In positive psychology, cultivating and using our personal strengths is an integral part of striving for “the good life” – very roughly speaking, the pursuit of eudaimonia or happiness.
When we draw on the positive parts of our personality, research shows we can have a more significant positive impact on others, improve our relationships, and enhance our wellbeing and happiness.
So, where to begin?
By recognizing our strengths, of course!
The VIA Survey is one validated tool that can help us discover our strengths, including those that we tend to use and rely on the most (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Read on to find out more about the survey and how you can use it to bring out the best in yourself and those around you.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Strengths Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients realize your unique potential and create a life that feels energized and authentic.
Character strengths are a core and foundational part of who we are, a collection of positive individual character traits that we all possess and that are linked to our development, wellbeing, and life satisfaction (Niemiec, 2013). They are our key capabilities, influencing how we think, act, and feel and representing what we value in ourselves and others.
The VIA Character Personality Assessment is a scientific instrument measuring our strengths, and it’s widely used in academic, corporate, and other settings (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).
The 24 strengths are categorized into six classes of ‘virtues.’ In no particular order, they are (Ruch & Proyer, 2015; VIACharacter.org, 2020):
These individual character strengths and virtues are measured using a self-report survey, by indicating agreement to examples of the strengths in action.
The survey contains 240 total questions – 10 items for each of the 24 identified strengths, laid out in a 5-point Likert scale format. Officially known as the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), it was developed by Dr. Christopher Peterson has long been considered a psychometric instrument, performing well on empirical tests of reliability and validity (Peterson & Park, 2009; Peterson, Park, Hall, & Seligman, 2009).
The VIA-IS has also been adapted for young people between 10 and 17 years old, with a version that includes only 96 items.
Interested in finding out your signature character strengths? You can take the test at the VIA Institute on Character website.
The scale ranges from 1 to 5, where 1 is very much unlike me, and 5 is very much like me, indicating a high loading on the factor.
Example items from the adult survey include:
After completing a free version of the VIA Survey, you’ll receive a ranking of your strengths along with a brief description of each.
If you’re after a more in-depth understanding of your character, including further insight into your signature strengths and lesser strengths, you can order a Profile Report.
According to the instrument, signature strengths are the central, essential strengths that are used regularly by individuals; often, they are exercised quite naturally. They are considered innate, making it easier and often more fulfilling for us to develop and use them (Peterson & Park, 2009).
We use lesser strengths less frequently, and they may be underdeveloped or less important to us than our signature strengths – though that’s not a hard-and-fast rule. You’ll find them lower down in your Profile Report.
All in all, the adult test generally takes under 15 minutes to complete in full.
These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to discover and harness their unique strengths.
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Logically, knowing our strengths allows us to use those that benefit us consciously and more actively, and develop those that we might potentially find useful.
But what does the research say about those benefits, specifically? Here are a few of the most well-established and recent findings on the benefits of recognizing your strengths.
Perhaps the most critical overall advantage, exercising one’s signature strengths has been shown to contribute to greater wellbeing and lower psychological distress in adults (Linley, Nielsen, Gillett, & Biswas-Diener, 2010; Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012; Fava & Ruini, 2014).
Seligman, Rashid, and Parks (2006) indicated that the same applies to young adults: using core strengths in action was related to higher life satisfaction and decreased depressive symptoms.
Significant correlations have also been found between specific character strengths (e.g., zest, hope) and self-acceptance (Harzer, 2016). In positive psychology, self-acceptance is an integral part of maintaining a healthy relationship with one’s self, helping us look past our perceived deficiencies, and knowing deeply that we are “enough.”
Plenty of researchers have looked at the relationship between character strengths and happiness.
Building on the above, Schutte and Malouff (2019) also found that developing signature strengths can play a role in reducing depression. But as we know, mental health is more than the absence of mental illness. In essence, their findings correspond with those from Tehranchi, Neshat Doost, Amiri, and Power (2018), which show that character strengths negatively impact dysfunctional attitudes and positively influence our happiness.
Elsewhere, Zhang and Chen (2018) present evidence linking strengths application and future self-continuity with subjective wellbeing, which supports earlier studies linking strengths with subjective wellbeing. Gillham et al. (2011) worked with adolescents to look at the vital role of interpersonal connections and a sense of purpose in future wellbeing.
Harzer and Ruch (2013) used the Applicability of Character Strengths Rating Scales to examine the use of signature strengths in organizations, finding that the more signature strengths were put into action at work, the higher people’s positive subjective experiences were. This was important, regardless of the nature of the work (its “content”).
More recently, studies have emerged showing that applying signature strengths has a particularly strong impact on behavioral outcomes such as job performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Using happiness strengths, however, may have a stronger impact on psycho-emotional outcomes in the workplace, such as satisfaction, engagement, and experienced meaning (Littman-Ovadia, Lavy, & Boiman-Meshita, 2017).
Studies of students have also found positive correlations between positive moods at school and the character strengths of perseverance, social intelligence, zest, and love of learning. Others (hope and love, among others) were linked to overall academic achievement, and still others correlated negatively with school-related negative affect (Weber, Wagner, & Ruch, 2016).
With this knowledge, we can help students fulfill their potential and create more positive school experiences. By designing curricula, training teachers and educators, and equipping schools with the resources to foster strength development, we are promoting better student quality of life (Lavy, 2019).
Studies have shown that helping children and young adults recognize, cultivate, and apply their strengths has at least a few benefits. When testing the efficacy of strengths interventions, Rashid et al. (2013) demonstrated that children can solve problems more efficiently when taught to utilize their strengths when tackling problems.
