Strengths-Based Journaling: How it can help you build self-compassion, develop a positive self-image and build confidence
- Nat Harrison
- Feb 14, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
My approach to ADHD Career Coaching is strengths-based. This means that instead of focusing on the challenges ADHD brings (we don’t get into the weeds on what you can’t do), we build your positive mindset by highlighting core strengths and wins. If we focus on our weaknesses, there’s only a small opportunity for growth; however, if we focus on our strengths, we can move mountains literally overnight!
What is strengths-based journaling?
The Strengths Journaling I recommend to my clients and use myself regularly is based on the VIA Character Strengths.
These were identified by a research project about 20 years ago by a team of 55 scientists led by Positive Psychologists Chris Peterson and Dr Martin Seligman. “In their research, they looked across cultures and across millennia to attempt to distil a manageable list of virtues that have been highly valued from ancient China and India, through Greece and Rome, to contemporary Western cultures”, according to Wikipedia.
They identified 24 character strengths that we all have and can lean more into in our everyday lives.
The idea is to help people, in moments of difficulty and challenge (or success), see their strengths regardless of the circumstances before them.
This can stop us from falling into a shame cycle when something does not go as planned, with little room for manoeuvre or growth.
Let's take a look at the 24 character strengths...
In this research, VIA found 24 core character strengths that can be categorised into virtues (in blue):
Wisdom & Knowledge: Curiosity, creativity, love of learning, perspective and judgment
Courage: Bravery, perseverance, honesty and zest
Humanity: Love, kindness and social intelligence
Justice: Fairness, leadership, teamwork
Temperance: Forgiveness, humility, modesty, prudence, and self-control
Transcendence: Appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humour and spirituality
When you look at these virtues, you realise how lovely it would be to feel them or demonstrate them more in daily life. We all have the capacity to learn how to be stronger in these areas, whether we believe it or not. It’s not about turning weaknesses into strengths; it’s about looking at how you can exhibit more of these strengths, which can be found in almost every situation, circumstance, or challenge. So, how do you use them?
How to do strengths journaling at home
I generally recommend journaling for about five minutes (using a timer is helpful to make sure you focus), and you can do that at any time - a moment of difficulty or success.
Focusing on your high-value strengths helps reduce our feelings of “not good enough” and anxiety, which can lead to a more relaxed and grounded state of mind and help us to identify new ways of behaving that can help us through tricky situations or allow us to reuse the same strengths again for successful outcomes over and over again.
To practise strengths journaling:
Set a timer for 5 minutes and write about your challenge/win on lined paper (on every other line) - this is just a stream of consciousness, not pressure to choose your words carefully.
After five minutes, look at the VIA strengths image (see above) and identify where you have demonstrated one of the VIA character strengths in your journaling. Underline the words that show this and write the strength in the spare line above it.
Look back at your journaling and acknowledge how many times you have shown strength during a difficult moment and which ones are more frequent. Think about what other strengths you would like to lean more into.
Once you have done this often, you will have the strengths at your fingertips and in future moments of crisis, you will shift your focus straight to the VIA strengths you can bring to it, rather than allowing any negative bias to take over and getting stuck in the problem, rather than thinking about what agency you have.
Focusing on how you bring your strengths to your work could help you change your self-perception over time, and, with positive self-regard, amazing opportunities can arise!
Set yourself up for a successful day by becoming aware of your thoughts, feelings and daily goals each morning!
Take a deeper look at the benefits
Strengths-based journaling works because it leverages psychological principles that promote personal growth and wellbeing. Here are some benefits of using it:
It focuses on strengths by allowing you to concentrate on what you do well rather than fixing your weaknesses, giving you the confidence to face challenges head-on.
Focusing on positive aspects, such as strengths and achievements, rewires the brain for a more optimistic outlook, reducing negative bias and reframing negative thoughts as constructive ones.
Acknowledging your strengths and successes can reinforce your self-belief, boost your confidence, and motivate you to move forward.
It naturally boosts positive emotions like gratitude and contentment, improving overall well-being and mitigating stress.
Journaling about your strengths can help you better understand yourself and give you direction, so you can align with them in your life and career.
So, why not give this a try, add it to your morning routine (you can also download my free morning journal to help if you don’t already have a journal - get it here) and use it alongside the feelings wheel app I spoke about in my last blog post.
Try it for 30 days and see how you feel by the end. It really can be a game-changer.
Enjoy!
Nat x
About Nat Harrison, Specialist ADHD Career Coach, Ayama
Hi, I am Nathalina (everyone calls me Nat). I help people become more fulfilled and happy in their working lives by aligning their careers or businesses with their skills, values, and interests, and by helping them overcome barriers to success at work.
I am a Certified Specialist ADHD coach, and I work with neurodivergent people who want to harness their brains for the better, improve their relationships with themselves and manage their symptoms.
Book a consultation below if you would benefit from some coaching on your ADHD and working life.
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