Top Strengths - Coming Soon

In this section, I am going to tell you about Ansir, which has changed its name to Top Strengths.  Most of you will have heard of one form of personality profile or another there are many out there, Myers-Briggs or Keirsey, for example, that have been used as tools for businesses, primarily, to help their employees understand each better, and, so, the idea goes work better together.  Top Strengths can do that, they are working with businesses as we speak, but to me, its primary value will always be as a tool to understand oneself.  It is, in my opinion, the epitome of such efforts.  It is post-doctoral in comparison to the pre-kindergarten stage at which I consider all other such tools.  I'm going to talk a lot about it here.  It is the most singularly accurate look at who YOU are, that you will ever find.  It is available on the net only though it will no longer be free.  You will take answer a series of questions in three areas, Thinking,  Working, and Emoting.  The profile that you will be then shown will absolutely amaze you.  You will be given enough information to astonish you.  It will feel to you as if they somehow had been watching YOU for years, lol.  It is THAT eerily accurate.  Top Strengths does offer a book that goes much deeper into the styles, into YOU, and so offers you a way to use this heightened self-knowledge to make choices in your life, that suit YOU as nothing else could.  We must first understand ourselves and our motivations before we can have the smallest hope of understanding anyone else.  What I'm going to tell you now is how I came to this test 9 years ago and why it is still so important to me to today.

I've mentioned the CWG list at Spiritweb, oh, well, a couple times anyway, while there in the midst of my Awakening experience, while new symptoms, were still showing up daily.  One of us found the original Top Strengths site, took their test, and was completely amazed at the result.  Nothing else she'd taken had every gotten HER so cleanly, so purely.  She recommended it to the list and many of us took it.  Not surprisingly, given the spiritually-oriented, yet eclectic nature of that group, there were a lot of similar profiles, except mine.  Most of us had taken Myers-Briggs and Keirsey too, and those that hadn't, did.  One of our list mates compiled a list showing where each of us fell into various categories.  There, amongst all those New Age folks, I was alone with that profile.  That sort of surprised me.  Then again, it didn't, given that I was the only one with the experiences I've described in the stories above.  Still a farm boy from the middle of nowhere really oughtn't have been SO different from those wonderful people with whom I had so much in common.  I got in touch with the authors of the test to inquire, because it occurred to me that I might learn something fresh if I could find another whose profile matched mine.  I should tell you here what that is, I suppose, giggle.  Thinking:  Healer, Working:  Philosopher, Emoting: Extremist.  I have never been so shocked by any test I'd taken.  The others, while close on many things, were just completely not me on others, THIS one had me, right to the core.  It was as if they had been watching me all my life.  I bought their first book Top Strengths For One, 14 Rare Conversations and was thoroughly amazed at how they had gotten into my head when I wasn't looking, lol.  I was a little worried to begin with at the Extremist profile, because as they are described, well, I didn't feel I was one of them.  I am not given to derring do.  Nor have I chosen physical occupations, but I have always been physically risky, and as I thought more deeply about what I read, I understood that part is me too.  I have lived on the edge, I have done things one might consider very dangerous, repeatedly, I have flirted with edges of the rules, but I have always done so on my own terms.  For instance, I joined the US Army at 18, in March 1968, primarily because doing so would let my choose my occupation, let me get what I wanted most then, the GIG Bill and a college degree, and I could be relatively sure (I thought) by choosing a job carefully, I could escape the dangers of Viet Nam.  Little did I know, giggle, but I had Jenna protecting me then too.  So 18 months after joining while safely ensconced on the Italian Riviera in a little town named Livorno, I volunteered to go see the place for myself.  By that time, I was swayed by the prospect of getting out 5 months earlier than the 36 months I had signed up for, which let me start college, in January 1971, rather than September 1971, and by then I judged the risk worth the reward.  I just did it on my own terms.  I still do most everything on my own terms.  