The same study provided evidence that doing so also had a positive impact on their wellbeing.
Clearly, strengths research is a popular and fast-growing area in positive psychology. It would be impossible to cover all the benefits of knowing your strengths in this article.
To sum up, the key benefits of this awareness manifest in the following ways:
So, are there other ways that we can know our strengths?
There are more than a few alternative assessments if you’re hoping to recognize your strengths.
Here’s a brief overview of some that we’ve covered elsewhere, but you can also find out more about strengths questionnaires, worksheets, activities, and exercises in this article: 7 Most Accurate Character Strengths Assessments and Tests.
The Positive Psychology Toolkit© is a groundbreaking practitioner resource containing over 500 science-based exercises, activities, interventions, questionnaires, and assessments created by experts using the latest positive psychology research.
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Some other science-based ways to find your strengths can be found right here on our site.
In addition, the Positive Psychology Toolkit© contains an incredible range of strength-finding tools, worksheets to focus on developing strengths, and much more. With over 400 tools, it is the ideal selection to have for your practice, available for a small subscription.
However, if you want to start with a smaller collection of valuable tools, this collection contains 17 strength-finding tools for practitioners. Use them to help others better understand and harness their strengths in life-enhancing ways.
Plenty of simple exercises and habits can also help you identify your strengths as you go about your everyday life. Niemiec and McGrath (2019) suggest that the following are good sources of information on what we do well:
Use all the information you have and expand your thinking. What makes you feel great, or what do you excel at in different life domains?
Knowing your strengths is a fantastic starting point, as we’ve seen. The next step is applying them, but how do we do that?
Michelle McQuaid and Erin Lawn (2014), co-authors of the bestselling Your Strengths Blueprint, recommend trying to spot them at work in our daily lives so we can better understand what they look like in action. As we grow more aware of what it feels like to leverage specific strengths, we can become more conscious about when and where they might benefit us and others.
Here are some other things to try to spot and use your strengths (Roberts et al., 2005; McQuaid, Kern, Morris, & Jacques-Hamilton, 2019):
If you go blank when trying to recall your strengths in action, try keeping a log of your greatest moments at the end of each day or week. Take some time to reflect on events and instances that made you feel proud, happy, or fulfilled, and ask yourself a couple of questions. Namely:
Reach out to someone you feel comfortable talking to and ask them what they like about you. It might seem daunting at first, but they’re sure to be able to think of some things that you do particularly well or even excel at.
Most people (some figures say 95%) find it much easier to spot strengths in others (Niemiec & McGrath, 2019).
In The Power of Character Strengths, Niemiec and McGrath (2019) introduce the acronym SEA, which you can use to identify strengths in action, allowing you to get a better feel for the link between strengths and behaviors.
This framework is also a great way for you to build more positive relationships with the people whose strengths you’re spotting:
All of these help you gain a stronger sense of those times when you’re already using your strengths, as well as what it feels like when you do. From here, you can think about what contexts enable you to utilize them and how you can proactively create more situations where your strengths shine.
Use these 17 Strength-Finding Exercises [PDF] to help others discover and leverage their unique strengths in life, promoting enhanced performance and flourishing.
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Looking for some ready-to-go tips for applying your strengths? Try these:
One reason the Reflected Best Self-Portrait exercise is so effective is because it helps you create a very clear overall picture of how you act in different contexts. We can’t change every context that we find ourselves in, but we can take steps to shape some of our surroundings.
Ideally, we want to create possibilities for leveraging strengths when we see the opportunity (Linley & Harrington, 2006). Are you able to find a new role or apply for a promotion?
Invite others to talk about strengths (yours and theirs). Consider asking for professional coaching, or enroll in an online course that will help you make better use of your talents and strengths.
If a new role or position isn’t a possibility right now or not something you’re interested in, why not change the way you approach your job? Among other things, this article on job crafting outlines how you can find more meaning and purpose in your work by leveraging your signature strengths.
It goes without saying, but our hobbies and passions are superb instances of things we either do well or love getting better at. These are your strengths at work, and all the more reason to pursue them!
The more we ingrain the use of strengths into our daily lives, the more our brains become hard-wired to do those actions naturally. Why? Because of neuroplasticity.
Seek out as many opportunities as you can to implement your strengths in daily life, no matter how small. Is gratitude one of yours? Say thanks to a stranger who does something kind, or reach out to someone with a gratitude letter. Is kindness a signature strength of yours? Volunteer for a charity or help an elderly neighbor with their groceries.
Source: McQuaid et al., 2019, p. 21
Applying your strengths at work more effectively means seeking out opportunities to do so – and that relies on having a few key elements in place.
As McQuaid et al. (2019) describe in the Strengths Lab 2019 Survey, those key elements are:
If these elements are in place, coworkers are more likely to find chances to implement their strengths for the benefit of their companies. As they require collective effort on the part of everyone employed at an organization, there is a key takeaway.
That is, for more chances to implement your strengths at work – and for others to do the same – we need to build and nurture strengths-based workplaces. Initiate conversations, ask for feedback, show support, and you’ll be enabling your own strengths activation.
There continue to be more and more evidence-based reasons for us to cultivate a good knowledge of our character strengths. Not only does doing so empower us to plan and prioritize their development, but it means we can get proactive about taking those steps.
Whether you’re keen to improve your work performance or find more meaning in your everyday life, there are a wealth of tools and daily techniques out there at your fingertips. Why not try the VIA Survey as a start, and let us know how it goes?
Do you use the VIA Survey in your practice to help clients? If not, is that on purpose? Have you taken the test yourself, out of curiosity? Share your thoughts below as a comment!
We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Strengths Exercises for free.
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