Leaning Into What You’re Already Good At with Lee Peterson

How often are you getting to do the things that you are already good at? Do you wake up each day knowing that you’re going to get to show up in the world in the ways that you naturally shine? If not, then it’s time to change that, darlin.

In this conversation with strengths coach Lee Peterson, we talk about how important it is to our wellbeing for us to lean into doing the things we’re naturally good at – instead of being in a never-ending spin cycle of trying to get better at the stuff we’re bad at. 

Lee convinces me that trying to be well-rounded is a bunch of perfectionist bullshit (my phrasing, not hers). And it’s still blowing my mind, but it seems like letting go of trying to be good at everything is a better way to live.

While the conversation is centered around the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment specifically, it’s useful to anyone ready to think about how to really honor the things that make you awesomely you.

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple

Find the episode wherever you listen to podcasts!

Connect with Lee

Visit her website: Learning Karma

Follow her on LinkedIn

Here’s a screenshot of the top portion of the description of how Learner shows up for me, specifically. The green boxes will be different depending on your unique configuration of strengths. The full description of what Learner means for me is over a page and a half long, which is why, as Lee points out, my Learner strength is incredibly unique to me.

Resources, References, and Links

Gallup CliftonStrengths Assessment. (Costs around $50 but is worth it, in my opinion)

Meyers-Briggs. A personality framework where eight ways of thinking are broken out into four pairs (resulting in 16 different personality types).

16 Personalities. My preferred/recommended resource for understanding Meyers-Briggs.

The Enneagram. “A powerful tool that helps us understand our motivations, core beliefs, and unconscious patterns that drive our behavior.” It’s my FAVORITE, and I’m a certified Enneagram coach. You’ll be hearing more about this from me in the coming months.

VIA Character Strengths. Free strengths assessment!

SMART goals: specific, measurable, accountable, relevant, and timebound.

Lee’s book: Gardening for the Soul.

Fixed vs. growth mindset. For an overview, watch Carol Dweck’s TED talk about it.

Transcript

Note: this transcript was generated by AI. Please forgive any malapropisms and misspellings. It’s the robot’s fault!

[00:00] Lee Peterson: These strengths are not just how you get things done, they’re what you need.

[00:04] And when they are not being fulfilled, when your needs are not being fulfilled, you feel drained and exhausted, right? And that, that’s the whole thing about all of Gallup’s Big Thing is about engagement, right?

[00:19] Because when you are not using your strengths, when you know you don’t get a chance to do it, every day is long and hard.

[00:31] Cate Blouke: Welcome to Settling is Bullshit, a sweary podcast about claiming your joy.

[00:38] If you are an adult human craving healthier boundaries, a greater sense of purpose, or an increased capacity to feel at ease in your own skin, then you are in the right place, my friend.

[00:48] I’m your host Cate Blouke, and I’m here to offer you practical tools and playful encouragement to help you step forward and be your most awesome self.

[00:57] My hope is that each episode will leave you feeling a bit more empowered to make brave choices and claim your joy.

[01:06] Hello friend.

[01:07] Today’s guest is Lee Peterson, who, among other things that she’s going to tell you about,

[01:13] is a Gallup Clifton strengths coach.

[01:16] Lee and I met in 2023 when we were both going through a nine month training on positive psychology and I wanted to bring her in to talk to you about your strengths and what it means to really lean into the shit that you are naturally good at.

[01:34] Now, Lee works within the Gallup CliftonStrengths specific framework,

[01:40] which is a very scientifically tested and validated and researched and complicated matrices of things approach to understanding your specific strengths. It does cost some money.

[01:55] I recommend it,

[01:56] but if you just want to get a taste of what it looks like, I recommend going to the website settlingisbullshit.com or using the link in the show notes to look at the actual post.

[02:07] Because I’m going to post visuals of what my personal strengths profile looks like so that you can see what we’re talking about because we do get into the details.

[02:16] However, I’m also including a link to the Via Character Strengths Test which is free and you can listen to this episode using the Gallup strengths specifically or just really thinking about it in terms of like what are you naturally good at?

[02:33] What are your inherent strengths as a human,

[02:36] as the beautiful, unique, wonderful human that you are, and we’re really talking about how to leverage those to live a more thriving and flourishing and wonderful life. Something else you’re going to hear me talking about in the episode is the Enneagram, which is my favorite tool for understanding who and how we are in the world.

[02:55] I am a certified Enneagram coach, and pretty soon you’re going to hear me talking more about it and I’m going to have some offerings on my coaching website and a sweet, sweet deal for you if you want to get into the Enneagram with me.

[03:08] So I just wanted to offer just a little bit of a heads up and some context for some of the things we’re talking about and the ways that we’re talking about them.

[03:14] You’ll hear that Lee kind of blows my mind in this episode with just how valuable it can be to recognize that we each have unique strengths and we don’t have to be good at everything. That’s the piece that really blows my mind is that she really advocates that we don’t have to be good at everything.

[03:34] I love that idea. I think I talk about that idea around here, but it’s great to hear somebody else remind me.

[03:40] So if at some point in one of your jobs you took the CliftonStrengths test, it might be useful to pull that out.

[03:46] One thing to note is that your strengths don’t really change, or at least they’re not supposed to. So even if you took it like five years ago, it’s still valid.

[03:54] Your top five are probably still gonna be the same. And if you haven’t taken it like, that’s okay too.

[04:00] You can either pop over and take the Via Character Strengths test that I link to in the show notes or just, you know, absorb and think about like, what are the times in your life that you are naturally thriving and what are the traits and talents that you bring to the table?

[04:17] Because you do. We all bring beautiful things to the table.

[04:20] So I think that’s all of the context that I really need to offer. And I hope that you enjoy this conversation with Leigh.

[04:35] Who are you? What’s your deal?

[04:37] Lee Peterson: What is my deal? It’s a good question, Cate.

[04:40] So my name is Lee Peterson and I am,

[04:44] I call myself the founder and the owner of a small women owned business called Learning Karma.

[04:53] Cate Blouke: Okay.

[04:54] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[04:55] Cate Blouke: And I love that name for lots of reasons. What does Learning Karma do?

[05:00] Lee Peterson: Learning Karma has actually kind of evolved. I started it about three years ago. But where we are now, Learning Karma is really focused on helping people and organizations understand their strengths so they can unlock their potential and thrive in their personal life, their professional life, across everything.

[05:20] So really so people can learn to do what they do best every day.

[05:24] Cate Blouke: Oh my God. My insides are just like. Oh, that sounds really nice. I like that idea.

[05:29] Lee Peterson: Thank you. I love it too.

[05:32] Cate Blouke: Yeah. So.

[05:33] So what the are strengths I mean, that’s what we’re here to talk about. Like, that’s our starting point.

[05:38] I want to hear you re. Explain to me and to our beautiful listeners, like,

[05:45] what are strengths?

[05:46] Lee Peterson: Yeah, so it’s a great question. And so the strengths that I focus on, the work I do, is mainly focused on what’s known as the Gallup Cliftonstrengths. And so that’s probably the one that most people know and have heard of.

[06:01] You know, like, over 90% of Fortune 500 companies have actually used the CliftonStrengths assessment.

[06:07] Cate Blouke: Yeah. And it. It has a fairly, like, corporate vibe to me. Is that a, like, misapprehension? How does this apply to those of us outside of the corporate universe?

[06:16] Lee Peterson: Yeah, 100%. So that’s the cool thing I really like about these strengths is because,

[06:21] yes, it has been used a lot in a corporate environment.

[06:25] But the cool thing about our strengths, which can be a little bit different than some of the other reports that you might have taken, like, strengths are your strengths. No matter what,

[06:34] they are your strengths at work, they are your strengths at home,

[06:37] they are your strengths within your community.

[06:40] So they are so ingrained in who you are as a human that you can’t be anything else and still be authentic. Right.

[06:51] So I don’t know if. Have you ever taken, like, Myers Briggs?

[06:55] Cate Blouke: Yes.

[06:56] Lee Peterson: Okay. So there’s, like, there’s a million assessments out there. Right. Myers Briggs is almost like a personality test.

