We explain what are the weaknesses of a person, examples and what each one implies. Also, what are personal strengths.
What are the weaknesses of a person?
Personal weaknesses are the weak points of our personality, or what is the same, those aspects of a person that are not usually desirable, positive, or admirable, If not the opposite. That is to say, it is about the less luminous sides, the ones that make us more prone to make mistakes, act irrationally or hastily, or make us a less socially accepted person.
Despite what self-help gurus, emotional counselors, or even certain branches of psychology may suggest, there is no single, universal list of a person’s weaknesses. To a large extent, what can be understood as weakness or, on the contrary, as strength, heavily dependent on cultural, social and historical baggage of societies.
Examples of personal weaknesses
An ordinary list of examples of personal weaknesses would usually include these listed below:
- Cowardice. Understood not as the possibility of feeling fear, which is an inescapable emotional reality of all human beings, but the inability to act in a desired cause despite feeling such fear. Cowardice is the inability to act as it is considered to be due to fear (especially if it is fears held by minors).
- Impatience. Understood as little patience, that is, little tolerance for frustration, waiting and other situations in which what is desired is delayed in time. Impatient people are more prone to anger, despair and, therefore, to act impulsively.
- Selfishness. Understood as the lack of generosity, that is, the inability to share, to recognize the other’s successes or to understand that the world does not revolve around us. Selfishness can be confused with self-centeredness, and is close to pettiness and lack of empathy.
- Unsafety. Understood as the lack of poise, of temper or, as its name indicates, of security in itself and in its own decisions. An insecure person may require constant expressions of approval from others, or they will feel threatened by the protagonism of others, or it will cost them much more than others to make decisions, due to a paralyzing fear of being wrong.
- Disloyalty. Understood as the inability to honor one’s commitments, or in other words, the tendency to fail to keep one’s word. This often translates into “biting the hand that feeds,” that is, failing to repay the help received in difficult times, or betraying the trust of those who gave it to us in the first place.
- Irresponsibility. Understood as the tendency not to take charge of the mistakes made, preferring that it be someone else who unfairly bears the consequences of their own actions or decisions. An irresponsible person is someone who cannot be trusted because, worth the redundancy, he is not usually responsible for what he does.
- Resentment. Understood as the way of being of spiteful people, that is, those who find it difficult to forgive and who, once they have felt hurt, cling to that feeling for a long time and allow that to shape their behavior. Resentment prevents overcoming problems and predisposes people to conflict, hindering personal and professional relationships, sometimes for no valid reason.
- Dependence. Understood as the opposite, obviously, of independence, that is, as the need for some people to be validated continuously and constantly, when not accompanied to do even the simplest tasks. A dependent person is a person who feels so insecure with himself that he requires a tutor, a guide or a companion for everything; They are people with little autonomy, no leadership capacity and an overwhelming lack of self-esteem.
- Shyness. Understood as the difficulty to undertake social relationships because the person continually feels out of place, inferior to the rest or simply that he does not belong to the group or the community; It should not be confused with introversion, which is a taste for solitary activities. Shyness can be overcome, but in some cases it can become paralyzing and pathological, preventing people from taking necessary risks, saying the things that deserve to be said, and taking a more socially active attitude.
- Egocentrism. Understood as excess ego, that is, as the deeply internalized belief that everything in life revolves around one’s own desires, one’s own problems and one’s own personality. Egocentric people are unable to empathize with others, since they simply do not perceive them on their radar, being all the time aware of themselves.
- Irascibility. Understood as the difficulty to control anger or rage, that is, the propensity to react in an offended, violent or aggressive way, every time the person feels under attack. Irascible or irate people often say things that they later regret, and then go around apologizing all the time.
- Neuroticism. Understood as the desire to be in control of everything continuously, even when that same behavior causes stress, exhaustion, anger or sadness. Neurotic people have trouble delegating and letting things happen on their own, and they continually feel responsible for everything and everyone, so they end up imposing or imposing their criteria on everyone, becoming little dictators.
- Ignorance. Understood as the propensity to speak and decide based on what is ignored. We should not confuse it with ignorance, which is something that we all have to some extent, since no one knows absolutely everything about all topics; But ignorant people are those who, without bothering to find out or document or at least ask those who know, insist on giving their opinion, giving their point of view or making statements, in which it is made clear that they have no idea of what what do they say.
Personal strengths
Unlike weaknesses, personal strengths are called the aspects of an individual’s personality that are most desirable, positive, or admirable, those that often position you in a favorable social and professional situation, or simply allow you to better cope with a challenging situation.
Like weaknesses, there is no single list of possible personal strengths, it all depends on the cultural and social baggage that we consider.