Understanding Personality: You Are You, I Am Me

We are all different

Each person has a personality that is different from another. I believe when God created me, he breaks the mold so that no one else is the same as I am. I am unique. I am one of a kind.

"Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of existence, coupled with the greatest possible freedom of self-determination." [C.G. Jung, 1875-1961]

Because each one of us are unique, to get along with one another we need to understand the personality of others we live with, work with and play with.How do we know who we are?

There are many personality tests that helps us to understand ourselves and others. Some popular ones are Myers-Briggs, Big Five and the DiSC to name three. These questionnaires involves answering a series of questions on how you would react in different circumstances. They will tabulate your preferences in order to let you know what personality type you are.

The Myers-Briggs practitioners has this to say:

According to the Jung - Myers-Briggs typology all people can be classified using four criteria:
Extroversion - Introversion, Sensing - Intuition - Thinking - Feeling, Judging - Perceiving
Different combinations of the criteria determine a type. For example:
ISTJ - Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging
Upon completing Jung Typology Test you will obtain your type formula, strengths of the preferences and type description. It may help you to identify your life style in general and with respect to specific fields of activity. You will also obtain a list of the most suitable career choices based on your personality, along with some educational institutions where you can receive a relevant degree or training

The Big Five model provides insights into "the emotional, cognitive and behavioral attributes of a person are described by their level of exhibiting the five following traits (or factors): Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Openness/Intellect."

I personally prefer the DiSC model as it is the easiest to understand and to apply.

The assessments classify four aspects of behavior by testing a person's preferences in word associations. DISC is an acronym for:

• Dominance - relating to control, power and assertiveness
• Influence - relating to social situations and communication
• Steadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Conscientiousness - relating to structure and organization

Each one of us has a mixture of all four (or five, depending on which test you do) personality traits and the different degree of each traits each of us have is what make us unique. There is no right or wrong personality traits, just different.Knowing me knowing you

By knowing ourselves and knowing others, we will be able to interact and function better as a team for greater efficiency and output. Some of us are lone rangers and extremely introverted. Therefore the leader of a team must know how to employ and encourage the person who prefers to be alone. Some of us are highly extroverted, boisterous and opinionated, therefore there are occupations that are most suited for these people. Most of us will fall somewhere in between.

In any groups, be it a family, school, university, church, clubs and office/organization, it is made up of people with different personality. So for any of these groups, knowing more about ourselves and knowing what make other people ticks will help in a great way for each to function properly. It will also help in all kinds of relationship - husband wife, parent child, friends, partners, colleagues, club members, employer employees, supplier customers, church members and many many more. .

My wife has a blog just on this topic and she is a DiSC certified professional who has conducted sessions with Business Corporations, Churches, schools and individuals. Visit http://personalitydiscovery.blogspot.com/ if you are interested to find out more about DiSC.