[07:02] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[07:03] Lee Peterson: And people sometimes say you have your work self and then your home self.

[07:07] Cate Blouke: Right, Right. And that’s. That’s true for when I’ve been working with folks on the Enneagram, which is, like, my personality test.

[07:14] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[07:15] Cate Blouke: Fan favorite.

[07:16] It Sometimes folks will, like, answer from work brain versus from home brain, and I’m like, no, no, no, no. Who are you when you’re at home?

[07:25] Like, we all put on different hats when we go to work. But it sounds like what I’m hearing from you is the strengths go with you wherever you go.

[07:32] Lee Peterson: They do. Because they’re what make you successful. Right. I mean,

[07:35] strengths are. So you asked me, what are strengths? Okay. So strengths are those things. They’re. They’re your natural talents,

[07:44] your innate talents that no one ever taught you how to do.

[07:49] Right.

[07:50] You’re just kind of born with these things. And when you step back and take a look, maybe, and you think about times when you were successful and you look and you ask yourself,

[08:01] what made me successful? Like, what did I just do to make that happen? Right.

[08:06] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[08:07] Lee Peterson: Well,

[08:08] what you’re Looking at are probably your. Your strengths, your talents.

[08:12] And so these are these things that are so innate, we don’t even recognize them as talents a lot. We go, oh, that’s just me. That’s just what I do, you know, like, I’m just a badass communicator.

[08:22] That’s who I am.

[08:23] Or, you know, like, I just see things in these patterns. That’s just. Just who I am. But they’re actually talents.

[08:31] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[08:32] Lee Peterson: That’s what’s so cool, is when you start to recognize them and how to use them and apply them,

[08:39] they go just from talents to being, like, your actual strengths that you can always tap into. Right. To be successful.

[08:46] Cate Blouke: Yeah, I’m thinking about. So my. On the Gallup strengths test,

[08:51] my top strength is learner.

[08:55] And I’m like, what are you, like, yeah, just, like, learning shit. What are you talking about? Like, duh.

[09:01] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[09:01] Cate Blouke: And so I’m so interested in this idea of, like, leveraging our strengths or, like, leaning into or identifying and, like, appreciating them as strengths. Right. Because I know for me, I have this tendency to, like, oh, well, if I.

[09:17] The stuff that’s, like, easy for me is obviously not that hard. So it’s not that big a deal.

[09:21] Like, that’s one of my internal programming is like, if it’s not hard for me, then it’s, like, not a big deal.

[09:28] And I’m currently in a moment of, like, working through how that doesn’t serve me all that well.

[09:33] I think this conversation is a part of that, right? Of, like, what if I were to say, oh, the things that I’m just good at and are easy to me aren’t easy for everybody else.

[09:42] And maybe that’s what makes me special.

[09:45] Lee Peterson: Cate, you’re dead on what makes you special. Right? And. And that’s why,

[09:52] you know, when I work with people, whether it’s through coaching or groups or teams that I’m working with, we have everyone take an assessment, right? So that you can see those things and you learn.

[10:03] There’s 1 through 34. And you take this assessment and you answer questions,

[10:08] and the assessment puts those talents in rank order for how they show up for you.

[10:16] Okay? And so it is very unique to you because the odds of you having the same top five as someone else in the same order are 1 in 34 million.

[10:30] Cate Blouke: That’s a lot.

[10:31] Lee Peterson: Yeah, that’s a lot. And that’s one of you that has those unique talents in that order.

[10:38] And the way that your talents show up and how you use them is so. So Unique to you, right? It’s what the special thing you bring to the team. It’s a special thing you bring to your relationships.

[10:49] It’s. It’s the thing that makes you you.

[10:52] And the goal is to help you. You know, when you’re like, ah, that’s just me. If it’s easy, it’s not hard, you know, it’s no big deal. But what, what are your top five?

[11:03] Cate Blouke: My top five are. Well, okay, so if, if folks aren’t familiar,

[11:09] the. The Gallup strengths are broken up into like four main categories.

[11:14] Executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking.

[11:18] And my top five are all about strategic thinking and relationship building.

[11:24] I have learner as number one. Then intellection,

[11:28] empathy,

[11:29] input, and positivity are my top five.

[11:32] Lee Peterson: Yeah, thanks for setting that up because you do have these different buckets of where these strengths land. And so,

[11:38] you know, when you just think about your top five.

[11:41] My top five are completely different. Right? Yeah.

[11:44] Cate Blouke: What are your top five?

[11:45] Lee Peterson: My top five are activator, strategic. I do have strategic command, communication and woo.

[11:54] Cate Blouke: Oh, so like four of yours are in influencing. Yeah.

[11:57] Lee Peterson: Yes. So okay.

[11:58] Cate Blouke: You are, you are a master influencer.

[12:02] Lee Peterson: Well, so. But all of those things that you told me that you’re top five,

[12:07] none of those things come easily for me because they’re not my natural, natural talents.

[12:11] Right. And so the thing about strengths is when we’re able to work in what’s called our strength zone,

[12:19] when you’re able to use what are those, top five or top 10 on your report on a daily basis,

[12:26] you’re gonna feel more energized, you’re gonna get better quality work, you’re gonna be more productive, you’re gonna be more innovative and creative because you’re doing work you love and that really fuels you.

[12:41] Rather than if I was sitting in there trying to be a learner, input and election, I would be drained every day. It would be really hard for me. The beauty of our strengths is what we call it, naming them, understanding what they are,

[12:56] claiming them as our superpowers, whatever they may be that make us special, and then actually aiming them towards our goals.

[13:05] And so it’s really important to be able to claim them. Right. And that’s the starting point, is understanding what they are and thinking about, God, how have these things made me successful?

[13:17] Or when I’m working in my best space and I’m doing what I love and the flow zone, whatever, totally engaged.

[13:25] What strengths am I using? Right, yeah.

[13:28] Cate Blouke: And thinking about that. Right. I mean, this is a sweary podcast about claiming Your joy. And there is an element of like when we are doing the shit that we are good at and that comes easy to us.

[13:38] It’s joyful and looking at mine.

[13:41] So I took all of this like well after grad school.

[13:44] But like getting my, I mean getting my PhD was fucking hard. But like also it was like my favorite thing to be doing because I just got to be learning all the time and talking about ideas and that’s like my, you know, my top five is that.

[13:59] And it really tracks well to me that like what I’m doing now is a form of education,

[14:06] sharing my message, really getting to connect with people through coaching and one on one work.

[14:11] And so it makes a lot of sense to me that given my strengths,

[14:18] where I have managed to find myself really brings me a lot of fucking joy.

[14:23] Lee Peterson: Yeah, I love to hear that. Right. Because that’s the goal for everybody.

[14:28] Now the good news is most of us don’t tend to gravitate towards things that are at the bottom of the list.

[14:35] Right. For example, like, you know, I, I think harmony is at the bottom of my list. Competition is at the bottom of my list.

[14:43] Cate Blouke: Yeah, competition is 34 for me. I’m looking at it right now and like, I am like, fuck competition.

[14:48] If there’s like,

[14:50] if it becomes competitive, I’m out. Like, I don’t want to deal with this. It stresses me out.

[14:55] Lee Peterson: No, I know. Like an example for me the other day, I was like looking at everybody that looked like they’re just thriving with their businesses and everything.

[15:02] And to me I’m like, oh, peace out. Like I, like, I give up, you know, for a second because I don’t want to compete. Right. I want, I’m that influencing piece.

[15:12] I want to connect. I want to be able to like to do things together, to influence things. But anyway, it was just kind of funny how we do tend to gravitate towards the things that we’re good at.

[15:22] Naturally. So that’s the good news, Right.

[15:25] Sometimes we find ourself in situations where we can’t always use our strengths. You know, if you hate doing things like an expense report, it can’t say that you can use your strengths to get out of it and be like, that’s not my jam.

[15:38] Don’t care about details. But those are more skills and tasks. Right. When we think about our strengths, they’re really how we get things done,

[15:49] how we work through others.

