Scott Schimmel 0:20
Well, hey everybody. This is Scott Schimmel. I am the host of The YouSchool podcast. And today I'm thrilled to be having a conversation with a friend of mine that we haven't connected with each other in a few years, and have a conversation around strengths and helping people discover, tap into and develop their own strengths. And so follow along with us as we have this conversation. I'm thrilled to have Tracey Gee on the, on The YouSchool podcast and have a conversation with her. So just to get started. Tracey, would you tell us your story, what you're doing professionally, personally, and then how specifically you became a Strengths coach through the StrengthsFinder?
Tracey Gee 0:59
Yeah, thanks, Scott. It's awesome to talk to you. I'm really happy to be with you. Um, well, I live in LA with my husband and my two sons ones in second grade and one's about to start middle school. So we're in a whole new adventure. I've worked for InterVarsity for about 20 years. It's hard to believe, but time has gone by that fast. So yeah, for those that know it, it's a Christian ministry. For those that don't. It's a faith based nonprofit that does leadership development for college students. So I've worked in that we're going to same organization for about 20 years, and then recently have become a Strengths coach. Okay. Yeah, how that came about? Well, first of all, I'm kind of addicted to personality assessment. So I love all these different ways of like, kind of learning more about yourself. Myers Briggs, Enneagram, four tendencies, you know, I could be on the internet and see a quiz, like, what breed of dog Are you and I just love that stuff. So I've been aware of strengths finder. For a long time, I think I've used it for about 10 years. But it wasn't until I had an opportunity to be coached by a friend and colleague, who has a ton of experience as a strength coach, that I realize how powerful it could be. So her coaching, it just really helped me realize that being aware of your strengths is only a very small part of it. And really, where the biggest payoff is, is in developing your strengths, and eventually getting to master your strengths. So that was a really energizing conversation. So I realized I had just kind of gotten stuck at awareness and hadn't really move beyond that, like, Oh, I could kind of name what my strengths were. So if you're familiar with the strengths finder, you get, you know, like a report with like, your top five, I kind of knew what those were kind of forgot them. But I feel like hadn't really done much with them to really understand them as far as how they fit with me personally, and my development and how I could utilize them for the things that mattered most to me in my life. You know, I'm just a big believer and not trying to master every single thing, but trying to really focus on what makes you, uniquely you, and what's going to help you thrive. And I realized, I think this is a really great tool for that. So when the opportunity came around for training, it just was like the worst possible timing. I didn't know how it was gonna make the practical issues worked out. But yeah, I was like, I have to be there. This is just felt like one of those sparks that you have to chase and figure out where it's gonna go. And, and now, four months later, I've finished my training and certification. I've been coaching people, and I honestly really, really love it.
Scott Schimmel 3:49
So we'll get a little bit more into what strengths are and how you help people discover theirs. But tell me a little bit more about what is it about the personality tests and tools? What is it for you it? I mean, as it as it does it personally? How do you like to? Do you'd like to use that for other people's lives? Like what is the spark for you?
Tracey Gee 4:11
I think the draw for me with these personality assessments is mostly getting a chance to have something mirror back to you or give you some categories of thinking about yourself, maybe things that you were aware of, but didn't quite have words, express like that's how you work. That's how you function, you know, obviously, none of them are completely perfect, or tell every single thing about you, but they give you like a small window into who you are. And I really enjoy that process of figuring that out for myself and helping other people discover that for themselves.
Scott Schimmel 4:48
Okay, so maybe for the strengths nerds out there who are curious now what are your top five strengths according to the strengths finder?
