Showcase Friday: Meet the fabulous Devin!

What are your Top 5?
Harmony
WOO
Connectedness
Ideation
Activator

How do you see them playing out in your life?
I notice each of my themes on a daily basis.  Whether I’m using WOO to make a new friend at the coffee shop, leveraging Connectedness to draw together ideas and find solutions, helping create Harmony amidst conflict within my family or friends, coming up with creative business ideas with my Ideation theme or using my Activator to get a group together and kickstart a new project, my themes help me navigate through life with energy and purpose.  As an aspiring entrepreneur, I use my themes to draw connections from my past experiences and close relationships, meet new partners/clients, find support in my budding roll through mentors, create innovative ideas and use my energy to get things going! 

What is your favorite theme?
My favorite theme is my Connectedness. I can easily see the links between occurrences in my life, things that I’ve learn, and the people around me so I can better understand my place and purpose in the world.  I remember things that I learned years ago and are just now coming to fruition, or people who’s influence on me now resonates in a unique and helpful way to accomplish my current goals. Being able to see those connections encourages me and helps me to know that I’m on the right path.  If I cannot make those links and connections—for instance between my Strengths and my role—I feel very unsettled.  It’s like the puzzle is scattered, the web is torn apart.  My Connectedness helps me to determine whether I am doing something that is the right fit.  I also love making connections amongst people.  People are always asking me if I know someone who can do this or that or is looking for a roommate or recommendation because they know I love connecting the people in my life to collaborate more effectively and build great relationships. 

What one theme that gets in your way?
One theme that gets in my way (although it’s also a favorite!) is my Ideation.  I have so many ideas constantly swirling around in my head and I love letting them run wild that sometimes, they get overwhelming.  The idea will become larger than life and I need to either get a wake-up call from a friend or bring in backup to support me in the crazy goal. For instance, this year I decided to throw a Christmas party and invite 60 people to my small downtown apartment where I thought it’d be great idea to build a DYI Photo Booth. My idea for the booth got so extravagant that I actually had to call up an architect to help me design the booth and another friend to build it with me. When my ideas run wild, I usually end up having some sort of great experience or learning something new about myself, but sometimes I just need to be more practical. 

How has knowing your Top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life?
Knowing my Top 5 has changed my life.  Authentic is a great word.  I have traits that I knew were inherent in my being but I couldn’t verbalize or explain why it is that I do what I do.  It was frustrating at times because I didn’t understand why people didn’t always accept those qualities (Activator for instance) and I knew that when asked to alter those traits, I felt inauthentic.  Understanding my Top 5 allowed me to better understand the environments in which I thrive and I now seek them out intentionally.  Knowing my Top 5 in depth, also allows me to have a vocabulary to explain my qualities as Strengths and has helped me to reach a level of self-awareness and clarity that I’ve never had before. 

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