[15:51] And so, you know, you have this strategic and this relationship building area. It was just how you get things done. Right.

[16:01] Others might be really good in this executing area where they just go out and do others go out and influence.

[16:08] Cate Blouke: Yeah. What does that mean? Because you’re. That’s your like sweet spot. What does that mean for.

[16:14] Lee Peterson: For influencing for me is really, I like to get things done through others. I like to say speak up for others.

[16:20] You know, a lot of. And I’m not, I’m not tooting my own horn. Right. But a lot of leaders have high influencing skills.

[16:29] Executing skills are the most common.

[16:31] So sorry. Executing talents, let’s don’t call them skills. Executing talents are the most common.

[16:37] Cate Blouke: Yeah. And I have none of those in my top 10, which still amuses me. Yeah.

[16:41] Lee Peterson: But that’s a really good point. Right. Because I don’t want.

[16:46] If people go out and they take this assessment and they look at it and they’re like, oh, like, you know, I see that I have no executing skills. And my achievers number 34.

[16:56] We tend to go to the bottom of the list first. Like, what don’t we have? And that’s the real reframing. That’s the entire reason that CliftonStrengths Strength based development and this movement to positive psychology exists.

[17:13] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[17:13] Lee Peterson: Because Don Clifton, who’s the founder, he started looking at this traditional approach of how we develop ourselves and it was like, hey, go figure out what’s wrong with you and fix it.

[17:25] Cate Blouke: Oh my God, that’s. Yes.

[17:27] Lee Peterson: Yeah. We’ve all been there, right?

[17:29] Cate Blouke: That’s life. Isn’t that. It’s like how we.

[17:32] Lee Peterson: Oh, but why, why are we spending our time in that space of trying to be someone we’re not?

[17:40] Cate Blouke: Because perfectionism.

[17:42] Lee Peterson: Perfectionism, it’s a strange expectation to have. Right?

[17:46] Cate Blouke: Oh, it is. I’m not in, like, I’m not in favor of perfectionism, but I mean, I think that’s it. It’s like, it’s this idea that I’m not supposed to be bad at anything.

[17:56] Lee Peterson: Well, okay, so if you look at that. Right. So the, the other thing about strengths is that you have to give up the idea that people need to be well rounded.

[18:06] What? I know.

[18:06] Cate Blouke: Oh my God. Okay, you’re.

[18:08] Lee Peterson: I know, I know.

[18:09] Cate Blouke: I like where you’re going with this, but it’s also like blowing my mind a little bit. Like, what do you mean? We’re not supposed to be well rounded.

[18:17] Lee Peterson: Right. Because we were all taught, hey, you need to be well rounded, you need to do this, you need to do that. But if you’re really going to embrace a strength based approach to how you learn and grow and unlock your potential you got to quit worrying about the things that you’re not good at.

[18:33] So you don’t have to be good at everything. Because you know what, Cate? Somebody else is good at that. And that’s the beauty of partnering with people. When you know what you’re strong in and you’re.

[18:43] The things that. I don’t like to even call them weaknesses, but the things that you’re not so strong in,

[18:49] then you can go find someone to partner with. It’s all about creating strong partnerships. Yin and yang. Right.

[18:56] Because you can’t do it all. If you try to be good at everything, you’ll be great. Great at nothing.

[19:02] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[19:03] Lee Peterson: And it’s scary, right? Because I mean, every time I say this to. To an audience, people are like, ah, I don’t know if I can do that. Right. Like, my parents told me, to be well rounded, I’ve got to be well rounded.

[19:13] Cate Blouke: Well. And as an entrepreneur. Right. As a solopreneur, it’s real hard. There’s this sense of, like, no, but I gotta do all the shit.

[19:21] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[19:21] Cate Blouke: Especially at the beginning when I’m like, I can’t be paying everybody to do all the things. I gotta figure this shit out.

[19:27] Lee Peterson: How’s that working out for you?

[19:29] Cate Blouke: Sort of okay. Not great. Sometimes. Awesome.

[19:32] Lee Peterson: You know, it’s so funny because I just had the same conversation this morning.

[19:37] Somebody had asked me if I could do something. I was like, no, I can’t do that. Like, I’m not certified in that or whatever. And I just shut them down.

[19:43] And I was talking to my friend who’s another solopreneur, and she was like, no, Lee. Like, I can do that. Like, you just say, yes. You go find your network of people that can do these things, and we build this, you know,

[19:56] collective.

[19:57] We can do it together.

[19:59] We can’t do it all alone. But she’s like, lee, you have people that could do this and that for you have people could do those certifications. And so it’s just kind of funny that you say that, because I was kind of going against what I even preached.

[20:11] Right. It’s like, can’t be good at everything.

[20:13] Cate Blouke: Yeah. And that’s. But, I mean, that’s the insidiousness of that idea. Right. You know, is that we’re not really trained or encouraged to accept that we can’t do everything.

[20:25] Lee Peterson: Yeah. It’s true. And so what I really like about it is that if you can come to grips with the mindset that we can’t do everything but we already have everything we need,

[20:40] then you open up so much more for greater collaboration and community and teamwork which allows for more diversity of thought, more innovation,

[20:53] you get things done quicker. You know all these things.

[20:56] Cate Blouke: Yeah, okay, so I want to bring in. So I know you’re cliftonstrengths.

[21:01] There’s also like via strengths,

[21:04] which I know you and I have at least looked at. And like, teamwork is so low for me on that sort of set of strengths.

[21:14] And so I’m curious,

[21:16] like, you know, as someone for who like learning and intellection and like, I just, I like getting my little grubby hands on everything.

[21:24] If, like that’s my strength,

[21:26] I feel like I’m, I don’t know, maybe this is an excuse. I’m like.

[21:29] But there is this like part of me that’s like, oh no, I can learn how to do it. Like I said, that’s I’m good at learning how to do shit.

[21:36] Lee Peterson: Okay, okay, so that is a super awesome point and I’m glad you brought it up because you know what, Cate, you’re right. You can learn to do whatever you want and you should do whatever you want.

[21:45] I’m not telling you.

[21:47] Don’t go out and try new things, don’t learn new skills because they’re, they don’t like adhere to your top 10, top 5, top 10.

[21:54] But what I can tell you is that long term success will probably be kind of hard to achieve in enjoyment if you don’t have a natural talent in that area.

[22:09] So for example, you could get it done. Yeah, absolutely, get it done. But will you really enjoy it and will you really put out quality work?

[22:19] You know? And again, there’s a difference between talent and skills.

[22:24] Cate Blouke: Okay?

[22:25] Lee Peterson: Right, okay. Because talent, again, are the how we do things. Skills are like things you can learn. You don’t learn your talents, they’re innate. You can grow your talents, but a skill is something that like when you have a resume,

[22:39] right, there’s a difference between kind of like culture fit, what we’re looking for and like how people interact with one another. You know, what kind of team player are you?

[22:48] How do you like to operate versus what skills do you bring? Are you an accountant? You know, are you a category manager in the work I used to do? You know, things like that, like a legal degree.

[22:59] Those are skills, those are learned skills.

[23:03] Cate Blouke: Right. And I’m never going to like learn how to be good at competition.

[23:09] Lee Peterson: Like, exactly.

[23:12] Cate Blouke: Yeah, like I can learn how to fucking,

[23:14] like build a website. I’ve done that. And it’s hard, but I enjoy the challenge. But like, if you put me in a website building competition, I’m gonna shrivel up and die before it even starts,

[23:26] right?

[23:27] Lee Peterson: So. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So there is a difference between talent and skills. And the thing is, when we take our innate talents, like at you as a learner,

[23:38] number one,

[23:39] and then you add skills and experience to it, the work you’ve done as a teacher, as a coach, as a, you know, a professional,

[23:47] and your experience,

[23:49] then you can really hone that learner talent into where you just sharpen it until it’s almost like super precise and perfect to where you start executing things they say with consistent, near perfect performance is when it’s actually a strength.

[24:04] Cate Blouke: Okay. What the fuck would it look like to be consistent, have consistent, near perfect performance at learning? I guess getting my goddamn Ph.D. eh?

