by Kimberly Love | Self Awareness
There are many tools that you can use to improve your self-awareness. Taking steps to learn more about yourself can help you choose the best career, relationships, and lifestyle for your personality, goals, and desires. You can journal, hire a coach, meditate, and you can take a personality test. A personality test is often the first step that many people take on the path to a more self-aware life.
What Is a Personality Test?
A personality test is a tool that’s designed to reveal aspects of your character or psychological makeup – your personality. In most cases it’s a simple multiple choice questionnaire that you fill out. When you’ve completed the test you’ll get a description of your personality. Some personality tests are more involved than others and provide a lengthier description of your personality.
How Does a Personality Test Help You Learn Who You Are?
Different personality tests focus on different components of personality. For example, the Princeton Review Career quiz is a fast, and free, quiz that gives you a list of suggested careers for your personality type. However, unless you’re looking for a new career, a more generalized approach may be beneficial. For example, there is the Myers Briggs test, or the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, or the Enneagram Test which tells you which of their nine personality categories you fit into.
Taking a quiz like this can help you get a bit clearer on your strengths. It can also help identify your weaknesses. This is important information because it gives you a direction and it helps you make important decisions. For example, let’s say that you’re an accountant and you’ve been living and working and feeling generally bored and unhappy. You take a personality quiz and it tells you that you have a creative personality. This may be something that you never realized or that you denied. You now have the ability to explore that side of your life.
You Make the Decisions
A personality test doesn’t necessarily tell you who you are and what you want. It doesn’t answer the tough questions for you. However, it can help you take the first step. An accountant that learns that he or she has a creative personality can decide whether to take action on that information. Personality tests make you think about your strengths, weaknesses and who you are. You still have to do the work and make decisions for yourself. They just shine a light on the possibilities.
Can a personality test help you become more self-aware? Absolutely. But, they’re just the beginning of the process. If you want to live a more self-aware life then consider taking one of the more reputable personality tests available to you.
I have listed three of the most popular earlier. They include Myers Briggs, Keirsey, and Enneagram. Take the first step today.
by Kimberly Love | Self Awareness
Let’s take a look at self awareness and your career. How do they work together?
When most people think about self-awareness they imagine better personal skills as they relate to happiness and relationships. And it’s true that when you are more self-aware, you are in a better position to make decisions and take actions that improve your happiness and relationships. However, it doesn’t end there. A good sense of self-awareness can help in every aspect of your life, including your career and professional path.
1. Making the Right Career Choices Through Self-Awareness
Self-awareness can help you choose the right career path for yourself. Whether you’re just getting started in the professional world or you’re looking for a change, knowing yourself can help you identify a career that you find both satisfying and rewarding. When you know yourself you know:
- What you want from life
Your strengths and weaknesses
The things you find motivating
How you relate to others
How you see yourself fitting in
Your work style
How you learn
And much more. There are many different ways to determine your best career path. You can take a personality test or career aptitude test. You can also conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats assessment, aka a SWOT assessment. You can talk to people that you trust and get their insight about your strengths, weaknesses and personality style as well.
2. Working Well on the Job
When you’re self-aware you are able to listen to feedback with an open mind. You’re able to receive feedback without getting defensive, shifting blame, or feeling like you’re being attacked. You can take responsibility for your work and take steps to both enjoy the praise and positively respond to the criticism. You’re also able to focus on your strengths and seek ways to minimize or eliminate your weaknesses. You can ask for help when you need it and work well on a team with others because you know who you are and what you’re good at.
3. Listening to Your Inner Voice
Finally, when you are self-aware you’re able to listen to your inner voice. You know when something is right for you and when it isn’t. You’re able to make decisions that support you, and to avoid career choices that don’t fit your strengths and interests. And many people who are self-aware are able to push their limits and test their boundaries. They are able to achieve more because they’re willing to take risks and they’re not afraid of failure.
4. Self Awareness and Your Career
If you are in a career rut or you are looking for a career path that fits your goals, needs, strengths and personality then it’s time to look inside. Take steps to learn more about who you are and become more self-aware. Understanding self awareness and your career can help you find a better job and perform better at that job. You can perform self-awareness exercises, work with a coach, and tap into your inner knowledge about who you are and what you want.
by Kimberly Love | Self Awareness
Relationships are important. They support you, they mold your life, and they help make life enjoyable. However, relationship compatibility can be a challenge. Whether we’re talking about relationships with friends, children, co-workers, parents or a significant other, the more you know yourself, the better your relationships will be. Understanding your relationship compatibility can be more rewarding, supportive, and generally more fulfilling and enjoyable. Let’s take a look at how knowing yourself can help you have better relationships.
Ability to Accept Responsibility
There are no victims in a relationship where everyone takes responsibility for their actions. It’s a happier and healthier place to connect from. When you know yourself well, you’re in a better position to accept responsibility for any challenges in a relationship.
For example, if you know that you prefer a more open and less rigid parenting style, and your partner prefers more structure, you can accept responsibility when you two disagree. And when you know that your parenting styles clash, you can own and accept your role in this clash. This ability to recognize and accept responsibility also helps you build stronger teams.
Build Stronger Teams and Partnerships
When you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can partner and/or team up with people who complement you. For example, if you’re a lenient parent, your children might benefit from a parent that is a bit more structured. Between the two of you, you can co-create a parenting style that suits both of you and most benefits your children.
If you also chose a person that had a lenient parenting style, your children may miss out on the benefits of structure and rules. The same is true with relationship compatibility in a work environment. If you’re not a detail-oriented person then having someone on your team that pays attention to the details can help you work most effectively and productively together.
Making It Work through Relationship Compatibility
When you know who you are, it’s much easier to find a common ground with your relationships. You can approach challenges and differences without judgement and blame. Instead, you understand who you are and can more readily create agreements and systems to work with others. This includes your co-workers, your children, and your friends and spouse. It’s much easier to make relationships work when you don’t feel the need to blame or the desire to take on the role of a victim. Your relationships and communications are more honest and patient. Everyone benefits.
Relationships are important. You can have better relationships when you’re self-aware. It’s easier to create a supportive and honest relationship when you come from a place where you know who you are and what you want from your life and your relationships.
