Dr. Neal Mayerson, Founder & Chairman of the VIA Institute on Character, talks about the towing of character strengths. The towing principle refers to using an already well established strength to boost another less developed strength by towing it along like a tugboat. The VIA Institute refers to this phenomenon in which the expression of one strength naturally elicits the expression of other strengths as “the towing principle” or “virtuous circle.”
Imagine my dismay when I took the VIA Survey over 8 years ago and found myself staring at Social Intelligence, Love of Learning, Creativity, Humor and Perspective at the bottom of the list! I had been under a delusion that at least creativity and love of learning would be my top strengths. They were not even my supportive strengths. They were ranked as my lesser strengths. Just when did they slide to the bottom? Three of these character strengths nestle under the virtue of Wisdom. Obviously, my ‘wise self’ had taken a sabbatical, or was just not showing up in life. While I was not looking, they had quietly slipped into dormancy.
I instinctively shifted my gaze to the top of the list. I wish I could say there was fancy, chic foresight or prudence involved, but honestly it was pure intuition. My top five Signature Strengths promptly came to the rescue unbeknown to me.
Gratitude (#3) was an easy step into raising Social Intelligence. I naturally felt and expressed thankfulness to others and now began to engage with people more thoughtfully. The pandemic actually facilitated this as I conscientiously reached out to neighbors, friends and family in myriad ways to understand them better.
Curiosity (#2) pulled up on Love of Learning. I have always been curious and it was a ready extension into consciously expanding my learning in diverse areas: cooking, arts and crafts, professional development, and more. While I was motivated to learn new things, now I was deliberately deepening and retaining the information. I threw myself into student mode.
Judgement (#4) gave me the confidence to engage Perspective. Admittedly this was a harder call. While I naturally used critical thinking skills, analyzed, and weighed all evidence fairly, apparently I was getting wrapped up in minutiae. I was skipping a beat. I wasn’t seeing the forest for the trees. I now had to resolutely step back to see the bigger picture, the whole system, and all the angles to be able to apply my outlook personally and to help others.
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence (#1) was a natural way to draw upon Creativity. This one threw me for a loop. I would never have dreamt that my creativity had been buried so deep while I got busy with ‘life’. Where were the novel ideas, and adaptive actions? Whether it’s writing, drawing, sketching, or crafting a Power Point presentation, I am now mindfully generating space for inspiration.
Bravery (#5) helped me get my feet wet with Humor. I am baffled by this pairing. To see myself as brave has been both mystifying and a wondrous surprise. I am as pleased as Punch. To think that it is my top strength and is also influential in me trying out Humor (never my strong suit) is an even greater mystery. To have a composed and cheerful view on adversity and laugh at oneself is more ready and natural than I ever imagined. Who knew?!
The stronger character strengths were towing the lesser ones one by one. It was like an adult confidently leading the child by hand, encouraging her to take her first steps. However tentatively, slowly but surely, my lesser strengths were being engaged to my utter surprise and sheer delight. Each higher strength paired up with a lesser one almost reflexively. What started off as an unconscious arrangement has become a distinctly mindful exercise of how I act on my character strengths. This is teamwork at its finest!
Get your tug boat ready and your towline strengthened, you never know when a smaller vessel or wayward barge needs to be led into harbor.