Have you heard about the Myers Briggs personality test? Chances are that you have, as it's one of the biggest and widely known personality quizzes out there today. It's freakishly accurate, and I love re-visiting it every six months or so to see how my personality has changed throughout the year. (You'd be surprised!) If you've never heard of it before -it's a fairly complex quiz that places you into one of 16 personality types. Almost like the Hogwarts sorting hat - just with a lot more questions to consider. It's a great way to identify areas of improvement within yourself, potential careers that you might consider pursuing, as well as the way you interact with other people.
One of the best parts, undeniably, about being a human is seeing how many different ideas, culture, and opinions that are out there. There is no way that we would have gotten to the stage that we're at now without being able to come together and discuss and challenge each other. For myself, I'm a pretty gregarious individual. I love being center of attention, and love being super nosey. Is this a bad thing? In some cases, yes. In other cases, I've saved a heap of my previous co-workers butts due to overhearing things and correcting them before they say/do the wrong thing at work.
I also retain ridiculously random knowledge facts which I'm also sure annoys the crap out of people when I bring up, like for example, owls do actually have super long legs but they're covered over by their feathers.
People are super accommodating to this though!
I get along with a lot of people though, and respond best to quirky, hilarious and a bit out there people. On the other hand, completely serious, super logical with no room for a bit of a dream - not so much. Over the years, I've taken a heap of interest in personality tests. The Myers-Briggs test (I'm an INFP-T as of today) is one of my favourites and I re-do that every three months or so to see where I may be falling into one category or another. Another great one to look at is the DISC test (I'm well and truly an I) which explores this further.
So what's the deal with personality tests, and what do they have to do with getting along with people? As I mentioned above, I get along with really outgoing people, the type that gets super excited about the small things - and most likely the ones to get suckered into being upsold something at the counter of the shop if a server talks excitedly about it. I LOVE EXCITEMENT.
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(I'm also SUPER motivated over food and pretty pictures. I'm not hard to please.)
BUT
When I look at those around me though, I run into issues when I interact with people who fall into the opposite category. I had a disagreement with my partner the other day for where I needed soft and fluffy encouragement for an issue I was going through, instead I got a very black and white view on the topic I was upset over, which just made me feel even worse. It made me super mad, like, how dare he not know that I just needed a super big pat on the head and be told everything was going to be alright? Does that mean he was wrong with what he had done? No, absolutely not. In his defense, his response is the response I'd imagine would be the one he'd want to hear if the roles were reversed.
Now don't get me wrong - there's a difference in being a dick vs being quite upfront and honest about things, and a lot of people don't understand the difference (which I'll cover in another post down the line.) But what happens when we disagree with someone, and can't come up with a resolution that both parties are happy with?
You might be in a work situation where your boss is someone like my partner is - very straightforward and this might not sit well with you if you're a bit of a stress head. The opposite might be the case in a relationship - you might be logical in your decision making, but your counterpart might be a bit airy fairy and trying to come an agreement, well, wrestling it out with a bear would be more enjoyable.
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So where does that leave you?
If you're feeling like you're getting more conflict than congratulations in your daily life - taking some time out and getting to know a bit more about the other personality types might be worth the 20 minutes out of your day. You're never going to be able to please everyone, but being able to realise that some people are more suitable to being treated like a big teddy bear, some people prefer to be spoon-fed details of a plan before committing to it, other people will ask a million and one questions before giving you an answer and others just like having a bit of everything - will absolutely help you in your day to day life.
As for me, I'm still learning how to speak my mind and not crying over every instance that someone objects to my opinion. It's definitely not a strong point, and the fact I can identify that is great because it means I can work on improving it.
Have you done the Myers Briggs test before? What was your result? Who do you struggle to communicate with? Let me know below!
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