How Important is Your Personality?

2. Hello, My Friends.

This week, my smallest grand child stayed over night. He is so charming, engrossed in the cars he was playing with. Small children are wonderful at reminding me to enjoy the moment, they are completely focused on the now. When they are hungry, they let you know. When they are listening to music on the ipad, they are wrapped up in the rhythm, moving slowly in time with the beat.

As adults we forget how to live in the moment. To be completely wrapped in the moment, focused on what we are doing now. I love having children to stay, they always bring joy and memories.

Have you ever thought about your personality?

Personality is defined as the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. Most theories focus on motivation and psychological interactions with one’s environment.

The psychology of Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. The other is understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole.

Your personality is central to who you are, it determines how you respond to the stimuli in your environment.

Often when we don’t know our core identity and this can cause stress to us.

The Myers Briggs foundation introduced the terms,

1. Introversion and Extroversion.
2. Intuition and Sensing.
3. Thinking and Feeling.
4. Perceiving and Judging.

These terms represent ways in which we view the world around us. Everyone uses all eight of these characteristics to come degree. Each of these categories go together in pairs, and according to some are opposing characteristics.

I wonder if as an individuals, we have both of these characteristics of personality that come into play in different arenas in our lives.

Are you an introvert, or an extrovert? Do you have extrovert traits in some situations, and introvert traits in others?

An introvert is some-one who has a quiet demeanor, they enjoy their own time and company, they are perceived as socially reserved, they make decisions independently of constraints or prodding from outside influences. Introverts enjoy working on single projects without interruption, they enjoy solitary activities like reading, writing and meditating. An introvert may prefer to live in quiet, uncluttered, calm environments. Too much stimulation drains them of their energy, large crowds can leave an introvert heading for solitude to recharge before rejoining the group. Introversion is not to be confused with shyness. Introverts are equally adept in social scenes as their more boisterous counterpart the extrovert.

The Extrovert is the person who thrives off the company of other people, they are often perceived as being enthusiastic, talkative, gregarious and enjoy being in large groups of people. They enjoy loud parties, being the centre of attention. Some would say the extrovert is the life of the party, they are the entertainer. The entertainer finds the company of other people stimulating, and may find boredom setting in when having to spend extended hours by themselves. Extroverts are tuned into the culture, people and things around them, they tend to love variety and excitement.

Do you find you are energized by large groups of people? Or do you head of into the solitude of nature to recharge your batteries? You may be some-one who enjoys both of these activities, depending on your mood, and level of energy.

An Ambiversion personality is some-one who sits near the centre of the personality scale, they are both introvert and extrovert.

The Intuitive person looks at life through the lens of possibilities. It is their way of interpreting and processing information. The Intuitive interprets the information received by perception and abstract means, they tend to take a snap shot of the overall picture and draw assumptions from the information gathered, an intuitive enjoys change, they will invent new ways of doing things just because they can. An intuitive will become bored if bogged down with regular routines with out any variance. They prefer learning and gathering knowledge, thinking and working through challenging mental dilemmas, they are in their element with concepts, patterns and theories. An intuitive values initiative and inventive solutions.

The sensing person interprets life through the lens of the five senses. They take in data by sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. A sensing person will want verifiable facts, literal and factual concrete concepts that are provable. The sensing person values what the practical usage of an idea is, more than the idea itself. A Sensing person has an eye for detail, and doesn’t mind mundane work. They tend to like the familiar and trusted ways of doing things. They can become impatient when faced with theory and the abstract, preferring careful planning, details, accuracy and the known history of things. A sensory person values the practical and common sense solutions to problems.

The person with a high Thinking score on the personality test, is someone who’s evaluation criteria is more geared to logic and analysis. (Thinking in this sense is not to be confused with intelligence.) This person will write a list of pros and cons, then looking at each objectively to come to a decision. A thinking person will see inconsistencies, in what some-one says and what they do. A thinking person looks for the reasoning behind the action, or decision that has been made. They believe in truth over tact, action and task orientation, getting the job done is sometimes more important than people’s feelings. A thinking person can come across as being uncaring and indifferent, as they tend to only look at the facts, and the logical outcome of a situation.

The person with a high Feeling score is more concerned about the way a decision will impact the people affected by the decision. (Feeling is not to be confused with emotion, which everyone has.) A feeling person will weigh up people’s thoughts and ideas before making a decision, they are value orientated, they prefer harmony and compassion, having communication skills that keep the peace. The feeling person will use tact when breaking news to others, they can appear to bend the truth, and seem to be soft, and empathetic. A feeling person is the peace maker and the peace keeper in making decisions, which can create avoidance of making decisions an issue.

The Perceiving person has a tendency to be more flexible and adaptable with their outer view of the world. (Perceiving is how a person sees themselves in the world, and how they take in information and not how perceptive they might be). A perceiver is an information gatherer, they are always on the look out for more details before making a decision, they want to understand and adapt to the world, which makes them nonjudgmental, and more welcoming of new perspectives. A Perceiver can appear less organized on the outside, even though they feel organized on the inside. The perceiver tends to flow with life and situations rather than trying to change them. They work in bursts of energy and prefer to mix work with play. They can also delay making decisions until it is too late creating chaos.

The Judging person tends to make decisions in a more orderly manner, they take in information and process it, then make quick decisions. (Judging is related to the way a person see themselves in the outer world, and how they take in information, it has no connection to being judgmental) A judger appears to be task orientated, they like to get the things on their to do lists done before they feel like they can play. They are people who plan their work and focus on getting it done, sometimes this causes them to miss new information. A judger is looking for the next challenge, even before the last one has been completed.

Both the perceiver and the judger can be organized living in tidy and well managed environments. They may feel orderly and structured on the inside and look spontaneous and flexible on the outside. Or they may feel curious and open on the inside and look structured and decisive on the outside.

What do you reckon your personality type is?

You can take a Myers Briggs personality type test here.

https://my-personality-test.com/

This is valuable information to know about yourself, if you are looking at a career path, a relationship partner. Knowing how you decipher your world will help to relieve stress, and make decision taking a little easier. By knowing how you process information gives you a heads up on what is important to you, it will also give you understanding of others on how they process information and why some have more difficulty in areas that are a breeze for you.

Until Next Time, take a test and see where you sit on the scale. Use it as information to reduce stress, to make better decisions, and complete projects with enthusiasm.

xox Linda Codlin