Unknown Speaker 4:57
Okay, according to Strengths Finder, my top five are strategic, futuristic, input, okay, achiever and activator. Okay, so for those that know the strengths stuff, I think it's really a big driving force for learning more about strengths is actually my input. Because input likes to learn, it likes to gather resources. And then it likes to be a resource in a practical way. So there's other kinds of strings that gear more towards just like learning in general, or more philosophically, but input is kind of has like a practical bent. And I like that I like learning and gathering resources that I feel like, oh, this can make somebody's life. Yeah,
Scott Schimmel 5:40
yep. Well, there's a, you mentioned this earlier, there's a huge there's, I think there's a there's a difference between getting the results of a test like that, and then figuring out what to do about it, figure out how to make it useful for you. And I think most people that I've talked to you with StrengthsFinder, or disk, or whatever those are, it's something that they've done before, maybe through a workshop at work, or at their church or something. But what, like, how do you move that from information to actually being useful? What have you found? That's going to be really
Tracey Gee 6:10
helpful for you? Yeah, it's so true. I've, I've talked to people that are like, Yeah, I got my StrengthsFinder results, I can't really remember what they are, you know, they can't even really recall them. They just get the report, and they read it through once and they stick it in a jar and they don't really look at it. You know, for me, it really was the coaching. It was that kind of conversation where it wasn't so much her telling me, this is you or you need to do this, but it was her asking just really great questions. It's one of the things I love about strengths is you could have, you know, 10 people with the same strength, but it's going to feel really different. In those 10 people based on a number of other things like their life experiences, and their core values and their personality, other aspects of their personality and just who they are. And so I think there's there's so much that's unique about them, like even input, I coached this woman last week who has input, she's a graphic designer. So for her input is very visual, like she loves museums, she loves taking in beautiful images and beautiful design. And then that shapes how she thinks about her own creative process and design. I just thought that was so interesting. It's really different. It's not the classic, like tons of dusty books on a bookshelf kind of input thing is really unique for her. And I find that to be really true. So yeah, I think that process of coaching helps uncover for a person like what is it uniquely for them? That how does this strength really come alive in them?
Scott Schimmel 7:45
I remember a key moment for me, I had a similar experience, sitting down with someone who is certified as a strength coach years ago, as I started out in a master's program, and this woman was asking me questions about my top five strengths. And I was telling her a real life work example, about how I had been supervising someone, a woman who had given feedback on my performance review, that I was not very supportive of her of her personal life. And I remember just being one shocked to hear that to really defensive because I'm I saw when I told this strength coach, she said, I don't know what she's talking about, because I listen to her problems for a year. Problems. That's like all we talked about. And through the lens of strengths finders, she said, Well, which one of your strengths do you use? Or do you activate you apply when she's sharing her personal problems? And as I look at them, and one of my top strengths, also strategic, this idea of being able to see patterns and figure out how to apply solutions. So she even told me this personal problems, and I'm like listening. Yep, yep. And I'm using my strategic strength and giving her solutions to her personal problems. I mean, it sounds like marriage therapy, right. And then I also have my top five, what StrengthsFinder calls empathy. And what was happening for me was I was turning it off, when she was sharing that stuff with me, because I was tired of hearing it. And I want it to be efficient. We had work to do. And so in a very slight, very short conversation, my strengths coach said, what would it look like to experiment by activating another one of my strengths, empathy, and turning off the other one showing the strategic so the next day literally, I sit down with this woman, and I'm asking her, how's it going? How's life, and she started sharing another personal friend with me, and I'm fighting it in my head. But it wasn't that big of it wasn't going against my nature. It was actually using a different part of my nature. And I just really connected with her. And I remember after like, 20 minutes, we're moving on to the next topic. And I realized there's no resolution here. There's no problem that I solved. I felt a little bit unsettled. But I remembered what my strengths coach said. And I just went with it. And I called her two days later and said, Hey, I just want to talk about that. conversation today. I want to know how you felt about it. And she said, really? I feel like that was the best conversation we've ever had. So, how do you help someone who gets this information from Strengths Finder or really from anything? Enneagram number whatever? What is the process? You mentioned coaching? What is the process look like? To take the information to self awareness and self knowledge? To put it to use?
Tracey Gee 10:26
Mm hmm. I think the first step is usually just reflecting and figuring out how does this thing come alive in my life? Like I said, so for you understanding like, Okay, well, you have this strength of empathy. Where does that really come alive? Where does Where do you really see that at work? What are the times that you use? That? Is it? You know, maybe it's normally in one setting, but not another? So how do you use that? And And another question I really love to ask people is, what's the current challenge that you're facing? A lot of times people have, you know, challenge in front of them, and just asking them to figure out, okay, what is that challenge? And, and what's a strength that you already have? It's not like you need to go become a different person, you already have it in you. How do you use that for the challenge that you have. So in your example, that's a great example, like, I'm having this issue with this person, I'm trying to connect, but we're missing each other, you already had something in you, you just had to apply it in the in the situation a different way. And I find that that's often really true. Like, that's what I mean, by really developing and mastering your strengths, they're there. But the more you become aware of them, and you learn how to name them, and figure out how they work in your life, the more you'll be able to actually aim it towards the real challenges and problems that you're trying to deal with either personally or professionally.
