Strengths-Garrett Strawn

When I first received my top five strengths, I wasn't sure I was given the rights ones.  However, as I read the descriptions of each of my strengths, I thought, "This is definitely me."  Here are my strengths:

My first strength is relator.  I think this strength describes me pretty well for a few reasons.  The first being that I have very few close friends.  For me, I would rather have a small group of friends that I know really well and have a close relationship with, rather than knowing very little about a lot of people.  I also think my relator strength explains why I decided to join a fraternity.  On a campus of thousands of students, I didn't really have a close connection with any one person.  Being in a fraternity allows me to attend OSU, but also have that small group of friends that I really care about.  I also have a very close relationship with my family, and I think that's due to my need to be around people that I already know, because lets face it-Who knows you better than your family.


Now, this is actually my 4th Strength, but I think it goes hand in hand with relator.  The fact that I'm deliberative really describes why I prefer to have more of intimate, close relationships.  When it comes to meeting new people, I usually assume the worst about them, and am careful not to allow myself to become too open or forthcoming with them.  So, when I finally do decide to trust someone, I end up having a close and intimate relationship with them.

My second and fifth strengths are Achiever and Focus, and I think that they to go hand in hand.  Achiever really explains why I end up in leadership positions or in positions where people tend to depend on me or look up to me.  I also think that Achiever helps me reach my goals that my Focus strength causes me to set.  And my Focus strength is the reason why I'm always wondering what my future will hold and what I can do to make it better, which I think is why I'm looking to do a dual major in Hospitality and Marketing.

My third and final strength is Responsibility. I'm really happy that I have this as one of my strengths because I like to think that people can rely on me and ask me for help.  However, I also feel like this strength can actually be a negative as well.  Because of this strength, I have an almost physical need to make sure it gets completed.  This need tends to stress me out as well as interfere with other activities or chores that have a higher priority.  I also think this could be a negative strength for the simple fact that when people discover that you are a responsible person, they tend to push tasks or duties off on you knowing that they'll get completed.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with all of my strengths even though some can be taken advantage of.  I think I'll see more and more instances where my strengths play out.