We're taught to admire and repeat what we think we are best at, so it’s not hard to see how overdoing a strength can become "too much of a good thing". However, overdoing our strengths reduces their value rather than improving them.

Inviting personal inquiry.

So the reality of inviting personal inquiry for what we think we’re best at can seem paradoxical at times. However, to find balance, we need to come to terms with what we overdo, and there is no better way to do that than asking yourself the right questions.

Overdoing our strengths are the result of having "more-than beliefs" that cause us to want to be more or better than others. And that leads to plenty of suffering and unhappiness.

More-than beliefs stem from ingrained behaviors we've laid down in our brains over time.

This revelation was immediate for Raul.

Raul was attending a workshop on overdone strengths. The presenter was beginning to describe “more-than” beliefs, and how they work. Raul, listening thoughtfully, had a revelation that would change his life.

“So that explains what I’ve been doing! I’m middle-aged and for years have been doing white-water kayaking. I've been injured several times doing it, but still felt compelled to do more of it.

"I’ve been playing out a belief of 'I’m more risk taking.' Just now, sitting here I realized that I don’t have to do that any more.!”

The Balance Your Strengths methodology helps individuals and groups uncover more-than beliefs and recalibrate our thinking in order to bring them back into balance.

"We are who we believe we are."

Ancient and contemporary wisdom tell us that "we are who we believe we are", and modern science agrees. The reticular activating system (RAS) at the base of our brain does not differentiate between enabling or disabling thoughts. Rather, it lays tracks for the thoughts we think the most. These tracks become ingrained habits and behaviors.

Mindset change is easily within our reach if we allow ourselves to re-imagine our strengths in the context of what's of value to ourselves along with those whom we love and care about. Our cherished strengths should help us maximize our real value while also serving others — in the hope of bringing unity and connection to humankind. And one of the best ways we can do that is to identify our overdone strengths and balance them.

How to begin?

The Balance Tool gives us a new understanding of why we do too much of a good thing, and how to quickly resolve the imbalance we’ve created. Begin today by recognizing that …

Overdoing our strengths is inevitable, and leads to suffering and unhappiness.
We can resolve them by shifting what we believe about our strengths.
Using the Balance Tool will help us avoid overdoing our strengths in the future

Ready to resolve your strengths that have become “too much of a good thing?” Start by completing the basic or extended version of the Balance Tool, and follow that up with the Quick Start Guide.

Sanford Danziger is a medical doctor, psychotherapist and educator. He was a member of the team that designed the Peace Corps training model for worldwide use. He cofounded a training company that has trained a quarter million people in self-awareness and personal responsibility, and he served for 15 years on the adjunct faculty of the Center for Creative Leadership.

All of Sanford’s Balance Your Strengths work is committed to freely educating the public with its tools and resources.