The article that I will be discussing is David Rendall's "Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness." The article is about utilizing different strategies to overcome your weaknesses. Rendall gives 9 different suggestions on how to do this. They all basically same the same thing, but the essay as a whole seems to stress an important point. This point is that our weaknesses are not necessarily bad. We can overcome these weaknesses by avoiding situations where they are going to be detrimental to our goals, and by finding circumstances in which they can used as strengths (this suggestion is supported by a great Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer example, which I will go into detail on shortly). We should also try to find situations where our strengths will be focused on more than our weaknesses, and we shouldn't try to improve our weaknesses but instead just focus on our strengths. Although his suggestions are extremely repetitive, I think they are quite useful. Here are the 3 suggestions that I found most helpful.
The first suggestion I will write about is number 6- Focus: You cannot do both. This means that instead of trying to improve both your strengths and weaknesses, you should just focus on your strengths. The example that Rendall uses to emphasize his point involves Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart. He states that "Wal-mart’s main strength is low prices and its weaknesses include poor quality merchandise, long lines and unhelpful employees. On the other hand, Target’s main strengths are higher quality products from well-known designers, attractive stores and helpful associates who are quick to open a new checkout lane. Unfortunately, target’s weakness is that its prices are not as low as those at Wal-mart." He then goes on to argue that if Wal-Mart were to attempt to improve its weaknesses of poor customer service and low-quality merchandise, then this would in turn raise their prices and hurt their biggest strength. Instead, Wal-Mart should simply accept the fact that it has weaknesses and just focus on his strengths. The same goes for Target. He then uses K-Mart as an example of a company that attempts to focus on both its strengths and weaknesses (it tries to have Wal-Mart prices with Target's service and quality). By doing this, they are not nearly as successful as the aforementioned companies.
The second suggestion that I am going to discuss is number 7- Fit: Find the right spot. This means that we should not try to hide our weaknesses. Instead, we should realize that they are strengths in disguise. The best way to exemplify this suggestion is to use the example that Rendall uses, Rudolph. In this story, we learn that Rudolph is a reindeer with a bright red nose. He is ridiculed and made fun of for this major flaw. He is not allowed to play with any of the other reindeer because he is so different. But since it is a foggy christmas, Rudolph is chosen to lead Santa's sleigh because his nose glows brightly and helps santa see through the snow. Instead of hiding from his weakness Rudolph realizes that it can be used as a strength. Its likely that Morgan Freeman was made fun of as a child for his voice, until one day he realized how perfect his vocals were for narration. Now he is very sought after to narrate movies and commercials. Another example is Steve Buscemi, who is seen as a very ugly person. But his rat-like face is the reason that he gets casted in so many movies.
The rest of the suggestions are exactly the same as the two previous mentioned ones, so I will discuss number 8- Freak: The Power of uniqueness. This says that its better to be exceptional than normal. The example used here is similar to the Rudolph example. It talks about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. For years, workers tried to fix the tower's lean, but they were unable to. But it's lean is what attracted tourists to the town of Pisa, so eventually they just let it be. By not trying to fix the tower's weakness, they eventually realized that its uniqueness is what made it so special.
Personally I have found that one of my strengths is my wide array of interests. I'm interested in many different areas of learning, including science, politics, philosophy, psychology and of course music and film. Having this wide range of interests gives me a lot of different influences on my creative process. My weakness however, is that I have trouble focusing on just one thing. Being a Music Production major, I have trouble simply focusing on that. I tend to change interests day to day. Instead of working on something musical, I sometimes find myself reading about things online not related to my major or future.
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