How Personality Profiles Changed My Life
Throughout my life, I’ve benefited from taking personality profiles.
First, they helped me better understand and accept who I am. When I was growing up, I thought the ideal was to be somebody with a personality I didn’t have. The model held up to me was an extroverted type A personality. That wasn’t me. I was introverted, thoughtful, and analytical. I thought I needed to change myself to fit the ideal.
Personality profiles helped me understand that my personality type was legitimate and offered many advantages. Instead of fighting against it, I accepted it and learned to use it to my advantage.
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Lao Tzu, From Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33
Second, personality profiles helped me understand my areas of strength so that I could focus on them. I’m wired to be better at research, details, analysis, and teaching, and I need to take advantage of and focus on these.
Third, they helped me to understand my corresponding areas of weakness. By identifying them, I could compensate for them. But I also realized I would never be great at any of them. I don’t want a job where I’m expected to excel in these areas because I never will.
Exploring Six Personality Profile Tools
There are many different types of personality profiles available:
1. The Myers-Briggs profile is what most psychologists and mental health professionals use. It uses four letters to define and characterize personality types. For instance, mine is INJT, introverted, judging, and thinking.
I find the Myers-Briggs profile more esoteric and less practical than others I’ve taken. If you’d like to sample it, a free version is available.
2. The DISC personality profile was the most practical for me. It divides personality types into four quadrants and gives you areas of strength and corresponding weaknesses. Understanding other personality types helped me learn how to work effectively with them. You can take a free profile.
3. The Kolby Index. I understand it is a tool designed to measure one’s natural instincts and problem-solving approach. It focuses on what its creators call cognitive abilities—the innate ways one takes action. I haven’t taken this index, but many people find it helpful.
4. The Enneagram test is another approach to defining personality. Recently, I listened to a Focused podcast in which the hosts interviewed Amy Wicks of Simply Wholehearted. She’s a life coach who uses the Enneagram to understand and work with personality types.
I encountered the Enneagram approach years ago, but it didn’t do much for me then. But I took the free quiz on Amy’s site, and it nailed my personality profile. So, I think that there’s probably something to this profile.
5. Unique Ability is a program used by Strategic Coach, a coaching organization that provides excellent coaching and materials to primarily business clients. Its focus is on determining your unique strengths and leveraging those strengths to do one’s best work. I’ve ordered the book and the guide, but I haven’t worked through them yet. The book comes with a notebook designed to record responses to exercises. You can order them from Amazon.
6. The motivation code isn’t so much a personality profile as it is a profile that helps you understand what kind of work motivates and allows you to feel fulfilled. It helped me to decide what types of work to channel my areas of strength into. Since I’m good at writing, analyzing, and thinking, I decided that writing a blog was a way that would take advantage of my strengths in a manner that helped me feel fulfilled.
Making the Most of Your Results
I suggest you take one or more of these personality profiles. They each have strengths and weaknesses.
• Recognize that none of these are definitive or complete. None will fit you exactly, but they can give you important insights into your personality type.
• Answer as honestly as possible. There are no right answers. The profile results will only be as accurate as your responses.
• Look for common themes. If several profiles identify that you have the same characteristic, it’s likely accurate.
• Verify the profiles by asking others about their perception of you. I’ve read my wife the summary profile and asked, “Does this sound like me?” Often, the response I’ve received is, “That’s exactly who you are!”
• Identify your areas of strength and weakness. It’s important to know what you’re naturally good at and what you’re not good at. How do these align with your current work? If they don’t align, you might want to consider changing your work area to take advantage of your strengths.
Build Around Who You Are, Not Who You Think You Should Be
Understanding yourself is one of the most liberating things you can do.
Personality profiles aren’t magic—they’re tools. But when used wisely, they can help you accept who you are, focus on your strengths, and design a life where you thrive.
“The most successful people don’t fight their nature. They architect their environment to amplify it.”
Shane Parrish, Brainfood.
Stop trying to fit into someone else’s mold and start building around your unique personality. The key to success isn’t fixing your weaknesses—it’s doubling down on your strengths.