Can You Be Too Strong?

Dear Fellow ALPHA,

If you follow me on social media you are keenly aware of my insatiable appetite for growth both physically and mentally. Two of my favorite improvement activities are reading and resistance training. If I’m not shrugging 700lbs or pounding out one-arm 120lb curls like the 1 is silent - then I am probably reading Taleb and learning how to become Antifragile. And yes, the photo above is from my latest shrug fest, it just seemed like a perfect picture for this post.

I discovered early on that I enjoy improving, growing, progressing. This progression may come in the form of moving large amounts of steel or debating large philosophical, political or theological ideas. To be completely honest, I don’t always enjoy working out or even some of the people I debate with. However, I routinely engage in these activities because my enjoyment during the activity is beside the point. What I most enjoy, is what these activities do for me - they make me stronger.

I enjoy growing emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. It took years of self-exploration to finally peal back the elements of my personality and dig out what drives me - what I am good at. I finally came to the conclusion…I do strength really well!

I found that I have a deep passion for not only making myself stronger but also helping other people become stronger as well. I do this by helping others discover their innate strengths, their talents and their passions.

I believe in studying healthy, strong and successful people. After two decades of studying, as well as, working with successful people I have found that all of them have one thing in common. They experienced success only after they started focusing their energy on their strengths.

As you can imagine, especially with my strength driven personality, I found this utterly intriguing. Stop and research it for yourself and you will find exactly what I did - successful people are militant about finding ways to make their strengths, stronger!

Instead of taking time to improve an area where you have limited potential, I propose you take that time and invest it into maximizing your strengths. Take the precious time you have and enhance your God given gifts!

For example, if you are good with numbers, charts, graphs or coding but you struggle with public speaking. I would suggest you spend most of your time enhancing you’re coding ability rather than refining your oration skills.

Time is a critical element of life. We only have so many ticks of the clock before the buzzer goes off. I know that might be morbid but hey it’s the truth. As such, spending energy to improve your weaknesses might be noble but it probably isn’t the best use of your time.

This brings us back to the title of this post, Can You Be Too Strong? I emphatically say NO! To say someone can be too strong is essentially telling someone they are too good, too amazing or too talented. That kind of thinking is not only insane it’s unpatriotic. America is where people come from all over the world to expand their strengths. Thinking otherwise flies in the face of the American spirit.

Just imagine, if someone told Michael Jordan he should focus less time on basketball and more time on another activity. The world may never have been exposed to one of the most inspirational sporting figures of all time. Or, what if someone didn’t encourage the immensely talented Celine Dion to work on her vocals and song writing skills?

Again, the world would have missed out!

So, let me ask you, what does Jordan and Dion as well as every other person at the top of his or her profession have in common? As I previously mentioned, they discovered their strengths and then they worked tirelessly to make their strengths, stronger!

Strength has never been nor will it ever be a liability. Strength innately produces security yet weakness creates liability and insecurity by design. Lacking security in any area of our lives doesn’t enhance it. In fact, it does just the opposite.

Strength is the key to sustainable inner peace. Strength can save your life physically, protect you emotionally and empower you spiritually. Never allow anything or anyone to take away or diminish your strength. Instead, consciously choose to enhance your strengths. Finally, once you have discovered your strengths you need to routinely seek out resistance in the area of your strength.

Huh?

Yes you read that correct, I suggest you seek out resistance! Strength comes post resistance. You must continue to work upon your gifts like a master craftsman and routinely seek out resistance. Then, use your newly acquired strength to seek more resistance. Become dedicated to building upon your strengths because…you can never be too strong!

Until next time,

Attack your life with passion!

Brandon DiNovi

Co-Founder and CEO, RAM