Scott Schimmel 11:47
That is, that is good. I'm taking notes. As you I will put that in the show notes later, too. You've spent 20 years working with students with young people with college students, specifically. And I'm curious from your perspective, because I think I've noticed some significant shifts, at least since I was in college, and curious what you're seeing for the trends as it relates to personal development, personal growth, desires that students have today versus a generation ago. What are you seeing that's, that's unique, or that's new, and then what's now
Tracey Gee 12:24
I think one thing that's so different now than like 10, or 15 years ago, is we're just in a time where everyone's constantly connected. Just tech is such a big part of our lives, you know, try to tell my kids when I was growing up, guys, we didn't have phones that you can take in our pocket, you know, they were attached to the wall of we're out with these pay phones, and you know, they just look at me, like I'm speaking in another language, they
Scott Schimmel 12:47
can't even use houses and and talk to their parents, right?
Tracey Gee 12:51
Leave a message on the answering machine and like, What are you talking about? They barely understand what I'm talking about. So just I think in this age of increasing connection, it's just constantly evolving. And I think some of the effects of that are great, and some are not so great. But I do think one result is that there's just so much more information available to people, so many more options, you know, my son and his friends think of YouTuber as a legitimate career path. You know, for them it is they see examples of that, right. I've been reading this book called Meet Gen Z by James Emery white. And just talks about how one characteristic of this upcoming generation is that it's just so much more entrepreneurial than the ones that came before it. And I think it's a result of just having these opportunities and this connection and options in front of them all the time, they're more apt to want to create their own unique paths. And I think that could be either something that's really overwhelming or a tremendous opportunity. You know, so I always tell people, you have a one in 300,000 chance of finding someone with your same top five strengths in that order. Yeah, so meaning, isn't that crazy? Yeah. So you could attend the next, you know, four and a half Super Bowls and not find someone there that she shares your same five in that order. And I just think, you know, whereas strengths and all that in the past, it's interesting or helpful. I think there's such an opportunity for the younger generation with this, to really know what's unique about them, and where they have the capacity to bring their greatest impact in the most satisfying way. Utilizing your unique strengths. I think that's just going to become more and more of a necessity, because there's so many options out there, the the choices are endless, you know, we're all kind of dealing with like decision fatigue all the time. So, but I just think that people knowing themselves really well and you know, whether that's through something like StrengthsFinder, or something else, right, is going to be indispensable.
Scott Schimmel 14:51
That's actually I'm literally writing an article right now about, about copying, copying other people like copying paste effect is what I'm calling the article, but it's actually a social media. The temptation, and this is, this is me, I'm talking about me, I look at social media, I see other people's postings, whether it's LinkedIn or Instagram, whatever. And quickly, almost subconsciously, start thinking, what am I doing in comparison? And really, and especially the people that I think are so in my grid are cool or successful, or valuable. I'm, I'm finding myself subconsciously, almost copying what they were how they talk. And that's certainly something that I did. I think we all do growing up. And it's a healthy thing. You know, that's how we learn how to talk, how to walk, how to do math problems, like copying people. But your points really interesting, because it's, it's the uniqueness of you that's going to impact your life.
Tracey Gee 15:51
Yeah, I think there's such a temptation to try to emulate the people that we admire, like you said, copy and paste or just kind of replicating because we still respect them and look up to them. But we miss the fact that they're, they're probably effective and what they do, because they know who they are uniquely and they know their own strengths. And they're utilizing them well. And we just think, oh, just have to do like X, Y, and Z like them. But really, there's there's another layer to it.
Scott Schimmel 16:18
Do you see college students struggling with let's talk about vocation and career for a second? Like? Do you see college students struggling to I, in my mind, it's like do what they're supposed to do? Do what their parents are supposed to do to what their? The community their culture, their their peer group? wants them to do like values above the others? Or do you see it diversifying? Do you see students exploring new things, taking paths have new paths for themselves? Like what do you what do you see?
