50 Examples of Important Strengths

John Spacey, August 04, 2022 updated on June 07, 2023

Important strengths are foundational character traits that allow an individual to thrive. These include traits that help an individual to live according to their intentions and to achieve personal, social and professional goals. Important strengths can be viewed as a balance whereby excessive strengths are potentially a weakness. The following are illustrative examples.

Strength	Lack	Excess
Honest	Dishonest	Tactless
Diligent	Negligent	Perfectionist / Controlling
Optimism	Pessimism	Delusional / Toxic Positivity
Critical Thinking	Naivety	Cynicism / Negativism
Realism	Unrealistic	Pessimism
Flexible	Stubborn	Inconsistent
Open-minded	Close-minded	View From Nowhere
Accepting	Intolerant	Enabling Poor Behavior
Big Picture Thinking	Narrow Thinking	Magical Thinking
Brave	Cowardly	Foolish
Risk Taking	Risk Avoiding	Uncalculated Risk Taking
Social	Antisocial	Presumptuous / Forward / Impudent
Gritty / Resilient	Sensitive / Fragile	Cold / Unfeeling
Challenging Assumptions	Unthinking / Compliant	Argumentative / Combative
Competitiveness	Mediocrity	Ruthlessness
Engaged	Complacent	Obsessive
Persistent	Uncommitted / Yielding	Relentless
Decisive	Indecisive	Overconfident / Inflexible
Consistent	Erratic	Compulsive
Caring	Apathetic	Overinvolvement / Dramatic
Constructive	Destructive	Uncritical
Creative	Static	Idiosyncratic
Imaginative	Unimaginative	Detached / Absurd
Kind	Unkind / Mean Spirited	Sycophancy / Spoiling / Flattery / Indulging Others / False Hope
Loyalty	Disloyalty	Blind Obedience
Organized	Disorganized	Rigid / Inefficient
Rational	Irrational	Cold Logic / Calculating
Enterprising / Motivated	Unmotivated	Opportunistic
Stable	Unstable	Complacent
Agent of Change / Pioneering	Resistant to Change	Extreme / Excessive
Prudent	Careless	Overcautious
Pragmatic	Fearless	Fearful
Playful	Overserious	Flippant
Respectful	Disrespectful	Docile / Rigid
Humble	Self-promoting	Meek
Self-Aware	Delusional	Self-Critical
Cooperative	Uncooperative	Dependent / Lack of Self-Efficacy
Confident	Insecure	Overconfident
Forgiving	Resentful / Vengeful	Permissive
Open / Communicative / Candid	Secretive	Unabashed
Influencing	Voiceless	Attention Seeking
Leadership	Subordinate / Pliant	Controlling / Authoritarian / Power Hungry / Overly Political / Micromanaging
Independent	Dependent	Aloof / Disconnected / Uninvolved / Disengaged / Anomie
Independent Thinking	Impressionable / Gullible	Stubborn / Inflexible / Remote
Logical	Biased / Overemotional / Irrational	Unemotional / Cold Logic / Overanalytical / Excluded Middle
Emotional	Unfeeling	Melodramatic / Irrational
Calm / Cool / Collected	Short-tempered	Dispassionate
Passionate	Dispassionate	Fanatical / Overzealous
Inspired	Uninspired	Idealistic / Unpractical / Starry-eyed
Practical	Unpractical	Austere / Severe / Harsh

This is roughly based on the classical approach to virtue whereby virtues were viewed as a middle path between lack and excess.

A view from nowhere is an attempt to be open-minded and objective that goes too far. For example, false balance whereby you present well-accepted theories and obscure opinions as being equally valid.

Excluded middle is a system of logic that only handles true and false such that it fails to consider grey areas.

Cold logic is logic that neglects human factors or the human experience.

Anomie is a state of disconnection from society and culture.