Luke Smith

StrengthsQuest Response Paper

February 4, 2016

I never would have thought that a set of random, and varying, questions could ever tell

me what I was good at and what my strengths are. I was thinking it would give me pretty vague

descriptions about what each strength was or give weak classes. I was quite surprised when I

looked at my top five strengths to find how close and accurate the tests got to me. For the most

part I agreed with every strength I was given. The five I got were: adaptability, harmony,

restorative, positivity, and achiever.

I agreed with almost everything I had for each category. I feel I am very adaptable and

that I live in the moment. I feel I am a flexible person which makes me adaptable. Harmony I

agree with 100%. I usually hate conflict if it doesn’t benefit anyone. I like to pick my battles and

I usually don’t pick a battle at all. The only strength that stands out to me is restorative and not

necessarily for being accurate. I do agree with some of it like I like solving problems. The few

things I don’t agree which would include me enjoying bringing things back to life. I like solving

problems only if they are going to benefit that person or people in the long run. When it comes to

being positive, I’m positive all the time. I love making things more exciting than they actually

are. Lastly, I am usually an achiever. I achieve the things I need to only if it involves something

that interests me. If the topic bores me, than it usually takes me a lot longer to get things done. I

love making myself feel good when I accomplish something.

I feel at my strongest when people ask me for help when it comes to personal issues that I

can relate to. When one of my friends asks me what to do whether it be about another person, or

maybe an assignment and I know the answer or the path to go down in order to get the best

results. That’s the restorative person in me. Also, when I am able to stay positive through times

when others would not be, like if an injury happened and people are upset about how it is unfair,

I would be able to tell them the positives and how to look at the bigger picture. The weaknesses

that I have involve me being both an achiever and a person who needs harmony. I usually don’t

like conflict, unless it involves a competition. In that case, I will purposely get on peoples nerves

in hope to make people solve their differences and pushes them to achieve a goal. That’s how the

weakness of my harmony and the positive of the achiever in me connect with each other.

Another issue I have involves my restorative personality. I get too deep into issues and it gets me

into trouble sometimes, but me being able to adapt to the issues that arise make things easier for

me then they would for other people.

My signature themes affect my personal relationships in many ways. One of my

relationships that I feel presents the most challenges is with my sister Morgan. She is a teenage

girl who is one of the most negative people I know. She finds the negative in everything which

upsets me because I am the complete opposite. I try to be the most positive person I can and

when I have a personality that is completely opposite, it makes things much more challenging to

get along with or even have a conversation with her. When it comes to a positive relationship

that is working well is with my brother Mason. The thing that really makes us click is how we

both love achieving things and doing it together. Before he left for his missions’ trip, he and I did

everything together and setting goals for each other and getting work done.

My signature themes also affect my academic life as well. They contribute both

positively and negatively. For example, even though I have the strength of achiever, I tend to

procrastinate for homework and other assignments. Like I said before, if I am interested in the

topic or assignment I can get it done, but most homework bores me so I don’t always achieve to

the best of my abilities. The one thing that really makes school manageable is how I can stay

positive with the GPA I have now. It started off poorly for me, but telling myself that it can get

better I strive to get the higher GPA.

After taking this survey and getting to see what my signature strengths are, it is really

going to help me in approaching and solving issues in the future. I always knew my personality

traits to a certain extent and knew what I enjoyed and didn’t enjoy. The strengths showed me

what I really am or am not.