Have you ever taken a personality test?
I love them. I take them all the time. (Buzzfeed's Quizzes page is my bag, baby.) For me, it's fun to test the credibility of different testing methods against what I KNOW to be true about myself because I'm, like, so self-aware and sophisticated. Aaaannnddd sometimes I learn a little something new about myself when a test connects the dots for me. ;-)
We all decided that we liked personality tests when we started buying teen magazines, didn't we? The quiz in the back is the best part!! (Aside from the drool-worthy centerfolds of pre-pubescent heartthrobs - mmmmm!) That quiz ruled our life - maybe still rules it sometimes when we really need some solid guidance. It tells us exactly what to do in the coming weeks in order to live to our greatest potential or make our dreams come true or make our crush pay attention to us - whatever it is we're secretly hoping to accomplish.
Since entering the adult, working world, I've had the opportunity to take a few, real world, created by scientists, personality assessments that have, to different degrees, affected the way I see myself and the way I interact with others. My first (EXCELLENT!) experience with one of these was with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
While I was working as a team lead for a dermatology clinic in Oklahoma, our manager encouraged all of us to participate in a clinic-wide assessment of personalities, so that we could approach each other in ways that made sense to all parties involved and ensure that our communication was always clear and efficient. Actually, I think she was just trying to keep us from hurting each other's feelings all the time, but I'm not a big "feelings" person, so I looked at it with a results-based perspective. But that's just my personality!
See, I learned that I'm what Myers-Briggs designates an INTJ type. INTJ stands for Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging type, but don't let that description make you think less of me! Feelings just aren't my thing. Results. Respect. Competence. Excellence. Objectivity. Efficiency. A clear analysis of information. All of those things - with an endearing, creative twist. That's me.
The test showed that MOST people don't see the world from my perspective (imagine that), so when I walked into a room full of team members and immediately began talking about what results we wanted to see and handing out my meticulously, beautifully designed charts and tables, a lot of personality types would involuntarily shut down because I wasn't showing concern for their well-being as a human person. Wow! Okay! I can work with that! Cool. So after we took the test, I made sure that I was making my rounds, asking about everyone's day, and laughing at cute stories about their kids and pets like a non-robot human. After that, when I did have a work-related message to convey, they knew I cared about them and would listen to what I had to say and act on it. Because I DID care about them - still do, actually - but I just wasn't showing that I cared in a way that they could feel it. Conversely, when they came to me with a work issue, they knew to bring facts and figures that I could understand and avoid asking me about my personal life in that moment because talking about feelings distracted me from their message. It was hard for me to mix business talk with real life talk. Get it? It takes all kinds, people.
Not only did we learn how to work efficiently as a team and not hurt each other's feelings all day, but we had FUN taking this test together and learning about our teammates' personalities. It brought us closer and made work more pleasant and comfortable - for a majority of us. Hey, some personalities just will never be happy in a female-dominated workplace at a desk job, right? Their loss. Because we were a great team made up of some pretty awesome people - and I knew that even before we took a personality test. :-)
The other two tests I've taken are The Four Lenses (I'm a Gold. My husband is an Orange.) and How to Fascinate (I'm a Victor.). If you're going to take one or the other, I recommend How to Fascinate because it's a little different from the other two personality tests I've mentioned. Let me explain.
The How to Fascinate assessment finds your two strongest personality traits, your Advantages, and encourages you to develop those two traits in order to be more genuine, more YOU, and therefore more fascinating to others. For me, my two greatest Advantages are Prestige and Power (I have high standards for myself and others and am results-oriented). My weakest Advantage is Trust (I don't stick to a specific schedule and have ever-changing interests, which can make me come across as a little unstable). YUP! That's me. So my results would suggest that I continue to have high standards, continue to look at results, continue to approach problems objectively - and stop trying to tell people that I have a "favorite" anything or that I only believe one thing one way because I just don't operate that way. It's not in me! And in all reality, attempting to convince people otherwise to seem more "normal" or well-rounded is a waste of time because they will see right through that the next time I tell them a different favorite thing or a different opinion on the same subject, which I've done and will continue to do as my opinions grow and change. How to Fascinate really speaks to me because it's basically saying, "People like you the way you are, and when you try to be something you're not, they notice, and they don't like it - and they stop paying attention to you."
I'm also long-winded in written communication. Blame my Introversion! ;-)
Have you taken a personality test? What were your results? Are there any other INTJ's out there whose friends said, "Awwww, that's mean, you're not like that," when they read over your results, even though, yes, you are totally like that? Haha
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