[24:16] Lee Peterson: Yeah, I’d say you’re pretty consistent and perfect in that. I mean, honestly, that’s like a huge, like gold star right there because you proved that, right? You honed that because that required consistently, constantly adding to that and tweaking it until you found out how does it work for you?

[24:35] Because here’s the.

[24:36] The whole thing with strengths is that they’re almost effortless,

[24:41] right? And they make things easier and they make things more fun and they make you more engaged in the work you do. So when you’re doing it with almost consistent performance,

[24:51] it’s probably just effortless, thoughtless. You’re just doing it once. It’s a strength, right? Just.

[24:58] And when you know what these strengths are,

[25:01] if you come upon a time where you’ve got. Got your weaknesses that are kind of competing, you’re like, oh, God, I really need that. You can be like, well, you know what?

[25:08] I’m going to really tap into learner here. I’m going to use my learner to make this happen.

[25:13] Right? You’re.

[25:14] Cate Blouke: What would that look like for, for you or for somebody with a different sort of top set of strengths?

[25:19] Lee Peterson: Yeah, I mean, for me. So, like, what I always tell people is try and find a way to use your strengths every day like you were just talking about in the work you do right now,

[25:30] just practicing them. Right. So it’s hard for me to answer that question about what it would look like. And I’ll tell you why. Because this is really important.

[25:37] There’s so many different talents out there. Right?

[25:41] Cate Blouke: Right.

[25:41] Lee Peterson: So many. So what Gallup had to do when they created this, this work,

[25:46] this, this group of talent and came up with this assessment is they had to bucket talents together. Okay. And so instead of having hundreds that Would be too much for us to digest.

[25:57] They made 34.

[25:58] So, for example, learner for you and how you answered it, It’ll show up uniquely for you.

[26:06] Cate Blouke: Right.

[26:06] Lee Peterson: Whereas learner for someone else sitting next to you that could have the same number one learner could be very different. Like, the other day, we both have strategic, right?

[26:16] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[26:17] Lee Peterson: The other day I was coaching a girl that had strategic,

[26:20] and her strategic was nothing I’d ever seen before. I had never seen it show up like that. Hers was all around strategic communication.

[26:28] Cate Blouke: Okay.

[26:29] Lee Peterson: Mine is around strategic, like, planning and doing, you know, and so what perfect, like, perfection looks like to me would be different because of how that talent shows up for me.

[26:42] Does that make sense?

[26:43] Cate Blouke: Yeah, I mean, I think I’m wondering, like, so if we’re gonna kind of hone our talents,

[26:50] I guess. I guess that’s what I’m getting a little hung up on, is like, okay, like, I know how to hone skills, right? Like, I practice shit, and then I get better at it, and then I know how to do it better and whatever.

[26:58] But I think I’m trying to wrap my head around it. Like, what does it mean to, like,

[27:04] hone my talents or, like, leverage them on a daily basis?

[27:09] Lee Peterson: What I tell people, and a lot of people hate. Hate goals, right? But goals really are important in the corporate world where I come from. It’s smart goals, and people cringe at it.

[27:18] They’re like, oh, God, smart goals because you. You do them and you leave them and you come back to them and you’re judged on them at the end of the year, did you meet your goals?

[27:26] Cate Blouke: Right? And a smart goal is.

[27:29] Lee Peterson: What are the.

[27:30] Cate Blouke: What’s that acronym?

[27:30] Lee Peterson: Specific, measurable,

[27:32] accountable,

[27:34] relevant, and time bound. It can mean different things, people,

[27:38] stuff in there. And they’re all good things for a goal. But. But what I encourage people to do with their strengths is just find a way to use that. Right?

[27:46] So I’m an activator.

[27:47] Yeah. So as an activator, I like to get shit done. Like, I don’t really want to sit around and talk about it. And, you know, I do love to brainstorm, but once an idea hits, I’m like, let’s go.

[27:58] We’ll fix it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I don’t. I does. Please don’t make me be perfect. You will. You will kill me if we have to sit around and talk about making it perfect.

[28:06] And so for me,

[28:07] if I don’t have a day where I have activated something, whether it’s a blog or A conversation with someone or a video. Like, I,

[28:16] I feel kind of, ugh, like I didn’t do my thing. So every day I’m practicing that. Okay.

[28:22] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[28:22] So I’m. I,

[28:24] like every day I am listening to a podcast. I’m listening like I am a voracious reader and if I’m not reading something on a given day, I’m like, what the fuck did I do all day?

[28:34] Like, what? Like, if I don’t feed that part of my soul.

[28:39] Because to me it’s like again. And that I think that actually really speaks to what you’re talking about is that like, it’s just so innate to me. Like if I don’t learn something on a given day, like,

[28:50] I start to wither.

[28:51] Lee Peterson: Yeah, you just said it feeds my soul. And so these strengths are not just how you get things done. They’re what you need.

[28:58] And when they are not being fulfilled, when your needs are not being fulfilled, you feel drained and exhausted. Right. And that, that’s the whole thing about all of Gallup’s Big thing is about engagement.

[29:13] Right. Because when you are not using your strengths, when, you know you don’t get a chance to do it, every day is long and hard.

[29:23] Cate Blouke: Yeah. When I think about like the jobs that I’ve had that have just sucked the fucking life out of me,

[29:28] it’s because, you know, so, so my sort of top two, broadly speaking, like, categories are like getting to learn shit and think about shit and connecting with people.

[29:38] And so in the jobs that I had were like,

[29:42] I didn’t really get to connect with people.

[29:44] I just would shrivel where the shit that was like, you know, easy to do and repetitive but kind of boring,

[29:51] I would shrivel.

[29:52] Cuz that just like wasn’t letting me fuel those top parts of me that I guess, like, you know, I, I like this idea that our strengths are also what’s the Met?

[30:02] Like, I’m. I’m just. What’s the metaphor I want here? But it, it like, I don’t know, they’re like, they’re what make us the unique little flowers that we are.

[30:11] You know, and we need water. We gotta water our plants.

[30:15] Lee Peterson: You have to. Well, you know, I mean, I have a whole book about gardening for the soul. Right. Because you do have to nurture all of these parts of yourself. You know,

[30:24] a lot of it’s like if,

[30:26] if we aren’t filling our bucket full of these things every day and it’s just taking from it, it sucks your soul dry. Like you were saying, like, literally. Yeah. And We’ve all been there.

[30:37] Right. I think we’ve all been in situations where we just haven’t been able to work in our strength zone. And it’s debilitating might be kind of a strong of a word, but it really.

[30:47] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[30:48] I mean, that’s the settling is bullshit stuff. Right. For me,

[30:52] you know, when I’m not getting to like, do what I am actually good at,

[30:58] it’s so soul sucking.

[31:01] Like, that’s what settling feels like is like, oh, I’ve got this like, situation that’s like paying the bills. But, like,

[31:07] I don’t get to feel good at it.

[31:09] Lee Peterson: Yeah. You don’t wake up and jump out of bed excited to start the day.

[31:14] Cate Blouke: And that’s where you wake up and like, dread the fucking day.

[31:17] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[31:17] Cate Blouke: You know, like in my ideal world, for everybody in the universe, like, we’d all like, wake up and be like, yay, I get to like,

[31:26] do.

[31:27] Do stuff. But, you know, a lot of us will. Not me right now, but a lot of y’ all who might be listening have like, jobs that you don’t like, jump out of bed about.

[31:35] Lee Peterson: Yeah. But can we,

[31:37] can we talk about that a little bit? Because that’s something that comes up a lot of people like, this sounds great, Lee, but shit like, I can’t go, you know, I.

[31:45] I have a job to do and I can’t. It’s not all just like roses and unicorns. I actually, you know, there’s some stuff. Yes. About all of our jobs have mundane things that we don’t love.

[31:57] Right. But the goal is to have a lot more good stuff than the stuff that’s. That’s draining us. And so, you know, one of the things I work with people about this so important is like managers understanding the importance of strengths and letting people find ways to use their strengths.

