Stephanie Trowbridge

Growing with Your Strengths to Be Your Best

As a middle schooler I wanted to go to the Juilliard School of Music as a Flute Performance Major. I knew what I wanted so I practiced twice as long as I was instructed to and gradually increased until I was practicing 2-hours a day. Often I practice 4-8 bars of music over and over for the entire 2 hours. I feel sorry for whomever was in the house, but my dedication was clear. I had a goal and a path to obtain it. I was going to be the best. Musically, I was good, but not overly gifted. I had to practice. I would guess I spent close to 5,000 hours in my flute career practicing until a soccer ball to my jaw took my dream out. 

I then became a water aerobics instructor and practiced projecting my voice over the water to chatty participants. When I moved on to be a nurse, we never stop practicing. I’m close to 32,000 hours in the almost 19 years I’ve been practicing nursing and it has lead me into more formal leadership roles. I have been leading since I was little, yet in the past six years, I have been dedicated to my pursuit leadership and putting the time in to grow. 

What about you? What are you doing over and over to be good at or perhaps the best at? 

My husband disc golfs hours on end. When a tournament is just around the corner, he increases his practice time. Why? Because he has a goal and wants to be the best. The more hours into the practice, the better he will be. 

The tournament, the presentation or the moments in the spotlight turn out to be the easy parts. It’s the practice, when no one is watching or listening, which matters. How we practice determines how we will show up when the eyes are pointed in our direction. 

John C. Maxwell in The 15 Irrefutable Laws of Growth talks about intentionally working on our strengths rather than our weaker areas to enhance our growth. We often believe we need to work at what we are weakest in, however, Maxwell explains our influence can grow more quickly when our strengths are more greatly developed. 

Intentionality in practicing what we are strongest in can help you get where you are going. What do you want to be good at or even the best at? Having clarity of where you are going will help make the day-to-day practice and tough days worth it. 

Need help understanding your strengths? Need a plan for practicing what you want to be good at? Coaching can be a great way to help navigate your strengths and work out a road map to enhance your practice and growth. 

Contact me today for a 20-minute call to begin investing in yourself. Low fee for introductory sessions! Ask me about it today. I cannot wait to talk with you.