Photo by Jonathan J. Castellon on Unsplash.
My, my, how things have changed over the years and yet have stayed the same.
My graduate school career counselor recommended I consider becoming a bus driver. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. Let me explain.
While in graduate school, we took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality test meant to help us figure out how to better work with others. For example, based on my Myers-Briggs, I’m an ESTJ: Extrovert (E), Sensor (S), Thinker (T) and Judger (J) – yes, I still remember my exact acronym. When I did a search for personalities that might not be compatible to me, it turns out ESFP are really chill and prefer to focus and live in the present. Appreciate life as it comes.
I don’t know. When you compare my personality with my husband, I’d say he’s really chill and that’s part of the reason why our relationship works. We’ve been together for almost 25 years so something seems to be working ok?
Based on my results, though, my graduate school career counselor told me that I might want to look at becoming a bus driver because I’m not shy, like to control situations, like structure and knowing where I’m going. Hmmm. OK. I do appreciate buses and love talking to bus drivers! I just can’t see myself driving a bus everyday so I passed on her suggestion.
My daughter recently took the 16personalities test for a project and I jumped at the chance to try it, too. Would I get the same results from two decades ago? Can our personalities change over time or are they pretty much fixed?
According to 16Personalities, I’m now what it calls “The Architect” and my traits are INTJ-A. What? I’m suddenly an introvert? Someone forgot to tell me! If you look at the numbers more closely, though, you’ll see I’m teetering on three of those traits.
Per 16Personalities, this is my breakdown:
· Personality type: “The Architect” (INTJ-A)
· Individual traits: Introverted – 51%, Intuitive – 51%, Thinking – 53%, Judging – 69%, Assertive – 71%
· Role: Analyst
· Strategy: Confident Individualism
I guess I’m still judge-y, eh? To be fair, this trait doesn’t mean we judge people. According to the site:
“Judging individuals are decisive, thorough and highly organized. They value clarity, predictability and closure, preferring structure and planning to spontaneity.”
The thing I really appreciated with the 16Personalities test is in breaks down your personality traits based on different parts of your life, whether it’s work or how you approach parenting.
There are definitely things in the summary that resonated with me and I feel are worth considering. Also, it was interesting to see how I work through problems being written. According to my personality trait via 16personalities:
“Architects can usually sort out the “noise” of a situation, then find the core thread that needs to be pulled to unravel messes – which they then put back together again. In the process, they produce the most elegant solutions to problems.”
But also,
“The real problem for Architects is that they need their new and creative ideas to be heard.”
This is true. What’s the point of doing something if it’s not recognized? One could argue because you enjoy it, but that’s not how my brain works.
Overall, I’m happy to took both tests at various points in my life and career. While I didn’t end up becoming a bus driver, I can understand why the career counselor recommended it to me. At first blush, the job has the makings of something I’d enjoy. Being outdoors, talking to new and interesting people every day, there would be structure and a clear point from A to B. But I also feel like it might be too constricting for me and I’d feel stuck.
I’m so grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me in the past and there are a few things happening this year that are really exciting and new. Just this morning I heard from a new client and I’m beyond thrilled to be working on her project.
All this to say, personality traits and the tests are interesting. I’m glad I took the 16Personalities one because I feel that I can use the results in a way that makes sense to me. We all have strengths and weaknesses and sometimes seeing it through these results helps me see where I can focus and also what I can do to improve.
Have you ever taken a personality test like Myers-Briggs or 16Personalities? If you haven’t, are you intrigued to give it a shot? I’d love to know what you think of your results if you opt to take a test.