Here's a personal account of the transformation Alex underwent, thanks to bringing awareness to his strengths. Over to Alex.

In mid-2013, I co-founded a company that rapidly grew to employ a global, remote team of 35 people. This company was my first startup and for the first twelve months, I had no time. Every day was mayhem. I was firefighter, architect, and coach. The experience was challenging, but as I freed up more time, I realized I was unfulfilled. There was something missing, but I couldn't quite explain what it was. I was stressed. I couldn't sleep. I gained forty pounds.

So, I started to build relationships. I serendipitously connected with Nils and he mentioned the StrengthsFinder assessment. I was a skeptic. In fact, I had always felt like the Myers-Briggs profile sounded like a newspaper horoscope column. The notes seemed generic and unrelated to my personality. Nils was adamant, so I shelled out $15 and reluctantly took the quiz in between sessions at a Customer Success conference.

Twenty minutes later, I received my profile, and my top five Strengths were: Relator, Competition, Focus, Command, and Discipline. After reading each Strength description, I had a life-changing realization. My day to day work was not tapping into my top 3 strengths! I was completely out of alignment because I couldn't flex my Strengths. It was on me to change my reality, my environment and it was time to tap into my natural talents.

As I write this, I'm lovin' life!

Today, I get the opportunity to flex all five of my Strengths in both businesses. I've lost the weight, I sleep like a baby every night and have boundless energy. I play basketball once a day, meditate twice a day and look after myself every day. I love the work that I do and pour my heart and soul into it. I aligned my Strengths with my work, and it changed my life.