Finding your compass

One of my favorite tools when working with clients is the Values in Action (VIA) Character Strengths Survey. It’s free, fascinating, and takes only a few minutes.

I’ve used it with clients and several classes of undergraduate students, and the vast majority of people find the results spot-on, if not a little uncanny.

Based on your responses, you get a report that provides a list of 24 strengths in ranked order. (You can buy a more detailed report, but the free version is good enough.)

The lower ranked strengths aren’t your weaknesses. They are simply strengths you don’t notice or use as much.

In addition, the ranking can change slightly depending on when you’re taking the survey. For instance, a student once told me she was surprised that her score for teamwork was lower than she expected. But then she remembered that she had a really difficult group project that was due the week before, and her frustration was shading her answers to the questions.

That variability is the point of the VIA Survey. Unlike personality scales like Myers-Briggs, which make you an INTP for life, the VIA Survey is meant to change over time. You can work on your strengths and improve them.

When I work with people who have taken the test, I encourage them to look at their top three and bottom three strengths, and then think about how they might be related.

For example, a student once said his number one strength was “Kindness” and his bottom strength was “Zest.”

He thought about it. “You know, every day I want to hit the snooze button in the morning,” he said. “And it’s because I don’t think the world is kind.”

If you have a moment, take the test. What are your top three and bottom three strengths? How might they be related?