Don’t Work on Your Weaknesses, Play to Your Strengths.
Forget about Working on Your Weaknesses, Play to Your Strengths. This is a fairly common adage that pops up in of business books, productivity seminars, and even dating advice manuals. It’s also really good advice for the Sorcerer.
Some of us have this fantasy of being the whole package: good at everything, bad at nothing. In magic we are specifically concerned with attaining enlightenment, ascention into godhood, self-actualization or some other synonym that is really a fancy term for being perfect. To be perfect would be to be all things right? So the impulse is to work on our weaknesses makes perfect sense.
In reality though the perfection we seek is a state that underlies all reality. We can abide in that state and still have our personal strengths and weaknesses. Even the classical gods, while being fully divine, manifest strengths that they play to. You don’t think that Aphrodite is worried about being a better War God do you? Or that Ares stays up nights wishing he could be more like Apollo? No, we are never far from the perfection that underlies everything, and it does not require us to solve all flaws.
In this life we have finite time and finite resources we cannot work on everything all at once. This opens the question of what you focus on: improving in an area that you are not talented or inexperienced in, or becoming a superstar in the areas you are already good with.
To me, its not even a choice. Focus on your natural talents and become the best at what you do – possibly even pushing your accomplishments into new territory never before reached – or become kinda good at yet one more thing.
In magic I often hear from people who can feel spirits, and get messages from spirits, but are upset that they can’t see spirits. They want to spend lots of energy on being able to see a spirit, when if they focused on the senses that they do have, they could become some of the most talented magicians and mediums in the world.
Other people are incredible at spell casting, but only so-so at divination. They read that Pete Carroll book where he says that its more important to be a diviner, so they feel that they suck at magic – when in fact they are actually fantastic in their own field. They just happen to specialize in making things happen rather than predicting things that will happen.
There are a few takeaways from this:
- When looking at how to improve in magic, work on systems and on talents that you are gifted for. It is better to excel than just slightly more well rounded.
- Network and find people that have gifts in areas that you are weak in. This is one of the advantages of a good lodge or coven if it is put together well, but in my experience a group of like minded friends will often serve you better.
- When looking to assess someone as a teacher or to hire for work, don’t project weaknesses and strengths onto a person that they don’t have based on the ones that they do. Just because that card reader was dead-on with their divination does not mean that their spells are going to work to change your life. Just because that teacher is able to manifest some psychic ability does not mean that they are spiritually adept or even moral.
So what do we do about our weaknesses? Certainly I am not suggesting that you turn a blind eye to serious shortcomings. Don’t stay fat because its a weak area of your life. I am just suggesting that if it is not holding you back in a debilitating way, it might be something you need to accept rather than change about yourself. Accepting that you might be mediocre at some things and downright terrible at others will be more than compensated for by pushing the boundaries of art, science, and human attainment with your unique genius and strength.
