SISTER WISDOM

Knowing your personality helps you to know yourself, but it can be difficult to determine exactly what personality type really fits you. We are much more complex than a single personality type. We have various aspects of the different personalities, and we are influenced by the people who raised us and by the important relationships we have formed as adults. It’s possible, however, to determine which type most often fits our patterns of behavior, and from that information to deduce our strengths and weaknesses and the areas in which we must continually strive for balance.

1. Start by making a short list that describes you. First, write down three adjectives that fit you. Use whatever pops into your head, good or bad. Don’t think too hard about this. Next, write down what you perceive to be your three greatest strengths. Follow this with your three greatest weaknesses. Finally, (and this part is optional) write down those words or phrases you’ve heard frequently when people describe you. Again, don’t spend much time on any part of this list. Get down what you can think of in five or so minutes, and then move on. This is just a start and a point for reference to use later.

2. If you haven’t already, read the Overview of Personality Types to get a feel for the different personalities. Aristotle was a sharp guy, so I stick to his personality breakdown. There are lots of other personality type breakdowns, Jungs-Myers-Briggs being the most well-known, but they get a little more complicated. I like to start simple and work from there. We can always add more complication for fun later.

3. Take a personality test (or two or three). This quick test at OneIShy.com only takes about 5 minutes; a 107 question test at 4Marks Temperaments is longer but more thorough; the PURE Personality Test uses different terms but the same four types.

4. Compare your test results with your own short list. How are they different? What terms are repeated? If you have some incongruency in results from the different tests, your short list can help you determine which is more accurate.

5. Read the descriptions given for your personality test results. You’ll probably nod your head on a lot of it: “Yep, that’s me. I do that.” You’ll also probably notice several characteristics that do not really seem to fit. That’s okay. You’re not going to be a “perfect” match with one personality type. You need balance! It’s good if you spread out over more than one personality.

Personality Study is fascinating and you can go deeply into it. If you’re intrigued by what you learn from this short exercise, consider purchasing a couple of books to learn more. There is, as always, no lack of information on the internet, but be sure the source is legitimate.

More Resources
Florence Littauer has written several books about the four temperaments, all of which are easy to understand and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the personality, how to gain balance, and how the personalities affect our relationships.

A fun personality test based on the writings of Gary Smalley uses animals to correspond to the four temperaments. The animal terms are great for explaining personalities to children, although the descriptive terms on the test itself may be a bit abstract for them.

This easy test at iVillage relates your personality to different career choices.

Personality Pathways offers an introduction and test for the Myers Briggs personality types as well as profiles and applications of each of the 16 types.

Image courtesy of Erdnuckel_86 on Flickr.