There are many different personality tests on the market. Some people enjoy taking online assessments just to pass the time, but certain tests can actually tell you a lot about yourself and help you make important decisions. Understanding your personality type can have several advantages.
Personal Growth
Countless books have been written that are designed to help people meet their goals and reach their full potential. What many of these methods don't take into account, however, is the individual differences in people. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another. Discovering more about yourself through personality assessments gives you a starting point for personal growth.
The Four Tendencies framework reveals your core personal strengths. Once you know the things in which you particularly excel, you can harness those talents to make the changes in your life that you desire. For example, if you are Questioner, you know that gathering information from trustworthy sources is not only one of your strengths but also a key factor in your preferred decision-making process. By detailing an airtight, logical argument to support the goals you make, you are more likely to remain motivated to achieve them.
The Enneagram is a way to understand your main motivation and how that affects your decisions and relationships. Once you know your dominant type and your wing, you can benefit from advice that is specifically tailored to your personality. The Enneagram is also particularly well-adapted to addressing key weaknesses.
Professional Development
Strong self-awareness can help you in more ways than just becoming the person you want to be. It can also help you in your career. There's a reason many employers use some type of personality test to inform their professional development sessions. They know that these assessments have a proven track record of revealing vital information:
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Team diversity
- Ideas for additional training
Employers who administer the CliftonStrengths assessment, for example, can use the information to enhance their team's performance by matching people to the jobs for which they are best suited. If you already know your top five strengths, you may be ahead of the game even as early as the interview. You are more likely to choose a career that matches what you do best and focus your job search on positions where your best strengths can shine. A job that fits your personality helps you maintain passion and interest even when it gets stressful.
Social Intelligence
Understanding not only your own personality type but also the basics of other types can help you get along with people better. While social comparison is not recommended for overall happiness, people still tend to indulge in it. It's enjoyable to find out traits that you share with other people, and it can be just as fun to discover your differences and how they nourish your relationships.
This is particularly important in conflict situations. Often, the problem itself is not quite as insurmountable as finding points of agreement with the other person or persons involved. If, however, you have a basic understanding of their personality types, you may have a fast track to recognizing where they're coming from. This skill can be a valuable asset when you are working on a church committee or trying to make a positive change that some members of your congregation don't seem to be on board with.
Learning your personality type is a lot of fun. If you take the time to understand the implications of the assessment you choose, though, it can also be instructive. Becoming more aware of your strengths, opportunities for improvement and motivations can help you in many facets of your life, including work, relationships and personal growth.