[32:15] So, you know, the people that we’re talking about, I’ve been there, I did it for 20 something years. Right. Corporate America. I was hired to do a job.

[32:22] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[32:23] Lee Peterson: And I had certain things I had to do. But in any of those jobs, if you can find a way to use your strengths. So, for example,

[32:32] my influencing strengths, right.

[32:34] I worked in a global role where I was trying to get people from all over the Americas in the learning and development regions to use our learning and development materials.

[32:46] Right. I got to use my influencing every day. I got to talk to people. I got to use my woo, which is winning others over to get them to come along.

[32:53] And like,

[32:54] I was using that every day. But my manager asked me, what do I love to do. She gave me opportunities to do that. And so if you have a manager that isn’t asking, you know, what lights you up?

[33:06] What do you love? Right. What really gets you going every day? You know, maybe you could start the conversation with them and be like, hey,

[33:15] there’s some things that, like, I really love to do. Is there an opportunity for maybe to add some of those to my plate? Like, I think this would be really helpful for the team.

[33:23] Team or, or whatever.

[33:25] And you can do that at work, you can do that in your community. You can do it with volunteer stuff. There’s lots of ways to feed your strengths, but try and, and be that voice for your strengths.

[33:36] And one thing I wanted to say too, thinking about this, because in the beginning you’re like, ah, it’s just me. I don’t even recognize them. And one of the things that’s really important is the power of others telling us what our strengths are.

[33:52] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[33:53] Lee Peterson: And so. Because a lot of times we don’t even recognize them.

[33:56] Cate Blouke: Right. Yeah. I mean, well, and that’s something I know you are really good at. Like, we hop on the phone and you’re like, Cate, you’re like, good at these things. And I’m like, oh, my God, I love talking to Lee.

[34:04] Right.

[34:06] Lee Peterson: Well, you are, though. And so a lot of times it takes someone else holding up a mirror to us and telling us what we see,

[34:13] what they see, so that we recognize these things as our strengths. And so, you know,

[34:18] in the workplace,

[34:20] having others say, hey, what is it you see that I do really well?

[34:24] You know, or when are you seeing me shine? Or what have I done for this team that has really helped us. Right.

[34:30] That helps you claim your strengths, but it also gives you a way to use that as an opportunity to aim them so that you can use them more in your day to day.

[34:41] They’re. They’re really, really powerful. And I love the idea of not focusing on what we don’t have, but what we do have.

[34:50] Cate Blouke: Yeah. Like, that was where my mind was just going of, like, even if you don’t take this fucking specific test. Right. Like,

[34:57] you don’t have to do that to really be able to say,

[35:01] what would life be like if I stopped trying to, like, get better at the stuff I’m bad at?

[35:06] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[35:07] Cate Blouke: You know, like, what if I just let that go?

[35:10] Lee Peterson: Like, yeah. And what. And you can also ask yourself, yourself some questions to figure out if you’re like, I have no idea what my strengths are. And to your point,

[35:18] you’re not gonna Go take the test and that’s fine.

[35:21] But what do you do that naturally energizes you? Right. What do you do? Well, when have you done something and gone, oh, shit, how did I just do that? Right?

[35:30] Like, when do these things happen?

[35:33] And, you know, when do you actually show up with confidence and ease? And it’s just. It feels good,

[35:40] Right. You lose track of time. What are those things? Those are your strengths. When you find what those things are, those are your strengths. And that’s where you want to go.

[35:49] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[35:50] Lee Peterson: Think about how you feel when you’re in that zone. Right. When you’re doing the stuff you love.

[35:55] Cate Blouke: Yeah,

[35:56] I’m thinking about that right now. You know, like, teaching is that for me in a lot of ways, especially when I’m teaching about shit that I’m jazzed about, like, I’ve been doing.

[36:03] I’m putting together some coaching packages around the Enneagram, which I love.

[36:08] And like, oh my God, sharing that with people lights me up.

[36:12] But I’m also thinking about just in the context of this conversation. It’s interesting because one of the things that I just absolutely adore and lights me up is improv comedy.

[36:22] However,

[36:23] that was really hard for me to get into.

[36:28] And it is often very stressful for me.

[36:32] And so it’s interesting to me to think about it, like, and I’m looking at my, my, this particular, like, set of strengths,

[36:39] evaluation rate. I like doing improv. Like, I like being ridiculous with other adults and being playful and imaginative. Right. So I guess in the, like, relationship building stuff and in the like, imaginary or imagination land.

[36:53] But I really don’t like performing. And maybe it’s because the competition part, right? The like, I’m trying to, like,

[37:00] you know, impress somebody or whatever.

[37:03] Like, if that’s 34 for me, no wonder I don’t like performing.

[37:07] Yeah, like,

[37:08] it turns it into a competition,

[37:10] you know, whether consciously or not, of like, competing for audience attention or laughs or whatever the fuck you want to call it. So that’s interesting because I’ve been. I was kind of wanting to talk about where like fixed mindset and growth mindset come into all of this.

[37:24] And you already sort of partially answered that for me in that, like,

[37:28] yeah, we do have innate talents.

[37:31] We can learn to do stuff.

[37:33] And I think fixed and growth mindset tends to. To apply more to skills than what we’re talking about here. But I’d love to hear kind of your thoughts on.

[37:42] Lee Peterson: Yeah, but I think a growth mindset is a really, really important mindset to have in anything you do, Right. Um,

[37:50] and so,

[37:52] yeah,

[37:53] is a little bit more tied to skills,

[37:56] but it’s also when you have a growth mindset, it’s not about the person, it’s about the process.

[38:04] Right? So it’s not about you so much. And if you think about strengths, it’s like,

[38:09] it’s kind of the process. How you get things done. What you need. Not about you. It is about you specifically, but it’s the. The how, the why. It’s like the how you are hardwired to get things done.

[38:20] And I think if you just think about your strengths as the key to success. Success.

[38:28] Instead of saying, well,

[38:29] I can’t do this because I don’t have this talent,

[38:34] right?

[38:35] Instead say, wait, I. I can do this because I have these talents now let me think how I can apply these things that come naturally to me that’ll help me do it with more ease and excellence rather than trying to work on things I don’t have.

[38:52] It’s.

[38:52] Cate Blouke: It’s not a. Yeah, no, yeah. What’s coming up for me and in hearing you say that is like, oh, it’s about like finding the appropriate pathway.

[39:01] Lee Peterson: Right?

[39:02] Cate Blouke: Yeah, that like, okay,

[39:05] so you and I have this sort of mutual, shared individual goal of like, we both like, want to write a book.

[39:12] The way we go about doing that, like, you know, fixed mindset would say like, oh, some people can write books and some people can’t write books and I can’t write a book.

[39:21] You know, growth mindset and. And a like strengths based gross. My growth mindset would be like, oh, like I can write a book and here’s how I’m gonna get myself there.

[39:32] Like, I’m me. Cate is gonna do a ton of research and like talk to people and have it be like, oh, let me think about my ideal audience and like, what am I gonna say to them?

[39:44] Right? Like, that’s the pathway I’m gonna take to. To writing a book that like really leverages my strengths.

[39:51] Whereas, what are you gonna do because you got different top strengths.

[39:54] Lee Peterson: What.

[39:54] Cate Blouke: What’s your path to book writing?

[39:56] Lee Peterson: Yeah, I mean, what I did, I’m activator. I’m like, let’s just do this right? I just dove right in without thinking about it. I learned a lot. Learned a lot of things.

[40:04] Don’t design your book the way it’s supposed to look before you even write the words that I’ll just fuck everything up.

[40:11] God, I over the hell out of stuff. So.

[40:14] So actually that’s a really good point. So to finish my thought on that, I’m going to do it a little bit different. I’m going to do my activator.

[40:21] You know, I use my communication skills for writing and that. And I also use my strategic to think about how do I do this a little bit differently. Right. Because I ended up doing like an interactive workbook that wasn’t your typical, like, you know, read it front to back cover kind of thing.

[40:35] It was like, do the work. Because I’m an activator, so I do the work. I want you to do the work, right?

