Successful small business owners know their strengths and weaknesses. By recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, you, too, can effectively build a more substantial business. It was once thought that focusing on your weaknesses and learning to build them up was vital in leading a profitable company, but research now suggests the opposite. The more you focus on your strengths and how to use them efficiently, the better your chances of success will actually be.

So, in what ways will discovering your strengths help capitalize your business? And how can you best gain insight into the ones you possess? Some of the most significant ways you’ll see changes when you focus on your strengths include,

-Increase in positive engagements

Focusing on strengths leads to better engagement between you, your employees, and anyone else you do business with. Playing on the areas where you feel most comfortable will ignite your self-confidence. And when you are feeling confident, it shines through. The same goes for others. You can bring more energy and inspiration into the workplace, resulting in better work performance and productivity.

-Make better use of your time

When you focus on tasks at which you excel, you maximize your time and accomplish more throughout the day. These duties are more straightforward to complete as they come naturally to you.

-Delegate tasks appropriately

Rather than wasting valuable time struggling with tasks you find challenging, why not outsource them to others who are more appropriate? By knowing your weaknesses, daunting tasks can then be handed off to individuals who would do a much better job in less time.

As for how to gain a better understand of your weaknesses and strengths, you need to have a certain amount of self-awareness. More importantly, you need to be honest with yourself when making this determination. You may even want to enlist the help of others. Ask those who know you well to give you their honest opinions.

If this type of self-awareness is challenging for you to uncover, there are also tons of assessments available that can help identify it for you. Two good assessments worth trying are StrengthsFinder and DiSC. Both provide in-depth reports showing where you do your best and your worst. Be aware that these both require payment, but you can also find plenty of free assessments after digging a little.

One final note, this doesn’t mean you should completely ignore your weaknesses. Instead, take the time to improve where you see fit. It’s always good to learn something new or gain a new skill. Just don’t spend too much time here. Dwelling on your weaknesses will only damper your potential growth.