Character strengths

How to find and use your top strengths

4 min read

The short answer: your top strengths, often called signature strengths, are the few character strengths that feel most natural and most "you". Research suggests that using them more often, and in new ways, is linked to feeling better and more engaged. You can find them with a strengths test or by noticing what energizes you, then build them into your week on purpose.

What makes a strength a "signature" strength

Out of the 24 character strengths, most people have a handful that stand out. You can usually recognize them because:

• they feel like the real you, not something you put on;
• using them gives you energy rather than draining you;
• you learned them quickly and keep finding new ways to use them;
• people who know you would name them if asked what you are like at your best.

How to find yours

1. Take a strengths test. A test puts all 24 in order for you. Treat the top five as a starting point, not a verdict.
2. Check them against your life. For each one, ask: does this feel like me? When did I last use it?
3. Ask others. Ask two or three people who know you well, "When have you seen me at my best?" Look for strengths that come up more than once.
4. Look back at good moments. Think of a time you felt proud, absorbed or fully yourself. Which strengths were you using?

Ways to use your strengths more

A well-known study asked people to use one of their top strengths in a new way every day for a week. Compared with a placebo exercise, they reported being happier, and the effect lasted for months for those who kept going. Here are ideas to start with:

• Curiosity: go somewhere new on purpose, or ask one more question than usual in a conversation.
• Kindness: do one small, unexpected thing for someone each day.
• Perseverance: pick one task you have been putting off and finish it, step by step.
• Gratitude: write down three things that went well each evening, and why.
• Humor: bring lightness to a tense moment, or share something that made you laugh.
• Love of learning: spend 15 minutes a day on a topic you have always wanted to understand.
• Leadership or teamwork: offer to organize one thing in your group, or help someone else's project succeed.
• Appreciation of beauty: take a short walk just to notice what is beautiful around you.

At work, studies have found that people who use four or more of their signature strengths in their job are more likely to experience it as a calling. If your job uses few of them, look for small ways to bring them in: a different way of tackling a routine task, or a side project that fits.

Do not overdo it

Every strength has an overused side:

• Honesty without kindness can become bluntness.
• Perseverance can become stubbornness.
• Prudence can become hesitation.
• Curiosity can become distraction.
• Humor can make light of something serious.

The aim is the right amount, at the right time. Lesser strengths matter too: when a situation calls for one, you can borrow it on purpose, often with help from a top strength. For example, someone high in curiosity but lower in prudence can get curious about the risks before deciding.

Find your own top strengths

The Happy Me Character strengths assessment puts all 24 strengths of the VIA classification in order for you. It takes about 15 minutes, is free, and needs no account. The free summary shows your top five; the full report explains all 24, with ways to use each one and what happens when it is overdone. Happy Me is not affiliated with the VIA Institute on Character.

Take the free character strengths test

Sources

• Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421.
• Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press.
• Harzer, C., & Ruch, W. (2012). When the job is a calling: The role of applying one's signature strengths at work. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(5), 362–371.