[40:40] Cate Blouke: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[40:41] Lee Peterson: Some people don’t want to do the work. That’s fine. So.

[40:44] So we’re going to go about it differently, but we’re still going to be able to get it done, right?

[40:49] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[40:50] Lee Peterson: Everybody has a different path to development,

[40:55] but it needs to be your own path. Right. Because if I tried to use analytical,

[41:00] logical, deliberative to get my book done,

[41:04] I wouldn’t have ever done it. Right. Like, yeah.

[41:07] Cate Blouke: Like, if I had to use, like, focus and discipline.

[41:09] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[41:10] Cate Blouke: Like, it just wouldn’t.

[41:13] Lee Peterson: When you think about your strengths, okay. There’s an activity I love to do, and I think this is a really good way.

[41:19] If you’re ever in my workshop, you’ll probably go through it. But just for fun on the thing, it’s like, okay, I asked people to write this phrase. Grab a pen and write the phrase, I use my strengths every day.

[41:30] All right? And I go, ready, set. Oh, wait,

[41:32] now switch to your non dominant hand.

[41:35] Cate Blouke: Oh.

[41:36] Lee Peterson: And everybody goes, oh, exactly like you. And they’re like, ah.

[41:39] And I time them right. I’m timing them how long it took and on the quality of their work. And I asked them to, you know, put their pen down when they’re finished.

[41:47] And then I go, okay, now let’s do it again. And you can use your dominant hand, the one you’re used to writing with. And we have a conversation about all of this is.

[41:56] And this just goes to how you get things done. So, yes, everybody was able to write I use my strengths every day,

[42:04] three times with their non dominant hand. But it took fucking forever.

[42:09] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[42:09] Lee Peterson: And it was total shit work. It was ridiculous.

[42:14] And they hated doing it. Everybody was just humming, ho. Oh,

[42:18] go.

[42:18] You just heard all these sighs. Heads were down, like, miserable. Right? Then when we switched to using our dominant hand, which comes easily.

[42:27] Quality’s great. Took them seconds, literally seconds to get it done. The room went completely silent because everybody was in their flow state and doing what they came easily. And that’s, that’s the importance of Utilizing our strengths.

[42:41] When we can get in that zone,

[42:43] anything that we’re doing, any of the hard work that we’re trying to do and accomplish gets easier.

[42:49] Right. We’re not force fitting ourselves into something that we’re not and coming out with half ass work or, you know, that takes us forever to get done.

[42:58] Yeah.

[42:59] Cate Blouke: Oh my God. Like I’m just thinking about like how much of life at least, you know, speaking from my own experience, but also just think, thinking about my clients and friends, you know, like how often we get this idea that, that if we just like practice enough with our non dominant hand and,

[43:16] and don’t sort of take that step back and be like, why am I trying to write with my non dominant hand?

[43:22] You know?

[43:23] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[43:25] Cate Blouke: And it’s interesting because so I’m in this phase of life where I’ve been a long distance runner for a really long time. I kind of fucked up my knee.

[43:33] I might be transit, like it might be time where long distance running isn’t a thing for me. And I have a friend who’s been like trying to get me to go to like essentially a CrossFit gym,

[43:43] which like,

[43:44] I’m gonna try and we’re gonna see how this goes. But I’m thinking about this and I’m like, oh. But actually one of the like things I do know about this thing that I’m about to try doing is that it’s about relationships,

[43:59] right. It’s about this sense of like teamwork and people cheering for you and whatever.

[44:05] And as long as I can not let the idea that it’s a competition get in to or like let it become a competition, which will fucking kill me.

[44:15] But if I can lean into the sort of empathy and positivity, then like, maybe this will be awesome.

[44:21] But this is so helpful to like just be thinking about and be aware of like, oh, I need to watch out for when that competition shit sneaks in because that kills my fucking soul.

[44:30] Lee Peterson: Yes. And thank. Yes. One, I love the way that you frame this for how you can go into this. Right. Because you’re taking what could be a weakness and saying, don’t worry about that one.

[44:40] Let’s use what I have to make the most of this and see where this goes. Right. One, that’s a growth mindset.

[44:46] Two, that’s utilizing your strengths in a way that is helpful to you. It’s gonna make it more enjoyable to you.

[44:51] Cate Blouke: Yeah. And, but I mean, and just like thinking about like how having this information is gonna like ultimately really serve me is like, oh,

[45:02] I Suck at competition. Like, I like. And I don’t need to get better at competition. Like, that’s not the thing. I don’t have to get more.

[45:09] Lee Peterson: Yeah, it’s not your thing. Right.

[45:11] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[45:12] Lee Peterson: Remember, you. You don’t have to be well rounded.

[45:14] Cate Blouke: Right?

[45:15] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[45:16] Cate Blouke: Right. And, like, I need to watch out for that.

[45:19] Lee Peterson: Right.

[45:19] Cate Blouke: Rather than, like, trying to get better at it, it’s just like, oh, no. Like, that is something that kills things for me. Like, that is my weed killer. That is the, like,

[45:27] weed killer to my garden.

[45:29] Lee Peterson: That’s your roundup right there. Yeah.

[45:32] No, it’s really important to be be aware of those things. And it just made me think about, too.

[45:39] A lot of times when we do, if you do take the assessment or even if you’re just comparing yourself to someone else, like what they’re good at versus what you’re good at.

[45:46] A lot of times we tend to go, oh, like, I’ve had people go, I don’t want those to be my strengths.

[45:51] Like,

[45:52] I want other strengths. And I’m like, oh, that makes me so sad.

[45:57] That’s why you’re so awesome. Right. But they wanted to be just like the rest of their teammates without recognizing that their differences were the advantage.

[46:06] Right?

[46:06] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[46:07] Lee Peterson: And so a lot of times we say, oh, I want this, or I wish I had that.

[46:12] But there’s no strengths that are better than another. Right. There’s not one that. If you had learner at number one and I have it at 34, it doesn’t matter.

[46:21] Right. It’s how we use our strengths personally to succeed.

[46:27] And it’s up to us to do that. Right. And just be genuinely who we are.

[46:33] So, yeah, competition’s not your jam. Who cares? You’ve got these other things, this, you know, this relationship building piece with your positivity,

[46:42] and you can use those things to your advantage to succeed in this.

[46:47] Cate Blouke: Yeah. Yeah. And I just think, like,

[46:50] to me, like, knowing what I’m really good at and knowing what, like, really doesn’t fill my cup. Right. Rather than saying I’m bad at it, but just that, like, is the opposite end of the spectrum for me.

[47:03] Lee Peterson: I’d rather not.

[47:04] Cate Blouke: Yeah. Of just like, I’d rather not or like, this is. This is a real struggle for me. Helps me both, you know, in this very specific example of building. Oh. Like, I need to be attentive to my mindset because if I start getting into the competition mindset, like, it’s gonna kill.

[47:20] That’ll be the joy killer.

[47:22] Right. But also just like, in whatever sort of Circumstances I’m going into,

[47:28] I can say, like, okay, like, how can I make sure I’m getting to learn stuff here? How can I bring my empathy and positivity to this particular scenario,

[47:38] even when it’s like, shit, I don’t really want to do?

[47:41] Right? Yeah, like, but it needs doing. I mean, I don’t know if I can, like, work that mind jiu jitsu on, like, getting my taxes done or whatever. But, like,

[47:49] that’s a tough one.

[47:50] Lee Peterson: That’s a tough one. I’ll give. I’ll give everybody an out on taxes.

[47:53] Cate Blouke: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[47:55] Lee Peterson: No, I’ve just gone through that, too.

[47:58] But you’re right.

[47:59] It’s a great way to frame your mindset for success.

[48:04] Right? Going. I’ve got everything I need to be successful here.

[48:08] Let me figure out how I’m going to aim that and make that happen. Like, get me from point A to point B in a way that’s enjoyable and that I like.

[48:18] Cate Blouke: Yeah. What do you mean when you say successful?

[48:21] Lee Peterson: I mean, okay, this is going to sound totally generic, but I really think everybody’s definition of success is a little bit different. Right.

