When a Strength Becomes a Weakness

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Bruce Keener

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a few months, and was going to go in-depth into it. But, on reflection, I think I’ll just paint some broad strokes for your reflection. My objective, of course, is to raise this issue so you can consider whether it has relevance in your life.

As an example of how a strength can become a weakness, let’s revive a recent topic: peeling the onion. As noted in that recent article, it’s easy to get to a point in life where we are not digging deep enough into solving problems. Having an ability to dig deeply into relevant problems and come up with solutions can be a real strength.

But, I’ve seen people with great ability to dig deep into problems get lost in analysis paralysis, continually analyzing problems but never putting things in perspective. I’ve seen engineers terminated from their jobs for being this way. Bright guys they were, but they over-used a strength (in analysis) to the point that it became a weakness.

Another example: Last week I mentioned to a friend that I am interested in knowing more about Buddhism. The friend has a Buddhist upbringing, and has done a lot of reading in the area, and recommended several books on the subject.

My first inclination was to go ahead and order a few of the books from Amazon. Then I realized I already at least a half dozen books on Buddhism. I’ve read a couple of them, but have barely cracked open the others.

I had gotten into a pattern, over the past six years or so, of buying books on any topic of current interest to me. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Sounds like it could be a strength: a strength of continuously learning, and a strength of having a curious mind.

The problem, though, is that for about the past two years that I have been buying the books, I would typically just read a few chapters, and set them aside. Only occasionally would I read a book all the way through. There are any number of reasons for this: there is a lot of repetition in the books, few are as well-written as the reviewers say, I bore easily, and so on.

But, whatever the reasons, something that had started as a strength for me. Something that had been adding value to my life had turned into a weakness. My curiosity and learning strengths had been supplanted with a weakness of compulsive book-buying.

So, I have decided to read some from of the Buddhism books that I already have.

Hopefully these couple of examples sufficiently illustrate my point: we can turn a strength into a weakness if we are not careful. Perhaps you have never had this happen in your life, or perhaps it is happening and you haven’t realized it yet. Hence, some reflection on it might be useful to you.

Your thoughts on this?

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  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Yeah, no reason for me to look for a guilt trip on this is there?

    As for the clutter, I personally think David is a little anal about it. And I’m probably not anal enough about it. :)

  • http://www.zen-moments.com John Rocheleau – Zen-Moments

    I think the strength is always in the big picture. We lose that strength when, in trying to dig deeper, we get lost in the details.

    It is really important to keep the basic big picture in focus as we explore a subject. One way to keep that strength is to learn experientially as much as possible. Your interest in Buddhism is a good example of a subject that can be detailed to death. It is also a prime candidate for experiential learning.

    When we learn by experience, we get grounded in the basics before we learn further. When we read books to learn, we can read forever without achieving that grounding, and we can get stuck in details or we lose interest. To learn about Buddhism for instance, you could join a Buddhist meditation class. This could be Zen Buddhism (good merge with western living and easy to find groups), or Tibetan Buddhism for instance.

    The strength is always, in my opinion, in the big picture — and there are ways to maintain that focus as you dig deeper into the details.

    Cheers,
    John

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    An interesting point, John. I agree with parts of it, but ultimately I think one has to get into the details. True, one can get lost in the details, and it takes effort to ensure that one does not, but one can get lost in the emotionalism that is characteristic of groups, too. And, learning by experience, which Buddhism considers to be better than scripture, has the downside that we have to interpret our experience. Sometimes we can do that adequately, sometimes not.

    Anyway, I appreciate the insight, as always!

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Thanks, John. That’s a useful clarification. Indeed the most effective form of learning for adults is one of engagement.

    Now, not to argue the point, but just to clarify my own:

    The Big Picture for me with regard to Buddhism, or any other belief system, is whether it is a “reasonably correct” set of beliefs. That is, does it correspond with reality, as best as I understand it. I would have no other interest in trying to understand than that: trying to understand how true it might be.

    And, I already know from past reading that different schools of Buddhism vary widely on some basic beliefs, such as whether there is a god (and what sort of god), whether to pray (and what sort of prayer), and which form of meditation is “best,” just to name a few. One can be a Buddhist who believes in a God, or one can be an atheist Buddhist. And so on.

    So, before I could engage in a practice of any Buddhism techniques, I would want to know which, if any, form of Buddhism I believed to be more correct, and that would require at least some introductory reading (actually a fair amount, since there are few books that explain all of the differences well, and even fewer that give a basis for any of the beliefs). To me, it would not make sense, for example, to join a Zen meditation group based on the fact that it is a “good merge with western living and easy to find groups.” Oh, if I wanted to learn meditation just to feel better, that would be okay, but it would not make sense given my definition of the big picture (correspondence of belief system to reality, as I understand it).

    So, that’s kinda why I took issue with your initial explanation. In hindsight, I should have just taken it in the spirit in with which it was intended. Of course, then, we would not have had the benefit of a discussion.

    Thanks again, John. You’re a fine man with deep insights!

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Interesting read you linked to Thomas. Thanks!

  • John Sagers

    Good points, Bruce.

    I’ve had times in my own life when it was easier to buy another book on playing the guitar, another dictionary for language study, or another time management book than to actually do the work associated with reaching those goals. For me, analysis paralysis has sometimes been procrastination in disguise.

    Best,

    John

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    John. Thank you for sharing, my friend. I can identify with your examples. We analytical types really do have to fight analysis paralysis. And, our strong desire to learn can indeed turn into a form of procrastination. Good points, sir.

    Best,
    Bruce