The Bottom Five

Earlier this week I had someone ask me one of the most thought provoking questions I have been asked in a long time. I haven’t figured out why this question is still rattling around still but it has been something that my mind has been chewing on for days and yes it has even invades my sleep. Now I could go on and on and not tell you the question but I figure if I share it maybe I will get some relief and possibly get the rest of you stirred up a little. READY?

What are you top five characteristics and what are your bottom five?

Ok on the surface it seems pretty benign and shouldn’t be any big deal. I have had to answer questions like this before, but I think what is different about this time is that the individual was very specific and wanted the full complement of the bottom five. Often people will only ask about the bottom one or two and it is pretty easy to point out what we feel our bottom character weakness is because we are usually dealing with it on a daily basis to correct and improve upon it. But sit in front of someone that is asking the question because they are evaluating you and will judge you on your answers and then come up with five.

How honest can we be with ourselves let alone exposing these to someone with the power to ultimately help or hurt you? How honest can we be with our friends and loved ones? I have seriously thought about asking my closest friends to tell me what they see as my bottom two or three just as a base line to make sure that I am working on the right ones but I really didn’t want to make them feel like I was putting them on the spot. I even went so far as to ask my husband last night and that brave man gave me honest feed back and yes, he said two of the ones that are on my list as well.

How honest can I be, well here goes, this is the list I gave and it is in relation to my job and are not in any order:

Top Five
* Intense
* Passionate about doing the right thing
* Able to translate technical Geek Speak to every day language
* Organized
* Love to deal with People

Bottom Five
* Intense – not everyone likes intensity.
* Impatient with people that don’t want to do the right thing.
* Need to have change, can get bored.
* Sometimes interrupt people because I think too far ahead.
* When I get really angry I have tears. (Now this one is not a good thing in my profession, it would be more expectable if I punched the wall and when I am that angry, as a woman the tears are uncontrollable)

So there you have it, I challenge you to look at your bottom five and see where you are and ask God to help you address them as you can.