Tracey Gee 16:52
It really depends, I think I see a really wide spectrum. And I think it's influenced by family cultural dynamics, there's I think there are still young people that are struggling with like, do I do the path that other people want for me? Or do I do the thing that I really feel passionate about? But I do think more and more, there is more tendency and more space in the generation to have freedom and permission to pursue the dreams on their hearts. So I think that's exciting.
Scott Schimmel 17:26
That yeah, that isn't good. It is a good thing. And there's more options, it seems professionally. Seems like there's more. Certainly, I mean, you when I went to school, if you're in the business school, it's either finance, marketing, or management. Now there's multiple iterations, even within a college campus of what to do inside of a business school, just as an example. For sure. What, as it relates to someone young, but in this, you might speak to this as a parent, or as someone who works with college students, what, what do you hope? That's the young person talking about high school, graduate college grad? What do you hope they know about themselves by those points,
Tracey Gee 18:07
I really, really hope that young people understand just as much well, actually more about what's right about them than what's wrong. So I think, you know, the temptation to just emulate people that you look up to, that's one temptation, I think another real temptation is to focus on the things that you don't have or to think, to focus on weaknesses and try to fix them, and try to improve those and make them better. And you know, to become a functioning adult, for sure everyone needs to do things that aren't super pleasant or fun, or, yeah, that's just adulting. But I think it can be too easy for people in general and young people as a part of that to, to get caught up and just trying to fix what you think is wrong with yourself. And really, truly understanding what's right about you, again, goes back to the strengths thing. So I love you know, I really liked that one saying that just says you know, everyone's a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it's gonna spend its whole life against failure, right? And I just I really hope that young people understand that, you know, managing your weaknesses is necessary at times, but building on your strengths is really where it's at for building a satisfying and impactful life. You know, and I just think like, What if every young person really understood their own genius, and and lived into that I, I think that would be really exciting. And for them again, just to know what's what's profoundly right about them? Hmm.
Scott Schimmel 19:43
I think that's interesting. I haven't thought about that recently, because I've been, for example, coaching my kids sports teams for the past few years, and especially at such a young age. I have a 585 year old girls right now playing soccer on my team. I just came off coaching girls softball, nine and 10 year old girls softball. And I've had this theory, especially for, especially for baseball, and softball, where which are sports for this highly customized skilled positions a pitcher, a catcher, first baseman, but I've had this theory and coach this way for years where I don't really care at eight years old, if your kid wants to play catcher, like, I think they learned to play the game, and try different things in some ways. How do they know what they're good at? How do they know what they like, at this age, but there's a lot of parents who encourage their kids to specialize in sports and so but there's a there's a shift, and I've noticed a shift by one young girl that I coach last year, I one game said, Hey, you're gonna be catch her today. And she looked at me with not fear in her eyes more like anger in her eyes, like, encouraged me all the more to say, oh, yeah, you're gonna love it, it's gonna be great. You're gonna learn this, this position. And then she went out there, I strapped all the gear on her, pushed her behind the plate. And it was a train wreck for like, 20 minutes. I was going everywhere. She has no clue what to do. And it's not like she was an uncoordinated kid, she just really did not succeed. And I don't extrapolate. Maybe she didn't get the support direction that she needed by the coach. But she came off the fields. And I walked right over to her put my arm around her. And she said, Are you going to make me do that? Again? I'm so sorry. No, for the sake of all of us, the other team included. But that's it's an interesting idea that I'm curious, from your perspective to parents, to teachers, to coaches, to people like youth pastors, youth workers. What, what can we do to help students help young people find discover what's right, not just what's wrong, because I, I feel the temptation to produce well rounded people.