[48:28] Cate Blouke: That’s why I asked you, what do you, Lee, mean.

[48:31] Lee Peterson: Mean by success for me for success is that this work that I’m doing to spread the word of, like, you already have what you need, use these strengths. You’re amazing as the person as you are.

[48:44] You don’t have to be anyone different.

[48:46] And giving people the tools and the knowledge to take that and make their lives better.

[48:52] If I have one person come to me and say, lee, you just made a huge difference in my life,

[48:58] that is success for me. You know, I really want to help people understand and embrace this concept because it was the reason I got here. This is kind of late in the it late in the thinking.

[49:08] Cate Blouke: I know. I was just thinking. I was like, oh, wait, yeah, like, let’s see.

[49:12] Lee Peterson: Why I’m here today talking about strange strengths is because, you know, you guys heard me mention a little bit. I bit. I was in corporate America and learning and development roles for, like, 20 years, and I was working with this company,

[49:23] and I really had, like, my whole retirement planned with them, right? I was like, oh, I’ll do this role. This role, this role. I loved it. I love what they did.

[49:29] It was, like, pets and chocolate, all kinds of great stuff. Y’ all might figure out who it is. But anyway,

[49:34] after Covid,

[49:35] they had a restructuring and they got rid of all of the team. I was on, like, tons of people, this global team.

[49:42] And I was really bummed, right? And so I was like, okay, that was 2021.

[49:47] Well, then I went and worked. I went to go work for Twitter, the original Twitter.

[49:52] Cate Blouke: And it was back when it was Twitter.

[49:54] Lee Peterson: Yeah, when it was Twitter, it was awesome. It was like this village of people that truly cared about each other. It was phenomenal. I loved it.

[50:01] I had a great team I was working with, and I got certified as a Gallup strengths coach when I was there, because we were bringing Gallup strengths to the organization.

[50:11] It was when I had this aha moment, because I’d heard about strings, you know, and you’d hear this, and you’d be like, okay, I took this assessment, blah, blah, blah.

[50:19] And, like, a lot of assessments, you take it, you get all pumped for a day or two, and then you forget about it and move on.

[50:24] Cate Blouke: Right?

[50:24] Lee Peterson: Well, in this case, for some reason,

[50:27] it sparked in me. I was like, oh, my God. This idea of focusing on what is right with you rather than what is wrong with you is all I’ve ever wanted in my life.

[50:39] Cate Blouke: Yeah, same. And we met in our, like, positive psychology training, and. Exactly. Like, what if we did more of what is already good?

[50:50] Lee Peterson: Exactly. Right. I mean, it just spoke to my soul.

[50:53] And so I was like, oh, my gosh, I love this. And I was so excited sharing it with the organization.

[50:59] Well, and then that’s when Elon came in and decided to buy Twitter,

[51:04] and we all got laid off in the middle of the night.

[51:07] So that was my second layoff in less than two years. And I was like, oh, my God, like, this is ridiculous. Right? Like, I got.

[51:14] And so I literally put my gala coaching hat on, and I asked myself the same questions I would ask anybody I was coaching and said,

[51:24] lee, how can you do what you do best every day? What do you love? What are you good at?

[51:28] And so it was that conversation with myself that led me to go, okay, like, you’ve got 20 years of experience in learning and development. You love communicating and connecting and influencing people,

[51:41] and you are passionate about this strength stuff, right?

[51:45] And so that’s. I was like, I’m going to go out and do this on my own. Like, I’m going to spread the word. And so that’s how I started learning karma,

[51:52] which is all about when organizations invest in their people.

[51:57] They get great results when they invest in their wellbeing and development.

[52:01] And when they don’t, they see that turnover and, you know, they see, like, the lack of retention and engagement and all these things.

[52:09] And so that’s what I’VE been doing the last three years is spreading the gospel of strengths and positive psychology to help make the world a better place. And I’m doing it because I’ve been there, you know, and I know what it feels like when times are tough or your world gets turned upside down and everybody goes through hard times.

[52:28] And when we have those strengths that we can fall on,

[52:31] we know that we can tap into those to get us out of that rut and get us unstuck quicker and really help us begin to thrive and flourish again.

[52:40] Cate Blouke: Yeah,

[52:41] I love hearing you talk about that and just thinking about how like, you’re using your experience and strengths to apply to like an organ, like, organizational level.

[52:55] Like, here’s how we like, help people thrive and help an organization by helping the sort of people thrive.

[53:02] And for me,

[53:04] my work tends to center like really at the individual level and at the more kind of like personal journey and the like struggle with self belief and self doubt and all of that because, like, that’s where I’ve been.

[53:16] Like I have lived that and I know what it is like.

[53:21] And yeah, like,

[53:23] it’s so cool to get to do the things that we have experience with and that we’re good at,

[53:29] you know?

[53:31] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[53:32] I think the world, it’s. It’s funny how, you know, when you see a lot of people finally unlock their passions and get to where it’s kind of like the universe just put you there.

[53:39] Like all of the things, the dominoes fell in a way that’s like, this is where you’re supposed to be. And I. And for me, I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.

[53:48] And it took a long time to get that clarity and to be there. And it took a lot of experience. But I know everybody doesn’t go through this same type of journey.

[53:56] Yeah, but what we all do go through is life, right?

[54:00] And we all have people we work with, relationships, we’re in jobs that we have to go to every day. I mean, every one of us has that in common. And when we can do it from a strengths lens where we’re really like appreciating what every one of us brings to the table and that we’re each unique and awesome and amazing and really work together,

[54:25] like that’s game changing, right. That changes the world into just a much better place where people are happier and you see more smiles and you see more resilience and optimism and things when you look at it from this positive lens.

[54:41] So,

[54:42] you know, I do hope that the work that I’m doing.

[54:44] And I know the work that you’re doing is making a difference and helping people.

[54:49] Even if things aren’t bad, even when things are great, you need your strengths. Right? Like, it’s just.

[54:53] Cate Blouke: Yeah, well, and what I just heard in that, that I’m, like, taking as my own invitation because, like, I have this, like, little inner critic that,

[55:02] you know, likes to be mean to me, but also likes to, like, announce that everybody else is doing it wrong.

[55:10] And, like, I’m taking this conversation as an invitation to say, hey, buddy,

[55:15] like,

[55:16] everybody else is good at that I’m not good at. And, like, I’m good at some that other people aren’t good at. And like, what if nobody’s doing it wrong,

[55:23] buddy?

[55:24] And actually, like, what if I could, like, really get intentional about looking at people’s strengths,

[55:32] right. Instead of letting that little mean inner critic voice get real fixated on what’s wrong. So start really leaning into, like, oh, like, let me, let me get curious about what, what they’re good at.

[55:45] You know, like, I might think they’re fucking doing it a way that I would not do it.

[55:50] But isn’t it so much nicer to be like, oh, let me get curious about that instead of just being cranky because they’re doing it wrong?

[55:56] Lee Peterson: Yeah. Yeah. It takes out the judgment, Right. Which opens up the door for a lot more collaboration.

[56:02] And the power of partnerships is huge. And so, yeah, somebody on the surface, it might be quote wrong to you, but then you look at and be like, oh, that’s a really cool thing.

[56:12] It’s not your thing, but it’s their thing. And that. That’s the power of it too, is that strengths aren’t a label. Right. It’s not like Cate the learner Cate, this.

[56:22] It’s like humans are too complex and diverse for that. Right. It’s just kind of. This is. This is what makes you unique. These. It’s a holistic part of you. Right.

[56:32] And it’s going to show up in different ways and how you use it.

[56:36] But everybody’s got their own special set of talents, and when we can embrace those, it’s really cool. And you think about,

[56:46] you know, you and I, we have very different skill sets, but we work on things together and we’ve collaborated and come up with some cool ideas. And you’ve coached me through some really cool stuff that helped me see things differently that I wouldn’t have seen.

[56:58] And so,

[56:59] yeah, there’s a lot of beauty in that interaction between the diverse strengths that everyone has.

[57:06] Cate Blouke: Yeah. Like, because we can’t see our own blind spots.

