Buzz
Although human personalities cannot be strictly categorized, identifying common tendencies in your character is still highly beneficial. Recognizing your personality type can provide valuable insights, such as what motivates you or when you are most productive. You can discover many aspects of your personality through self-reflection, taking personality tests, and understanding different personality traits.
Steps
Reflect on Your Personality
Identify Your Moral Perspective. Everyone has an inherent sense of what they know to be right or wrong. Many refer to this as their “inner voice” or conscience. When you understand your moral standards, you feel balanced and content. When you ignore it, your “inner voice” can lead to feelings of guilt, anxiety, or discomfort.
- Recognize and acknowledge when you face moral dilemmas. Listen to your conscience and let it guide you.
- Morality will guide your journey of self-discovery. It helps you identify harmful behaviors as well as positive ones that bring hope.
- Since you live by your moral principles, remember that good always exists. You can overcome negativity by making morality your guiding force.
Understand Core Values. Core values are the fundamental beliefs that shape your decisions. These ideas encompass broad goals like financial security, family closeness, or maintaining good health. Once you recognize your core values, you can set goals that align with your personality. This increases your chances of achieving those goals and living a fulfilling life.
- For example, if you value financial security, you might aim to save six months' worth of salary in an emergency fund. While challenging, staying true to your values increases your likelihood of success.
Identify Your Passions. If core values drive your goals, passions provide the focus needed to achieve them. You know you're passionate about something if it keeps you engaged over time. Building a career (or even a hobby) around these passions will bring more happiness and satisfaction than ignoring them.
- For instance, if you love painting, you’ll be happier in an art-related career than in banking. Even if you can’t be a professional artist, you could explore roles like art management, teaching, or writing about art.
Understand Your Social Needs. While everyone needs things like friendship and support systems, the extent of these needs varies. This is where introversion and extroversion come into play. Reflect on how you recharge after a tough week. Do you prefer spending time with friends or being alone? Understanding these needs helps you live a more balanced and happy life.
- Extroverts thrive around people and often live spontaneously.
- Introverts prefer solitude and plan their days carefully.
Track Your Energy Patterns. Recognizing when you’re most energetic or fatigued is crucial for overall success. Take note of your peak energy times and moments of exhaustion. Monitor when you feel hungry or motivated to exercise. Use this information to align your mind and body harmoniously.
- If you’re a morning person, working night shifts might not suit you. Conversely, if you’re a night owl, early morning shifts could be challenging.
Recognize Strengths and Weaknesses. No one excels at everything, and that’s normal. Identify tasks others see you doing well and areas where you struggle. Pay attention to moments of excellence and times of difficulty. This builds self-awareness of your talents and abilities. Once you understand these, you can leverage them to improve weaknesses or maximize strengths.
- Your strengths might include “focus,” “mathematical skills,” “creativity,” and “empathy.”
- It’s okay if it takes time to uncover these—stay open and curious, and remember this is a journey that may require patience.
Seek Feedback. Ask family and friends how they perceive your personality. Compare their observations with your self-perception. If they align, it suggests you consistently present your true self.
- If opinions about your personality vary, it might be time to reevaluate your self-beliefs.
Take Personality Tests
Understand Which Personality Test Suits You Best. Hundreds of psychological tests exist to assess and measure the uniqueness of individuals. Choose based on what you want to learn about yourself, the time you have, the questions you’re willing to answer, and the cost. Common test types include:
- Tests measuring intelligence, neurological function, and cognitive abilities.
- Tests determining if you’re introverted or extroverted and how you interact with others.
- Tests analyzing how you handle situations and resolve crises.
- Tests identifying tendencies toward psychological issues.
- Remember, each test has pros and cons, so research before choosing one.
Select a Personality Test. Carl Jung is considered the pioneer of personality testing. In the early 1900s, he developed a framework for classifying human traits. Since then, this idea has evolved into various versions. Popular ones include:
- PAPI (Personality and Preference Inventory) - Often used for business candidate screening.
- Myers-Briggs Test - Commonly used to categorize personality types based on introversion, extroversion, sensing, thinking, intuition, and perceiving.
- Color Personality Test - Classifies personalities into colors with easy-to-understand explanations.
Take the Test with a Relaxed Mindset. Practice deep breathing or use visualization techniques to calm yourself before starting. Only take the test when you’re relaxed and well-fed. Stress can lead to inaccurate or dishonest answers. Overthinking each question may also confuse you into choosing the “right” answer instead of the truthful one.
Answer Questions Honestly. After years of schooling, many are conditioned to seek the “right” or “best” answer. Personality tests, however, have no right or wrong answers. You’re not being graded; you’re exploring yourself. Choose responses that truly describe you, not what you think you should choose or what might yield a desired result.
- For example, you might encounter a question like, “Do you prefer leading a project team or being guided?” Many feel pressured to choose “Leading a team” because it seems “correct.” If you dislike leading, you should choose “Being guided.”
Understand Personality Test Results
Learn the Basics of Each Test. Not all tests are the same, but most measure personality using five core traits (often called the Big Five). Each trait exists on a spectrum, and your personality is defined by which traits dominate. These traits are summarized as OCEAN:
- O for Openness.
- C for Conscientiousness.
- E for Extroversion.
- A for Agreeableness.
- N for Neuroticism.
View Each Trait as a Spectrum. For instance, no one is entirely introverted or extroverted. This means no one completely avoids social interaction or constantly craves it. Most of us exhibit a mix of traits, leaning more toward one side. This applies to all traits. You can’t label yourself as purely one trait; instead, consider where you fall on the spectrum.
- This principle also applies to openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Acknowledge Change. Life’s journey brings new experiences that force growth and change. Recognize how these shifts impact your personality. Allow yourself to notice even subtle changes in your traits. This helps you stay authentic as you grow and evolve.
Change Traits That Make You Unhappy. If you’re dissatisfied with who you are, you can change. Set goals and focus on the traits you want to develop, and you’ll see progress over time. With consistent effort, you’ll start to perceive yourself differently, transforming your emotions and social identity until the new traits become permanent.
- If you’re serious about altering core aspects of your personality, consider consulting a mental health professional. They can guide and monitor your journey safely and responsibly.
Advice
- If the test results feel inaccurate, retake the test. You know yourself better than anyone else.
Warnings
- Use your personality traits as strengths, not excuses. For example, if you’re extroverted, don’t use it as a reason to avoid studying alone.
