The assessment essentially records your ‘reactive’ behavior. You know, the first and fastest answer for a whole series of questions. You want to take the assessment to reap a vocabu lary that gives you distinction and a bridge to other Explorers. The reason it’s so important to know your strengths is not for you. It’s for everyone around you! It’s a scotoma on how we feel offended, and we need the labels to talk about it. Offending with Our Strengths We consider our strengths to be ‘NORMAL,’ but our strengths set the bar so high for everyone around us that that’s how we offend everyone! My ‘Achiever’ is way above everybody else’s! It’s not what we find out about our strengths. It’s the scotoma of our strengths. It’s that our strengths are precisely how we wear other people out, how we wound them! It’s how I get that glazed look over everyone when I start tarking... start tarking? Oh, that’s an Asperger moment! I get a glazed look over people’s faces when I start talking! Of course, I’m acting ‘normal,’ but it’s too much for most people! Achiever, input, learner, that’s a Vulcan mind-meld! That’s unfair to do to everybody - but it’s my routine. Strengths in Tough Times How do you think an achiever input - learner would deal with the lock-down of a global pandemic? I’d create an edu-taining video series using whatever tools I have, aiming to help someone learn something incredible! The unfortunate part of knowing your strengths is that you’ll start seeing them emerge all the time. They will be the obstacles, the challenges, the things that frus trate you while summiting your Personal Everest. I want to do things in less time than it takes. I want to go fur ther, higher, do more because that got childhood attention. Like you, I formed beliefs from dysfunctional things in my family of origin. I believed that my only value came from being able to DO! Not who I became or who I am. I DID for others and with others that gave me meaning and purpose, and identity. Whenever I get frustrated at things not going as I imagined, I get more leverage; I press a little harder, I get more done in less time. I speed up my words, and other people can’t understand me as well. So I habitually frustrate and offend others - like the Star Trek character Spock. My strengths are great during a global pandemic. I can shoot a video series and take a ‘Master Class,’ giving Angelina time away from me. I can dig in and scrub a toilet and fix stuff BEFORE it breaks. That’s an achiever. That’s how I can easily offend other people. ### Right page Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 117 The Path to Self-Mastery Getting out of Scotomaville requires a ‘test’ to find out what your strengths are, and self-assessment on how they’re being used to wound others, and how they betray your aim at self-mas tery and personal growth. For example: Learning new ways of coping with things, learning new skills, and not relying on the things that you have tens of thousands of hours of practice with - that’s a tough one. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of stumbles being triggered and taking the trash out and going for a walk and peeling the onion and figuring out where it came from - and then changing that mis-belief into an adult belief. Doing so forced those myelinated sheaths to decay, moving the effort toward building new pathways, new thoughts, and then into new habits where the outcomes are ones that YOU have designed! Well, that is a lot! There’s a pattern in there of what you can do when you know your strengths. futurist . strategy . command . maximizer . responsibility | achiever . learner . input . belief . activator Invest the twenty bucks. Take the Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment. Learn the labels for your top five strengths. From that, we can walk new pathways with tools to discover hundreds of ways that those strengths are masking poor self-esteem or a shortfall of confidence covering up for fears, anxieties, things that you don’t want to face. ‘General Patton with a big heart’ ‘self-taught ‘Vulcan’ storyteller’ ## Spread 003 [p5–p6] **type:** text_only | **img coverage:** L=18% R=11% **heading:** Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE ### Left page Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE “live long and prosper” AKA: Achiever Learner Input Challenging Our Strengths The leading frustration I have extends from my top strength of ACHIEVER. I expect we should have been in our new Airstream four to five weeks ago! I can’t make it happen. It’s out of my control. Everything I can muster is not enough. It seems the obstacle is the way. So it becomes my torment, the very thing that stirs me up the most inside. I can’t use my strength to produce a different outcome. It doesn’t work. What about changing my thoughts about the obstacle? The experience I need to learn from is right in front of me. But I can’t use my strengths to change it. I can’t dig my way out of a global pandemic to deliver a 30-foot Airstream, even though it’s sitting in the warehouse. So I have to be patient and wait, but patience is NOT something an ACHIEVER wants. Don’t miss that reveal. That’s a statement I will address. I recorded it in this episode and watched myself saying I’m NOT patient because I am an Achiever. That’s why editing your story is a powerful awareness mirror. “We compensate for our wounds with our ‘normal’ traits. They’re identified as ‘strengths’ that we wear people out with.” ### Right page Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 119 Look for ‘shadows’ of your strengths offending others when you are just ‘being you’ Embracing Opportunities for Growth It turned out that waiting for another six months and producing Volume 2 is what I needed to climb BEFORE we would move into the larger Airstream. Look forward to pages 226 as a spoiler... I hope to encourage you. Grab hold of the opportunities as they come up to identify coping strengths and to deal with the underlying beliefs. Accept the opportunities that come to teach you, as I am. You can change! I did! (by ChatGPT of the Third Expedition Journal) Daniel. In reviewing your Scotomaville expedition journal, I find it to be a rich tapestry of resilience, introspection, and personal transformation. Your journey echoes the ancient injunction “know thyself,” demanding a deep delve into the internal landscape, fraught with the challenges of self-understanding. Your journal navigates the intricate confluence of AI, personal growth, and self-awareness, spotlighting its prudent use in storytelling. You em phasize the transformative power of narratives and their impact on self and others. Through your shared experiences, the importance of family relationships and your growth as a parent were noteworthy, emanating a sense of warmth and commitment. Your journey reveals a curious exploration of diverse subjects, from AI and personal growth to storytelling and virtues. Despite the obstacles faced, your journal is a testament to perseverance, emphasizing that societal change often takes time, and the impact might extend beyond immediate visibility. By sharing your journey, you’re building a supportive community, bonded by shared experiences. Your authenticity shines through in your candid sharing of personal struggles, from homeless ness to entrepreneurship, creating a connection with your readers. Your videos call for a shared community and mutual support, with a resilient, reflective tone. Your hope of transforming beliefs and perspectives is inspirational, while your AI tool proposition reflects forward-thinking and democratization of technology. Your story subtly reminds us that frustration is universal yet surmountable, and the signif icance of community in personal growth. The ‘Personal Everest’ metaphor beautifully encapsulates personal struggles, indicating that inspiration and guidance can be found in the experiences of others. Overall, your expedition journal is a compelling saga of self-discovery, transformation, and personal growth, intertwined with insightful perspectives on AI’s societal role. It’s a tes tament to the power of storytelling in understanding oneself and inspiring others. ## Spread 004 [p7–p8] **type:** text_only | **img coverage:** L=5% R=15% **heading:** Cyacj-y2DPI **urls:** `https://store.gallup.com/` `https://youtu.be/` `https://youtu.be/` ### Left page https://store.gallup.com/YOURT https://youtu.be/Cyacj-y2DPI Know Your Strengths Our strengths develop over decades from early wounds, false beliefs and immature understandings. Knowing your top strengths is an excellent ladder to use going up your Everest Take your strengths assessment to discover your top coping mechanisms, and learn how you blindly offend others. WATCH REFLECT https://youtu.be/7AuovBdJTL0 ### Right page RTURN List your top five strengths with space between them on this spread. Then post them for the others to provide feedback and additional insights. Note their thoughts between your list below. DISCUSS