weaknesses

Glitch Your Heart Out
graphic shows pixelated squares of colors

A certain mouse-led studio put out a movie a few years back, one in which the main character befriends a spunky racecar driver named Vanellope. Maybe you’ve seen it?

She was the underdog of the arcade, struggling for a chance to compete in the game Sugar Rush. The other racers didn’t want Vanellope “The Glitch” von Schweetz competing. She had a condition that made her pixelate: her whole body would blink and she’d go temporarily blurry. Doesn’t sound fair, huh?

Spoiler alert: Vanellope soon discovers that this bug is actually a feature. Once she gets to know her glitching, she is able to use it to her advantage and glitches herself around obstacles on the track. The others come to respect her condition as just one part of her—a strength, even.

We’ve written before about identifying your own superpowers. Your human capital—those skills, qualities, and desires that can be used in the service of your fellow human beings—is one of your strongest assets. (It’s a fabulous place to start out when you’re starting out.)

But here’s a “life hack” for you: reconsider your weaknesses, too.

Most qualities become liabilities when taken to their extreme, but with some perspective… well, we wonder if those “weaknesses” might be tempered to become strengths. Aren’t the quirks what make us unique? Aren’t they the things that make our point of view so valuable to others?

We don’t mean to suggest that any situation can be reframed this way. If something in our lives is harming our health or wellbeing, it may require more than this to address the heart of the issue.

But no one is alone in this process, either. It’s been a joy for us to get to know where you are on your journeys. For all the twists and turns, the climbs, and the obstacles, what a pleasure to be on the road with you!

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Glitch Your Heart Out – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.

Focus, people!

© Can Stock Photo / JohnKwan

We recently wrote about the meaning of money. Spoiler alert: we believe it may be a symbol of being worthwhile to the rest of society.

So today we are writing about the differences between entrepreneurs of middle class status, and those who have done better. Understand we are very big on being of service to our fellow humans, not so big on the pursuit of money for its own sake. We each define success in our own lives for our own selves. But there is a worthwhile lesson about being effective in our endeavors lurking in this topic.

Peter Schiff, author of Business Brilliant, identified in that book seven behaviors of highly successful entrepreneurs. Later he realized that just one trait dominated all the others. Its importance became apparent when he compared the behavior of less financially successful entrepreneurs to more successful entrepreneurs.

It turns out that, according to him, 45% of less successful entrepreneurs have no answer for the question, “Do you know what you are exceptionally good at that makes you money?” They believe they are excellent at six different things, on average. And 58% of them work to get better at things they are NOT exceptional at.

Meanwhile, 100% of more successful entrepreneurs know what they are exceptionally good at that makes money. They believe they are excellent at only two things, on average. And NONE of them work on their weaknesses; they spend all their time working with those things at which they excel.

When you think about the meaning of these three parameters, doesn’t it boil down to ‘focus?’ The more successful spend their energy on the two things at which they excel, because they know exactly how they are valuable to the rest of society. The less successful scatter their efforts across six things at which they believe they excel, plus they also spend time on their weaknesses.

It is no wonder that the group that consciously focuses more of their time on a narrower number of key things produces notable results. The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.

Bringing this closer to home, we believe there are two things at which we excel. Communicating with you to understand your goals and devise plans of action to pursue those goals is one. Managing investments in accordance with those goals is the other. The two things work together and complement each other: your goals inform your investment strategy.

Furthermore, each member of our team has duties that mostly correspond to their personal areas of excellence. People working at tasks they enjoy and excel at are going to be happier than workers who go through the drudgery of work that they do not like. Life is too short to spend it doing things you do not enjoy!

We do not know if these insights are of use to you. At least they help explain what we are about. None of this guarantees anything to anyone. Clients, if you would like to talk about this or any other pertinent topic, please email us or call.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.