Coaching practices for Using Strengths for Purpose

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Using Strengths for Purpose, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I already know what I’m good at, but I only ever use those strengths in the same few familiar places
• I know there are a couple of things I’m genuinely good at, but I use them just to get by
• I’m trying to reach this goal by white-knuckling through the exact things I’m worst at, and it’s draining and stalling
• I want to know what my real strengths actually are
• I spend so much energy trying to fix my weak spots that my days feel like a grind against my own grain

Practices that may help

1. Use a signature strength in a new way each day for one week
   Apply one of your top character strengths to a context or relationship where you don’t normally use it.
   VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical
2. Bridge from signature strengths to purpose
   Identify the top two or three things you do better than most people and trace how they can serve something larger.
   The Life Crafting Intervention: Scripting Your Future Self
3. Set goals that build on your signature strengths
   Design goals that let your top strengths be the primary vehicle rather than your weak spots.
   VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical
4. Identify your core strengths through your own history
   Find the recurring threads in your best moments to name the strengths that are actually yours.
   Life Review and Reminiscence Therapy
5. Use your signature strengths in a new way
   Identify your top character strengths and deploy one of them differently each day.
   Positive Psychology, Made Practical
6. Map how your strengths distort under stress
   Identify the "overuse" and "underuse" of each signature strength — how they show up when you’re at your worst.
   VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical
7. VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical
   Peterson and Seligman’s VIA Classification identifies 24 character strengths organized under six virtues, and multiple randomized trials find that using your top "signature strengths" in new ways reliably increases well-being and decreases depressive symptoms. The effect is most robust when strengths are deployed in engaged, relational ways — not just recognized but actively applied.
8. Lead from the influencing domain — take charge, speak up, make sure others are heard
   People strong in influencing sell the team’s ideas inside and outside the organization.
   Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical
9. Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical
   Strengths-based leadership, developed by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie building on Gallup’s decades of manager research, holds that the most effective leaders invest in their own strengths and build teams whose combined strengths cover all four leadership domains — executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. Gallup’s correlational research consistently finds that strength-focused teams report higher engagement and performance, though the causal direction is not fully established.
10. Complimenting Strengths Throughout the Session
    Deliberately name real strengths, efforts, and resources the person displays — not as praise but as information.
    Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Building On What Works

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.