Tracey Gee 22:04
I think there's a lot that adults can do to help the young people that we care about, discover what's really great about them and what their strengths are. For me, as a parent, I probably see that as one of my main jobs is to try to identify for my kids. What are their potential areas of talent and strength? I can't force them to develop it, you know, but I can give them some guidance or point out like, hey, it seems like you really enjoy this. Like, what if we, if we put you in this situation to help that develop? And I'm so grateful. When other respected adults in their lives, teachers, coaches, youth pastors do the same. I mean, that's just total about your tremendous gifts. So I love this question. Because I think for me, that's one of the most fun things too, about being a parent is just I have my two kids are really different in terms of their personalities. I don't know about yours. Yeah, you're like, how did this happen? You have some parents and you live in the same house, and you're totally different. But in that is, again, so much potential, right? Like they're, they have really different strengths. So yeah, I think that sometimes kids have a little bit of an advantage to discovering their strengths. Like as adults, they've usually picked up less of those, like, I should do this, or I have to do that, you know, kind of thoughts and patterns that we get ourselves into. I often tell adults to think back on what they love doing as kids, sometimes that can help uncover some areas of strength or passion. Yeah. And, you know, it's like the genius of just watching your kids be when they have free time, like what do they do they gravitate towards? How do they play? Yeah. But I think there's a few ways so some main clues to discovering someone's talent, I think is the same for all people, but certainly applies to young people. One it they all boil down to kind of just being really observant. But the first thing I look for the first clue is rapid learning. So what are the things that this kid seems to pick up with ease? What kind of situations challenges or learning come naturally to them in which maybe not you know, like, for that kid that you're talking about the catcher like, what was it about the catcher thing that didn't work? But but some kids maybe have, like in the StrengthsFinder thing, like a learner talent where they like being thrown into a new situation? Maybe this kid has some other talents that make that a little bit trickier, you know? But But again, like for this kid, like, what, where do they learn quickly? Where do they seem to pick up things with ease and what kind of situations? The second is motivation, like what kinds of things they're naturally drawn to learn about? Where do they have a real curiosity and desire to learn more? Three is what we call flow, like what are their activities that when they're doing them, they just are in the zone. You know, they're, they're in a state of flow. So you know, for example, When my younger son, he can just go into his own imagination creates these elaborate battles in his mind. And when he's in that he's just, he's in the groove, you know? And yeah, I don't quite know what strength that is yet, but I'm definitely noticing like, okay, there's something there. Marshall, something Yeah, exactly. And then the fourth is satisfaction. So what do they find satisfying? I think all of us have things that we're capable at, but maybe don't find satisfying. And I think that's true of kids as well. Like, oh, you know, my son was really competent at some things with like swimming, but then we're like, Hey, you want to join some teams? Like, no, I'm gonna do that, you know? And I think really asking the kids like, what do you really enjoy? What do you find satisfying? What do you what do you want to invest in? That usually can tell you a lot, you know, where they're finding joy. And the last is glimpses of excellence. So you know, where do you see those little flashes of like, whoa, how'd you do that? You know, like, not all kids could have done that. So it's funny, you mentioned baseball, because I, my older son's a baseball player. And the time I always think about this is he's like, in fourth grade. And he's gone into his championship Little League game. And, you know, everyone's like, all excited about it. Like it's a World Series. It's like fourth grader playing, but everyone's like, into it. Right? And they want to win and the other team wants to win. And, you know, his coach says, of all your teammates six, so we might have to have you pitch today. Yeah, he didn't pitch for months. Literally, like two months. Last time you did it. He kind of didn't do great. Yeah. But they're like, we might need you to do it today. And so you know, another kid starts and the game just gets away from them. And before you know it, it's like 10 to one. And there's two runners on, like, kids are crying, you know. And they go to my son, like, Alright, you're gonna go in now.
And we're me and my husband are just like mortified, like, oh, my gosh, watching your kid do that. But he locked it down and pitched a great feeling he I got out of that inning, gave him a chance to come back. They still lost a few final scores and like 11 to eight, but he didn't get very many runs and give him a chance a fighting chance. And afterwards, me my husband, like, how the heck did he do that? You know, and it's been actually through the strength stuff. I'm like, Oh, I think he has focus. Oh, wow, focus strength, which is like being able to see your goal. Yep. and eliminate extraneous things to get to it. You just start able to like, this is what I need to get done. I'm gonna get it done right now.
