Each one of us is different. No exceptions. So if you are here, reading this, you are too. No two individuals in this huge cosmos are the same. But have you ever wondered why?
Hint: Instead of looking out for the answers, it is better to look within.
So depending on our levels of understanding, beliefs and faith, our answers to this may vary from it is in our genes to this depends on our upbringing.
Most of us would eventually accept that these differences make us what we are today. These shape our personalities.
This could make understanding your personality your first step towards understanding yourself.
Easy Access to information
Tech giants like Google have given everyone the power to get access to any kind of information and it is only fair for anyone to come up with questions like ‘why am I so withdrawn.’
Personality tests could give an answer to such questions too. This does not only make the agony bearable but also opens the doors of new realms of knowledge. Thanks to these the terms like ‘extroverts and introverts’ have become so common.
Acceptance
The differences should always be accepted. But can anyone of us deny feeling the black sheep of the group at least once in our lifetimes?
Wouldn’t it make things more bearable if you knew, there are more people like you. Maybe not near you right now but they do exist. This is the information that these personality tests provide to each one of us.
So if you ask me ‘do you think being aware of someone’s personality would be helpful in predicting their behaviour?’ The answer would a straight no but that does mean it doesn’t help us know each other better.
Eliminate the Feeling of Being Misunderstood
These save some of the rarest personalities like INFJ, who just make up 1% of the population from feeling left out. Since such personality types might end up feeling misunderstood due to their lesser numbers.
Having an understanding that it is just a part of who they are and the information that not finding anyone like them is only normal (since this is the rarest personality) makes the things more bearable for them.
Help us Understand Others too
As much as getting to know our personality helps us get a deep insight to ourselves, it also helps us be more patient for others. A quick example of this would be being more gentle with your introvert who is trying his/her best to avoid a social event. This might piss you off but knowing that this is how they are programmed will make the easier for both. This makes understanding personality types important for developing relationships too.
Self Awareness
Confession time – at one time or the other the hectic lifestyles that each one of us is a part of has got to our nerves making us question our sanity and wonder that there is either something wrong with the society or with us.
This might make us question our being. For this reason, it is important to know yourself better. If you are an extrovert feeling terrible after being caught up at home. Simply acknowledging the fact that you have not been getting your much-needed stimulation might come as a relief.
Importance of Understanding Personality in an Organisation
No, I don’t mean to say that finding out your personality type will ‘enlighten you.’ I just mean that this will help you make better decisions for yourself, well, in some aspects. If you are an introvert, you would automatically know a field sales job might not be for you (travel and talking to strangers).
While this can not be generalized, the idea has also been welcomed by the corporate world and even the education industry. And, these personality tests have become common for understanding personalities in the workplace.
How to Identify Personality Types?
If you too want to know about yourself and find out your personality here’s a quick help for you. There are many personality types like the enneagram and the MBTI but the latter one is more known and simpler. The good news is that some sites like 16 personalities.com and enneagram.com let the users take these test for free. Here you can easily find out with a ‘what is your personality type quiz.’
So find out yours and don’t forget your results with us.
I just did! An INFJ here, what’s yours?
Image by Photo by Alexandra K on Unsplash