[57:09] Lee Peterson: No.

[57:10] Cate Blouke: You know, and it’s so important to invite in a different perspective.

[57:16] Lee Peterson: It gives you that empathy. You know, empathy is one of your strengths. And. But if you understand someone’s strengths, you understand why they do what they do.

[57:23] So instead of going, oh, my gosh, that was.

[57:26] That was not smart. Why did they do that? You go, oh, I know why she did that. It’s because she. That’s how. That’s her activator, right?

[57:33] Cate Blouke: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[57:34] Lee Peterson: It was funny to barrel roll through here and just tell us all what to do. Her activator is coming out a little strong and. But it allows you, when you know that about others, it allows you to have those conversations.

[57:45] And you could be like, haley, could you maybe dial back the activator a little bit? I need Cate’s learner to step up to the plate,

[57:53] you know,

[57:54] so it’s. It’s a way to have positive conversations instead of telling people you’re doing it wrong.

[58:01] It’s like, give me more of this. Right? I know this is what you get. Let me see more of that. That’s what we need right now. So.

[58:07] Cate Blouke: Yeah.

[58:07] Yeah. It’s funny listening to you, I’m like, yeah, like, that’s why I find the enneagram so juicy.

[58:15] But it’s on this, like, empathy,

[58:18] like, emotional level of like. For me, like, understanding someone’s enneagram number is like, understanding their core motiv. And I’m like, oh, that’s why you’re showing up the way you are.

[58:28] And so I love that, like, this is just sort of another framework for self understanding and understanding other people and getting along better.

[58:36] Lee Peterson: It is. And when it comes to, you know, I know we’ve talked a little bit about the enneagram stuff, and so I do like figuring out how they all work together,

[58:44] because there’s similarities in all of those. There’s similarities in humans. Right? And so I really think, like, the key takeaway of all of this is understanding ourselves and understanding and appreciating each other.

[58:57] Right. And what we all bring to the table. And if we take a little more time to dig into ourselves and who we are and really feel good about that and then ask questions, Ask those curious questions about, you know, what do you love?

[59:09] Who are you? What lights you up, then you can help people find more opportunities for that. You can get people excited about using their strengths. Right. It’s just a much better place to be.

[59:20] People who use their strengths are happier.

[59:23] Cate Blouke: And what I’m taking away I want to interject because, like, what I’m taking away is this idea of, of letting go of, of trying to do it all and trying to be like, quote unquote, well rounded.

[59:34] And I was thinking about as you were talking, I had this sort of like, image of like a little beehive,

[59:39] right? That we’re all our own little. I want it to be five points, but in an actual beehive it’s six. But we got our like top six strengths, right? And everybody’s got their own little hexagons and like we all fit together and that’s what makes shit work.

[59:53] Instead of like all of us trying to be a 34 pointed polygon and that not clicking together because that seems like way too much shit, 100%, right?

[01:00:05] Lee Peterson: When we, when I talk about this with organizations, Exactly. Like you said, if we’re all a hive, right,

[01:00:09] it’s like everybody brings their own little hexagon of strengths. And while you’re not well rounded, the team needs to be.

[01:00:17] So if everybody looked just like Cate,

[01:00:19] we wouldn’t get a lot done.

[01:00:22] Not meaning we wouldn’t get a lot done, but there wouldn’t be a lot of innovation or diversity of thought, you know.

[01:00:28] Well, and there’s no executing and like.

[01:00:31] Cate Blouke: Way too much like trying new things. Like, we would never be consistent because I would get bored.

[01:00:37] Lee Peterson: Yeah, we need those executors and those influencers to come in and like, you know, fill in those gaps right there.

[01:00:44] And so I mean, ultimately it’s about like, we’re all in this together, right? We need each other, people need each other.

[01:00:51] So.

[01:00:52] Cate Blouke: And I, and I want to just reiterate, taking a step back, that like, yes, that applies in the workplace, but like, fucking A, it applies in life 100%.

[01:01:02] Lee Peterson: Every, it does in your relationships, in your families.

[01:01:07] Like any, any relationship requires understanding our strengths and appreciating one another. I think about my relationship with my boyfriend. He’s totally different, right?

[01:01:18] Like I,

[01:01:19] it was, it was kind of an aha moment for me. We recently moved in together and like, I was like moving stuff all around and he was like, ah,

[01:01:28] freaking out, right? And I’m like, what? And it was like my activator going nuts because I’m like, let’s just do it, we’ll talk about it later.

[01:01:36] He’s like input and deliberative.

[01:01:39] So to him, my activator looked like total chaos,

[01:01:42] right?

[01:01:43] And his inaction to me looked like laziness and we just weren’t getting anything done.

[01:01:49] But when we literally sat down and had the conversation. And we do it from a strengths lens because of course I’m a strengths.

[01:01:55] Cate Blouke: Yeah. I was like, I was like, did you make it take the test?

[01:01:57] Lee Peterson: Like, oh, yeah, I took the test a long time ago. And so knowing that, I was like, oh, wait, here’s what’s happening.

[01:02:05] Right. And now we’ve learned how to manage those things, like, and have a conversation. And when I know my activator is coming on too heavy, I can back off and be like, let me be appreciate how this is impacting him.

[01:02:18] Right. And so, you know, that’s just an example of, in a personal life. I’ve got a million examples in work life. Right.

[01:02:25] And so, yeah, it, it applies across the board.

[01:02:30] Across the board, yeah.

[01:02:32] Cate Blouke: Well, Lee, this has been a delight.

[01:02:36] Lee Peterson: Thank you, Cate. Thank you for having me. It’s always a delight with you.

[01:02:39] Cate Blouke: Yeah, no, this is super great. And if other people want to get to experience your magical wonderfulness, where can they find you?

[01:02:49] Lee Peterson: Yes. So you can go to learningkarma.com for individuals that do individual coaching around strengths. So I can really help you dig in and understand what all that is.

[01:02:59] But also have a lot of stuff for organizations and teams that are looking to maybe bring strength based development to their organization. If you are someone on a team, you’re like, we really need this.

[01:03:10] You can reach out to me or you can find. You can just email me@leighearningkarma.com that’s learning karma.com.

[01:03:17] Cate Blouke: Oh, I guess I was like, duh. But then again, I see your name all the time as opposed to like L, E, I, G, H. Right?

[01:03:23] Lee Peterson: Yeah.

[01:03:23] Cate Blouke: Yeah. Awesome. Favorite question to end with Lee. What brings you joy?

[01:03:31] Lee Peterson: Oh, my gosh. What brings me joy right now?

[01:03:34] Can I just tell you right now is it’s springtime and I am absolutely loving seeing everything in bloom. I just, I mean, it’s been a long winter, it feels like.

[01:03:44] And so right now my heart is full of joy. When the other morning I was just driving it like the sun was coming up and all the stuff was in bloom and it was just absolutely wonderful and amazing.

[01:03:53] So I love, I love the rebirth of spring. It brings me a lot of joy.

[01:03:58] Cate Blouke: And your dog brings me joy when I get to see him.

[01:04:00] Lee Peterson: Charlie Brown brings me all kinds of joy. Yeah, he’s a little cutie for sure. So yeah, he has an Instagram too. If anybody doesn’t care about drinks and wants to follow Charlie Grant.

[01:04:10] Charlie Brown on the ground.

[01:04:12] Cate Blouke: Yes. That link will be included in the show notes because I don’t know if I’m following Charlie Brown, but I need to.

[01:04:18] Awesome.

[01:04:19] This has been such a treat. Leigh.

[01:04:21] Lee Peterson: Thank you Cate. Thank you for everything you do.

[01:04:27] Cate Blouke: Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please help me grow the podcast by subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing it with anyone you think would benefit from hearing it too.

[01:04:37] Your support means the world to me.

[01:04:39] If you’d like to get updates about new episodes, posts and offerings,

[01:04:43] please visit settlingisbullshit.com to subscribe to many newsletter.

[01:04:47] You can also find information there about working with me one on one to build your most amazing life.

[01:04:53] Until next time, remember that I believe in you and that you are fucking awesome.