Investing or More Treasure Hunting at HubPages

Have you felt like you are a weakling because of low hub scores? Would you like to attract more readers on the World Wide Web. Well, don’t worry about that any longer! I’ll tell you the secret in one easy sentence.

Sounds like an advertisement on late night TV doesn’t it? Or, maybe like one of those annoying pop-ups when browsing the internet. I am not making any promises (implied or otherwise or insert disclaimer here and read at your own risk) or will not try to seduce the reader into thinking I have the product that answers those questions. However, there will always be a horizon just ahead and by just searching Hubpages, there are more answers than there are stars in the heavens above.

So, let’s start over. Hi! My name is Tim and I have some information that may be of help. It does have a cost, but knowing about bargain hunting skills, I believe there is a good deal somewhere. However, other than monetarily there is an intrinsic value too, which is really an investment – time and effort, with great returns and rewards – discovery and knowledge.

There is a book titled Now, Discover Your Strengths. Originally published in 2001 by the Gallup Organization it has been around the block a few times. At that time the book cost $27.00 U.S. / $42.00 Canada. Today, it is a bargain at many reliable sources.

Along with the book comes a key presenting entrance to an online profile builder survey, which will present unique treasures for each individual. The book is written by Marcus Buckingham (check out his website here)and Donald O. Clifton, (About information on Mr. Clifton can be found here).The Gallup Organization honored Mr. Clifton by presenting the profile builder with his name.

The Gallup Organization was founded in 1958. Its purpose has been primarily as a research based organization focusing on performance management analysis, consulting, and study of behavioral economic principals. Many have heard of the Gallup Polls. (Speaking of polls / surveys check out this article by PDXKaraokeGuy) Gallup has been regularly conducting polls since before 1958 they continue to examine political, social, and economic issues. Stretching as wide as 140 different countries they offer constantly updated information on public trends, public sentiment, as well as political predictions and more.

What the Gallup Organization did was/is interview over 2,000,000 of the world’s best and still counting: teachers, doctors, salespersons, lawyers, professional athletes, stockbrokers, accountants, hotel housekeepers, nurses, pastors, engineers, soldiers, executives, housewives, and more. Conducted over a 30 year period it had one purpose – learn what are strengths of the successful (not the rich, the successful).

They searched the information seeking patterns discovering many, yet narrowing it down to thirty-four. Realizing like the keys on a piano a complete symphony could be scored with just these, they understood major chords would be needed. They developed a method to identifying five major themes or the most powerful sources of strength.

These are shown in the table below. However to gain a better understanding of the potential they offer to the investor, the writer, the business person, or those interested in discovering while learning more of themselves PLEASE click on this link Clifton StrengthsFinderTM Themes.

So far this article is on the first book published, yet there is so much more available to the seeker desiring to discover their personal strengths. Since its first publishing it has grown with the many successful readers becoming Strengths Finder 2.0. Like the basic book Now, Discover Your Strengths it offers the same online profile builder to discover your five main themes and more; (Highly Recommended)

(From Strengths Finder 2.0 Website discovered here)

• Upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder program
• Personalized Strengths Discovery Guide
• Action-Planning Guide
• Customized version of your top five theme report
• 50 Ideas for Action (10 for building on each of your top five themes)
• User-friendly StrengthsFinder 2.0 companion website
• Strengths community area
• Library of downloadable discussion guides and activities
• Strengths screensaver
• Program for creating top five themes display cards

Willingness to dare yourself to explore and discover

What are the minimum system requirements for Gallup Web sites?

A screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher is recommended.

The following Web browsers are supported:

1. Internet Explorer 6.0+ (Not supported on Mac)
2. Mozilla FireFox 2.0+
3. Apple Safari 2.0.2+

Acrobat may need to be installed to view supplemental material. Adobe Acrobat 7.0+ is supported.

I read questions carefully ---------(Neutral)---------- I like to jump right into things

Answering along that scale the center is considered a neutral response. They do all the fancy footwork to arrive at the profile once the profile builder is completed. The wizardry of science will present the five main or central strengths of the individual with a detailed explanation for that strength.