Scott Schimmel 27:47
Which is true of athletes hype elite military,
Tracey Gee 27:50
that strength. A lot. Focus comes up
Scott Schimmel 27:53
for like, what you're so weird about, like how excellent you get at stuff. Why are you like that? Yeah,
Tracey Gee 27:59
I had never seen that, or hadn't seen it enough to notice it in him in that strong way. And then since then, I've kind of picked up Oh, I think he can do this. I don't have that. My husband doesn't have that. You know, so we're just watching him like, whoa, okay, great. And so that's another example like looking for those little moments when you're like, Oh, how'd you do that? Yeah.
Scott Schimmel 28:23
What did that conversation sound like? Was that a conversation you had with him with your son? You share that observation with him?
Tracey Gee 28:30
Mm hmm. Yeah, he's aware of my work now as a strength coach. And he's like, I want to take it. There's actually a kid's version. So we haven't done it yet. Yeah, it's called Strengths Quest. Okay. It's on the Gallup website. And similar, you know, I think it asks them a few questions only gives them I think top three. Okay. Sometimes they use it in schools. But yeah, he's he keeps asking me like, I want to take it. I'm curious to see if my, you know, my little informal. Yeah, evaluation is actually accurate or not. But yeah, we've talked about that, like, Oh, you're you're able to do that. What helps you do that? You know, what? What keeps you from doing that? When, when it's harder, you know, just helping him even talk through or learn about himself? Like, how does he do that when he's playing?
Scott Schimmel 29:11
Well, I love that I took I took notes, clues to discover your kids talent, and we're gonna put that on the show notes. For sure. That's, that's really good stuff. The last question, this goes back to the theme. It's not about you intentionally set that theme. Because one of the things that we've noticed around this idea of designing and living a vibrant life, where you're thriving and you just live in a sense of purpose and flow, and I am who I'm supposed to be all that stuff. That one of the common denominators for people who are like that would say there's there's a high degree an orientation towards serving others. There's there's something about providing serving, sacrificing surrendering or something as though even though count We're intuitive that makes me come alive when I do that, and I'm curious your perspective, because one of the maybe distorted versions of things like StrengthsFinder are jokes when it comes up in a company, oh, great, we're gonna get narcissistic and talk about ourselves is that it can be it can be so focused on you, and your journey and you becoming better at you. So where, where do you balance that both as a mom and a leader with college students and our strengths coach? How do you what is how do you make sense of all that?
Tracey Gee 30:34
I think that relationship between someone understanding and knowing their strengths and, and that core message of serving other people, I think there, for me, it's a win win. I really do think that people who understand who they are, know, their strengths and are activated in those things, ultimately, the purpose is to serve other people. And it's people that are functioning at a high level in their strengths that they have something to give. So I always think of I like an author named Francis speaker. And he says, Your, your calling in life is where your deep gladness and the world hunger meet, while you think about the world right now, and there's an every single realm that you can think of, you know, education, business, politics, families, communities, you name it, there's there's hunger, there's places in needs need for transformation, and leadership. And the more that people can understand what it is that they uniquely do best, and how they have that to bring to the world, I think that's just a tremendous service. So I was coaching, a woman who is a teacher, and she was talking about how she has analytical as one of her top strengths, and how she was like, give me the binders with the data, I want to study it, I want to create a report I want to learn, you know, she was like, appalled that no one had done that. But But through that was like able to take that information and learn and have all these recommendations about how they could improve the experience of students at that school and, and even her strengths, yet, she also had a strength, the strength of learner. So it was fascinating to hear her talk about her class, and she just is noticing, like a lot her students didn't have that confidence that they could learn. And so she made it her goal, like we're just going to talk about that that's going to be a theme and I want them, every single students come away knowing you are capable as a learner, you have the capacity to learn. And that was just such a repeated theme in her classroom and with her kids. And she was really starting to see change in that toward the end of the year. And I just love that because I was like, that's such a unique flavor that you bring to your teaching, you know, the fact that you have learner in your top five, that's what learner is, that's like liking to learn. But it's also confident that you can learn whatever you need to. And I was like, I love that you're imparting that to your students, I love that they're experiencing your unique flavor of teaching. And that's just so powerful. And to think about these kids, particularly a lot of them that come from disadvantaged backgrounds, it was just such a, you know, maybe the first time in their life, they're getting that kind of message. So I just I think that it's a win win, and that people who are really activated and their strengths and you know, working out of this motivation, you know, for her, I love that it was like no one told her to go pore through these binders. Nobody told her to create this sort of like class fee. But yes, you can no good. She's like, loving to do it. She was energized by it. She was like, give me the rest of the binders. You know, just, I think it's when people are working out of their strengths in that way that they are at the have the most potential to really serve in profound ways. So I think it's huge win win.
