Running head: ties to adler s tasks of life

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The Strength Finder is similar to other assessments and questionnaires because it is based upon 

themes.  After taking the assessment an individual will be given five main strengths and these are 

divided into four categories and they are: relating, impacting, striving, and thinking.  The relating 

theme includes working with people, the impacting theme involves influencing people, the 

striving theme relates to working hard and the thinking theme involves working smarter 

(Asplund, et al., 2007, p. 7).    

Summary 

This writer has found immeasurable value in learning about the individualized MBTI and 

Strengths Finder assessment.  It allowed the writer to understand why certain decisions are made 

the way they are, why the writer interacts with others, how the writer gains energy in life, and 

put the writer at ease knowing the uniqueness of her personality.  It was especially helpful for the 

writer at work because it identified why some strategies of business development were not 

working and why other alternative strategies needed to be executed.  Before identifying the 

MBTI for work purposes, the writer felt very ashamed, embarrassed, and angry because the 

routine strategies were not working.  “Individuals have a preference for one of each of four 

preferences and will be most comfortable and energized when they can approach life and work 

using these parts of themselves” (Passmore et al., 2010, p. 2).  The Myers-Briggs assessment can 

be valuable when used to understand why an individual does what they do and where they are 

most comfortable.   

Some argue that individuals have signature strength, “a signature strength conveys a 

sense of ownership and authenticity (that is the real me), a sense of yearning to act in accordance 

with the strength, and a feeling of inevitability in doing so; and there is a powerful intrinsic 

motivation to use the strength” (Linley & Harrington, 2006, p. 41).  Once an individual knows 

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their five unique strengths from the Strengths Finder assessment, it becomes imperative to know 

where they come from and how to utilize them.  

Adlerian Life Tasks 

 

Alfred Adler is known for his work with the life tasks and he believed they are 

interconnected. Can the three tasks of life be solved separately?  Adler insisted, “none of these 

problems can be solved separately.”  “The individual must always answer these problems 

because they are always questioning the person.”  Working on one task will also involve work on 

the other because Adler believed “the three ties in which human beings are bound, set the three 

problems of life…each of them demands a successful approach to the other two” (Mansager & 

Gold, 2000, p. 164).  The three tasks are work, love, and social.  “For Adler, all problems stem 

from the tasks and necessities of living together.  The satisfaction of all conceivable human 

needs depends on a sense of community and collaboration to fulfill the tasks of work, love, and 

friendship.  Every individual has to face these life tasks and to resolve them successfully” 

(Oberst & Stewart, 2003, p. 18).  It is clear that to understand an individual, one must look at all 

the life tasks and when thinking about life satisfaction, an individual must do the same.  “Any 

part of the person could only be understood by understanding the unified, indivisible whole”  

(Sweeney & Witmer, 1991, p. 527).    

Work 

The first task that comes to mind when thinking of the three tasks of life is often work.  

Especially in the United States, when introducing ourselves and meeting a new person, one of 

the first things we ask is “what do you do for work?”  It is engrained as such a crucial and vital 

part of our life.  Adler believed that the work task would be fulfilled “when what we do for work 

is meaningful and satisfying” (Carlson et al., 2005, p. 13).  To determine whether the task is 

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fulfilled, questions can be asked such as “Why did you choose that occupation? How do you get 

along with bosses, coworkers, and subordinates? If you could change anything about your work, 

what would it be?” For those who do not work, the question “If you do not work, what do you do 

with your free time?”” (Carlson et al., 2005, p. 109).  In the world we live in many women and 

men stay home and raise children and when asked what they do, they often say, “I just stay home 

with the children.”  When working with someone who raises children, it is crucial to help them 

bring confidence and satisfaction to that role in their life.  A broader definition of the work task 

is “broadly encompasses everything we do to sustain ourselves and contribute to the sustenance 

of others.  This includes not only gainful employment but childrearing, homemaking, volunteer 

services, educational endeavors, and innumerable other activities which engage individuals in 

activities meaningful to them and/or others” (Sweeney & Witmer, 1991, p. 534).  It is also 

important to examine if the work task is overriding the other tasks of life.  Has it become the 

number one priority?  How is it connected to the other tasks?   

Love 

 

An intimate relationship with another person is the overall definition of the love task.  

But it is also important to note, “When we learn to love ourselves as well as another” (Carlson et 

al., 2005, p. 13).  Sweeney and Witmer (1991) found “trust, intimacy, caring, companionship, 

compassion and similar qualities of a loving relationship promote good health”  (p. 537).  The 

writer identified the question earlier of “what do you do for work?  This is often the first question 

asked when meeting someone.  The second question is often “are you married?”  If an individual 

is not married, can their love task be fulfilled?  The above-mentioned research of Sweeney and 

Witmer (1991) identified many descriptions of the love tasks that have nothing to do with marital 

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