In this assignment, I was to take an online survey that was comparative to the Meyer-Briggs personality test. We were asked questions and how we responded gave us our answer. I received consistency, developer, empathy, restorative and strategic. I found this to be beneficial as it helped me see my strengths and how I might be able to use them to my advantage.

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Running Head: STRENGTHSQUEST
StrengthsQuest
Ben Medbourn
University of Northern Iowa

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Running Head: STRENGTHSQUEST
StrengthsQuest
StrengthsQuest is a survey based on two million interviews gathered over 30 years.
StrengthsQuest (SQ) is an online survey that finds your top five psychological strengths based on
the answers provided by the survey taker. I took the survey and I received the traits: consistency,
developer, empathy, restorative and strategic. I was not very surprised with the results, as I
related with each category in some way or another. Consistency is where you need to treat others
the same (no special treatment) and having clear rules. The next trait is developer and I agree
with it completely. A developer is someone who recognizes potential, and wants to see the
person grow. Developers get frustrated when the person does not try to their utmost. Empathy
was next on the list and I had a disagreement with one of the points. I do not feel like I can sense
the feelings of other people that well. Although I did not match with that point, I did feel a
connection with the other points in empathy, which are “other-oriented,” anticipating other’s
needs, and struggling to support friends. Someone who has the restorative trait is commonly
good at dealing with problems and avoiding conflict. I think that restorative should definitely be
one of my top five traits. Finally, the last trait I received is strategic. I agree with it because I like
to plan ahead and make sure that if something does not work out, that I like to have a back-up
plan. Some of my friends and family agreed on my trait results.
I spoke to a couple different people about my results of SQ. I talked to my cousin about
my results and she agreed with them for the most part. She brought up a moment when I was in a
class with her in high school and one of my friends had lost a parent. While I was talking to my
friend I was almost in tears because I could barely imagine what it would feel like to lose a
parent. I told one of my friends that I received empathy for one of my traits and she scoffed at
me. She brought up a time when I was being insensitive to one of my friends we were hang out

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Running Head: STRENGTHSQUEST
with. I expressed a quality about her that she did not like and I did not realize that it made her
upset until my friend told me to go apologize. Even though empathy was not a strength in that
situation, my other traits helped me out.
There are a few situations in which I felt my strengths were apparent. One time in my
final year as a Boy Scout I was a patrol leader. One requirement to my next badge was that I had
to teach a younger scout something new. Instead in my troop we usually teach a group of
younger scouts. I had decided to teach the group how to assemble and use a camp stove. I wanted
to make sure that everyone could get a chance to prove that they learned something. There was
one younger scout who was eager for praise and he finished his task of connecting the stove to
the propane, then he went to get the matches ready to light it. I stepped in and made sure that
everyone got a chance to help with the stove equipment. I had another moment where my skills
worked well. It was during last semester in a clarinet sectional. I was the one who got to lead the
group for the night. I was excited because it was my first time I got to lead a sectional. I was also
excited because I knew that I would be helping my peers feel more confident in the music and be
more suited with the pieces. I rehearsed some of our problem areas from ensemble practice. Even
though the other members did not point out their “trouble-spots,” I was able to kind of feel which
spots gave them the most trouble based on my experiences and what did not sound clean.
There are some times where I cannot use my strengths to my benefits. I feel that my
applied clarinet lessons are one of those areas. I got the developer trait and I agree about finding
potential in others exciting, except I do not necessarily see potential within me. I get discouraged
while practicing sometimes because I do not feel as progressed as some of my peers. Another
trait negatively portraying to this situation would be restorative. I like solving problems, except
when it comes to clarinet, you cannot just “figure it out;” technique must be practiced, so when it

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Running Head: STRENGTHSQUEST
does not resolve, I again become disappointed and discouraged a little. Another situation would
be with my friend group. Sometimes I cannot tell some people’s feelings unless they tell me
head-on. I hate to unnecessarily anger people and sometimes I have no filter around them so I
may touch on sensitive subjects and I did not know it would upset them. Not anger someone is
hard when you cannot anticipate their needs of a subject being brought up. I feel as though most
of my problems that arise from my friends are because some the problems are unseeable (and
because of my poor communication skills).
These traits impacted a couple relationships to me. The first one was affected in a
more negative way. The beginning of this semester was a new experience for me and I was
excited and nervous about it. I started out by making a big group of friends, the marching band.
After the first months of college I had made some close friends. While I stated that I cannot
sense the feelings of others, even while they are in the room it becomes blurred more so over text
messaging. I developed feelings for a friend of mine. When you have strong feelings, you do
things more in the spur of the moment and in strong bursts of courage. I told my friend that I
liked him, but he did not feel the same way. I could not anticipate his needs over the phone as it
was impossible to see his body language, or hint to what he was thinking. My traits helped me to
the best of my ability, but I could not help him see that I was still the same person. The
friendship started deteriorating and it was torturous because I could not help him and I make
progress. A good situation in which my traits were present, was that of supporting various
friends and family when they need to talk to someone. I feel like I can give good advice to them
while not following the same advice in my situations. My friend last year had a difficult year of
high school. She and I were able to talk about almost anything. This made our friendship strong,
but it was a little draining on my part. She would be able to come with any of her problems and

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Running Head: STRENGTHSQUEST
vent while I listened carefully. It became stressful when she started talking to me about being sad
in general because I could not help her find out what was bothering her and some of the things
she told me were dark. I tried to tell her to seek out professional help and worked with her that
way and she did get better by talking to her therapist and I. I feel like I had to treat her the same
as everyone else, even though she was not exactly happy. I think like treating her the same does
not encourage stigma that may come with mental illness. The traits of empathy and consistency
played a big role in maintaining, strengthening a friendship and helping a friend in need.
My academic life can be tied to these traits as well. I have chosen music education as my
major and I can see some certain points that go with my traits. The teacher part is heavily
noticeable in the traits. Having a sense of another’s needs, recognizing potential, avoiding
conflict, treating others the same and planning. I can see these traits complementing each other
and my major. I have also noticed in some of my group work that groupthink will occur with me.
I will agree to try and make some progress on what we are working on. These traits help me be
more of an emotional connector.
StrengthsQuest was a great experience. I liked finding out what my traits meant and
exploring situations that occurred with those traits present. I could really see myself throughout
this process and find out what I might need to work on for weaknesses as well. I definitely did
see all of my traits present in my situations; consistency, developer, empathy, restorative and
strategic. Finding out strengths is good so that you can use them to your advantage and also build
on strengths you think could be useful and need some work on.