Going backwards to go forwards ...

I'm a builder. Not by myself, of course - we dreamers need practical people around us with skills to actually do the doing! But it all starts with a dream, by imagining a future that doesn't yet exist, mapping between the now and then, and executing the incremental changes that will bring that future into present reality.

I'm so very grateful that each and every one of us is perfectly, uniquely, blessed with extraordinary talent, skill, personality, strengths, interests, experience and opportunity to be and do things so very differently from each other.

"It is always darkest just before the day dawneth," said Fuller in the 17th Century. I wonder what he would have made of 2020. After a year of Covid-19 fear, uncertainty and kindness, I'm moving into a new day sort of season too. The team and funding around the project I've been working on for the past 18 months is looking a little different than expected.

"People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues."

But what happens when all you can see is the roadblocks, the missed steps, the misalignments, the things that aren't working? What happens to Strengths then?

Fortunately, there's a silver lining to questions and curiosity.

"People with strong Strategic talents bring creative anticipation, imagination and persistence to the projects they work on. They can quickly weigh alternative paths and determine the one that will work best and most efficiently. They find the best route moving forward."

Yes, that pretty much sums up my experience of start-up life; building a new business, testing ideas, building code, developing content, and putting it all out there for feedback. Sometimes things don't work as you want them to, and you have to bring things to a halt, circle back around, learn and learn some more.

The dream remains. The need remains. I remain. And the learning has been incredible. So watch this space because my strategic imagination and persistence aren't done with Daily Catch yet.

(Gallup®, CliftonStrengths®, and the 34 CliftonStrengths® theme names are trademarks of Gallup, Inc.)