Asset-Based Thinking

Lazy weekend mostly. Yesterday was my birthday. Went out for that. Although I did review some contracts and do some email, I did not feel particularly productive.

I read a great book today - "Change the way you see everything through Asset Based Thinking (ABT)" by Kathryn Cramer and Hank Wasiak. The main thesis of the book is that we should focus on our assets and not our liabilities or weaknesses. They say that most people are DBT not ABT (Deficit based thinkers not Asset based thinkers)

Of course that resonates with me. I have long believed that the greatest results can be achieved by focusing on strengths. I spend a lot of my time in self discovery. The more I know myself, the better I can focus on my strengths. I also spend a lot of time polishing my strengths. You know from this blog that I focus on efficiency and time management. I actually manage to get quite a bit done so might be fairly good at it but I still take the time to focus on it and study it.

"ABT is not blind optimism or magical thinking". "ABT puts the power of personal, interpersonal and situational assets in your hands so that you can make progress and create the future you desire".

Part of the theory is about reframing (one of my favourite techniques). Rather than say a situation is bad, rather look at what is good about it. In many cases this is as simple as changing the talk about it. Rather than "That's impossible" - "what is possible" or "how could it be possible".

The book includes a series of vignettes about people who use ABT. It also has some exercises. Even with these, it is a fast read.