From a very young age I focused almost all of my time on sports. By the time I was in middle school friends would comment on my "obsession" with sports and the fact that my sports were all I ever did. I used to feel bad about this and would try and shy away from the sports and venture out to other things, but I would always return to my love, my passion, my desire. Hearing Marcus Buckingham speak about playing to your strengths and really using them makes me feel better about the choices and decisions I made. All of those years spent feeling bad about being a sport maniac, was really time wasted. I feel validated by his video! I totally agree with his statement in which he said, " If you can find a role that you play to your strengths most of the time-everyone wins." What better way to share your gifts and talents than to play to your strengths. I feel that way every day in my role as a physical educator. I find my "sweet spot" in teaching new skills and concepts to my students. From the time I was 11 years old I wanted to be a physical education teacher, and I know that this is my natural strength. There are times when I feel out of my areas of strength and this would be in managing 54 students at one time. There are times that lessons call for assessing and testing, and those times can make you question your classroom management. It is definitely an area that makes me feel out of my strength. I also had an "Aha moment" when he talked about the myths. It is so true that people tell you your focus will change as you get older and you'll become interested in other things, when in fact the most dominate parts of your personality stay the same. Additionally, I am going to change the way I have been parenting my 5 young children. I don't want to be part of the process that ingrains the myth of "you will grow the most in the areas in which you are the weakest." It is so true that we grow the most in what we already know. I can see this already with my oldest child, and I see that she has learned in her areas of weakness, but she has done so with great effort and difficulty. I want them to see the leaps of learning and feel it as well. I will encourage them to focus their creativity and energy in the areas where they have natural strength.