Personality and Knowing Yourself

Back when I was trying to get to know myself better, I took a whole bunch of personality tests to try to pinpoint my "true" personality.

That's when I found the Myers Briggs test.

Out of all of the personality tests I took, this one stuck with me. The Myers Briggs test uses four letters to describe each personality- and knowing those letters really helped me to get to know myself, and to understand myself better.

I'll give you an example.

I'm an ESFJ.

E- I tend to be more extroverted than introverted. I get energy from being around people- which explains why I'm all pumped up after a presentation or meeting. It also means that I like to have lots of activities going on, and that can cause problems when I jump from project to project. I do that a lot.

S- I take in information best when I can experience it, and I sometimes have trouble seeing the big picture. I'm not great with abstract ideas.

F- I make decisions more by emotion than by logic. That means I'm good at people-pleasing and very tactful, but I can be too compassionate and sensitive sometimes. 

J- When it comes to structure in my life, I like things to be decided and structured. I'm pretty task-oriented, I like lists, and I meet deadlines well. I see the world in black and white, and I have trouble seeing gray areas. 

I had a roommate who was an ENFP. She also got energy from being with people, so that was a good match. She really enjoyed debate- probably because she was more perceiving than judging in the way she approached the world. She was curious about a lot of things, and saw gray area in everything.

We'd have long discussions about different aspects of social issues, and I really disliked those discussions. I just wanted a black and white answer without hurting anyone's feelings, and she wanted to explore every option. We didn't get along during debates because I'm a J and she's a P.

Of course, I didn't know about Myers Briggs at the time, and so I thought I was just terrible at debates and way too sensitive, when instead, it was more about personality types. She was outspoken and always loved a challenge- I was more interested in keeping harmony.



I would recommend that you go check it out- I've found this to be a very helpful tool in learning more about myself and how I relate to those around me.