When I talked with them, they told me there were 2744 possible combinations and mine was indeed quite rare.   They had a way, indeed still do, to query their database to find out how many others shared your profile.  The first time I did that, roughly 190,000 people had taken it, mine was the only one.  The next time I did, 245,000 had taken and mine was still the only one.  I sort of lost touch with them for several years, though I stopped by in 2006 and found that I was still the only one of me, at that time I tried to put them in touch with my HR department, because if you are going to give your employees personality profiles, then, in my opinion, you ought be giving them one that can actually be useful.  Earlier this year, I again stopped by their site, and found that now, of 445,000 plus there were a total of four who matched me.  I've not stopped into their forum yet, to see if I might meet one or more of those, but that is no longer my main interest in Top Strengths itself.  The author, Sandra Seich, has updated her book, it is now called the 3 Sides Of You, and she has greatly expanded it, wonderfully expanded it.  She now discusses 7 Key aspects for each profile combination, incredibly useful, and, eerily accurate information.  

Why I am so enamored of this tool, is explained in the name I chose for this website, because in the end we really are onepeople-oneworld.  We are no longer a collection of 197 countries, speaking a thousand different languages, enjoying our own little piece of this beautiful, teeming-with-life planet, our creator gave us.  We have become a world.  Transportation, communication, the global marketplace and the internet have all but erased national boundaries.  It is time we stopped fearing each other and began knowing each other.  I do not believe one can truly know another, until one first knows oneself.  Top Strengths is the most complete tool, I have ever come across for helping us accomplish that most difficult of tasks - fully understanding ourselves, our motivations, what thrills us, what drives us, not only who we have been, but who we are within.  It is only in understanding WHO WE ARE that we can begin to change WHO WE WILL BE.  This test, in the 30 short minutes it takes you to go through it,  Top Strengths PROFILER, will tell you more about yourself than you imagined was in you.  You will need to register there, but they do not sell your address and are completely forthright about that process.  This experience will tell you things about yourself that will astonish you.  And that you will recognize as the truth of you.  It is only when we completely understand ourselves, that we can begin to understand others.  And, understanding each other, is what will bring us together and to the shared truth that no matter on what part of this planet we live, we all share the same needs, hopes and dreams.  We have SO much more in common than we think.  Our leaders have their differences, but we, the people, are far more alike than we are different.  This tool is a way to understand ourselves and each other better.  You will compare profiles with your friends, and you may finally figure out what makes her, or him, tick, giggle.  You will have "aha's" of recognition in every paragraph of your profile, and, so will they to whom you recommend it, and you will do so.  You will be so intrigued, so captivated by this new knowledge, that you will want very much to share it.  I hope you all do.

One of the new Keys added is that of profile boss, that part of you which most clearly defines you.  Let me paraphrase a bit here, to give you an idea of what this means, we each have a dominant style in the three areas I mentioned earlier, Thinking, Working and Emoting, but we all also have an overall style that "defines and decides life purpose".  For me, that is Philosopher.  In the book that is a full 24 pages, and I am deeply engraved on each one.  We are not static, as we grow, we learn, we change, and so styles can change as well, as we learn to adapt to life, to ourselves and come to understand others better, we can grow, even into showing characteristics of other styles over time.  I fully expect that many, most, do.  Yet somehow I have not.  Nor will I.  I have grown, tremendously, in understanding myself, why I'm here, what I came here to do, what I can be, indeed, what we can all be.  But I am still me.  :^)  There are reasons for that, some of which I've already told you about, some of which I will tell you about as we blog, some of which I will just show you, I think, one day coming.  But I understand WHY I am now, in ways I could never have done without Sandra Seich, Top Strengths, and this marvelous book.  I recommend the test and the book to you with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul.  

Of those of you who take it, I'd love to hear what your experience is, what you think, what your styles are.  I think you'll find it interesting, entertaining and useful.  Perhaps we may have a rare conversation of our own.  I think, the reason, Jenna has had me add this section, is for that very purpose.  We all have much to talk about.  So, if you are so moved, write me, and introduce yourself.  I will be pleased to make your acquaintence.  :^) gene

If today brings even one choice your way,
choose to be a bringer of the light.