There are many treasures that can be discovered and explored. Learning about the other twenty-nine themes, which are not a part of the main five, offers understanding. Remembering the central idea is to discover knowledge of one’s strengths and then build on those. Upon reading their publications a discovery may be made to build on main strengths while nurturing the lesser strengths offers greater rewards.

Strengths Finder FAQ can be found here.

An in depth review by Paul Smith offers much more than this article. Just a click away and you will discover a very in depth exploration of the benefits and treasures that is offered by the Gallup Organizations Strength Finder profile builder.

The Gallup Organization (Clifton) StrengthsFinder® Technical Report: Development and Validation by Gallup Consulting (the science behind it)

An example of how it is facilitated with education in conjunction with Strengths Quest can be explored at the University of Minnesota’s website Driven to Discover.

Information of a practical application of Strengths Finder can be found at Career Horizons: The Blog. This article gives more detailed information of the value Strengths Finder offers for career development.

Remembering as writers at Hubpages we are developing our careers, either for monetary rewards or intrinsic values, and exploring those options are investments offering great treasures and rewards. At the least we have an example of blogging toward a market niche, although some say a niche really is a glitch.

At Generally Thinking, Warren Davies doesn’t necessarily disagree with Strength Finders objectives. He points out that Strength Finders may be measuring talents rather than strengths. He offers a comparison with the VIA survey, presented by the VIA Institute on Character, offered for FREE, which determines an individual’s Character Trait Strengths profile. His article is an interesting read offering value to the reader.

BooksGalore from Hawaii gave an outstanding book review on Strengthsfinders 2.0. One of her first hubs she states "I think the book is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to maximize their personal potential." Reading some of her many hubs, which many are book reviews, I can only ponder which strengths she discovered.

One of those 'hot hubs is Book Review: I Beat the Odds by Michael Oher where it opens with "Michael starts off the prologue in his book by explaining his purpose in writing it. It was definitely not meant to be another slant on Leigh Anne Tuohy’s book In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving or Michael Lewis’ book The Blind Side."

And her latest review is Book Review of Dilemma: A Priests Struggle with Faith and Love by Father Albert Cutie Her review covers the controversy of the high impact book presenting a historical and sociological perspective.

Lisa Kramer of Auburn, Massachusetts wrote HOW TO REINVENT YOURSELF AFTER 40. This review demonstrates the the usefulness Strengthsfinders has with different stages in life. Describing the fork in her path of life, she shares discovering this book describing it as "an eerily accurate analysis of your strengths."

Treasuresofheaven says in the opening of her hub article, "A couple years ago, I took the Strengths Finder 2.0 Assessment. I was amazed at the results. They are clear, accurate and truly me."Further along her hub Your Strength Is What Sets You Apart From Everyone Else she utilizes a YouTube video by a life coach discussing Strengthfinders 2.0, She offers wonderful highlights on the impact of it aiding her life's journey along with three important elements of acceptance.

Matt Cutts has an awesome blog called Matt Cutts: Gadgets. Google, and SEO Matt is a Google software engineer and is currently the head of Google’s Webspam team. Writing the first version of SafeSearch, or Google’s family filter system, he currently works with search quality and webspam.

Relive this authors experience when making his first dollar through Hubpages. What is a Dollar Worth does just that. Written the day this exciting news was discovered, this author explores his feelings. Finding encouragement from many comments a greater treasure was discovered - friendships.

This hub article is a spin-off of an earlier hub - Treasure Hunting at Hubpages or Return on Investment. Here the principal of investing, intrinsic value, and Return on Investment (ROI) is explored.

Another hub from this developing series shares his view of 'making money.' At Are You a Hubpages Author Asking "How Do I Make Money Here" the author writes in a whimsical fashion, a preferred genre, explores what a hub is, what content is, and what context is. Touching on SEO, problem solving skills, and secrets - yes, this author reveals what he believes is a well kept secret, while sharing a wealth of knowledge from other hubbers.

, , , for Allowing Me to Share

Do you feel there is a desire to write and share? Thought of sharing a favorite recipe or know a great How-To. Then you may like HubPages. Take a walk around and explore. Read the FAQ Page. Take a look at what the community has to offer. Or, take a small step or a giant leap and sign up. And, remember to smile and have fun, fun, fun, , ,