Scott Schimmel 34:12
That's cool. To get practical, in wrapping up, if someone wants to experience more, learn more about their, their strengths. Two questions, how do they do that? And then maybe you can even give kind of like a soundbite like of encouragement, why someone should invest in that if for any reason someone's hesitant, and it's certainly probably not the cost or the time but just why should someone invest in understanding and in living on their strengths? So practically, how can they do it? And why should they?
Tracey Gee 34:44
Practically a couple of ways to think about growing and your strengths? I think one the first I would say is looking back. So I'm thinking that through maybe those clues of talent for yourself, you know, we talked about as like how it applies to maybe looking for that and kids or Using, but even applying it to yourself like, oh, what's the time when I was experiencing that sense of flow like I was doing something and I lost track of time because I was enjoying it so much. And so kind of looking back. Another question I like to ask people is, you know, thinking, think back on a peak experience, something that you did, that you're tremendously proud of that you felt like you did? Well, you were very effective, and you enjoyed it. And then almost like studying it, like breaking it down to its pieces, and thinking through all the details of that, like, okay, so when you did that, did you do that alone? Or did you do that with other people? When you work with other people? Did you like one on one? Or did you like groups? Or? What was it about the kind of people that you worked with that made it satisfying? Or what motivated you? Or how did you get through this channel? You know, it's really getting granular about it, and looking for those little factors that made your best come out, and made your strengths come alive. And and I think that helps you look forward then. So that you can identify them and and look for opportunities that will have more of those key factors for you. That's cool. And then yeah, of course, I recommend the assessment. So you know, you get StrengthsFinder 2.0 off Amazon, it's takes like 20 or 30 minutes, and it gives you an assessment like and it can just be a starting place for someone if they're looking for, like a language and a framework to work off of.
Scott Schimmel 36:28
What if they wanted to get a coach? Is that something that they could do through that website? Is that something they need to connect with individually? If they know someone like you?
Tracey Gee 36:34
I would say you can send them my way. I would love to work with people. Yeah, absolutely. And then yeah, if you go on Gallup, they have a directory of coaches, if there's something kind of more specific that you're looking for it. So there's everyone who's a certified coach is on there. Cool. Yeah, certainly do connections and people that will definitely
Scott Schimmel 36:52
put your contact info.
Tracey Gee 36:55
Great. And then why why invest in your strengths? Well, I think I would for someone that was kind of questioning why to grow on their strengths, I would just say, I don't think there's anything more powerful than uncovering what you already have in you, your keys to making the impact that you want to make to experiencing more satisfaction in your life, either personally or professionally. You have that in you. So it's just a matter of discovering that and figuring out how to utilize what you've already been given. And I just think there's there's no greater potential that you have and building off of those things.
Scott Schimmel 37:36
Yeah. That's great. Well, I mean, no disrespect to the previous guests we've had on this podcast, I think this is episode 17. But Tracy, I have a whole two pages of notes from things that you shared. And I don't remember writing really much of anything down previous conversations. So I want to thank you for the thoughtfulness you put in this conversation. And I'm gonna put a lot of notes, which I don't normally do. Link a few things. Books, you mentioned how to get the StrengthsFinder how to get to find Tracy. So just want to say a big hearty, thank you for the conversation, the friendship over the years, and thanks for what you're doing for not just minus in your own family. But for the obviously the generation that's coming up next. So thank you.
Tracey Gee 38:23
Thanks so much, Scott, and really enjoyed talking with you today.
Scott Schimmel 38:27
Yeah. All right. Take care. Hey, thanks for joining in on The YouSchool podcast, we'd love to share with you the resources available on our website at theyouschool.com not just articles, ebooks, worksheets and other podcasts episodes, but specifically you should know about a free course we have available called The Real Me course. It's digital, it's interactive, and it'll guide you to get clear about who you are in a great store you could tell with your life. So go register for a free account and get started on the real new course today, at theyouschool.com That's the you school dot .com
