With an ever-expanding population, it is easy to feel lost amongst all the bold individuals who inhabit this world. What is your place? Where do you fit? What strengths do you add to society? Well, we are here to tell you that you have a great deal to contribute. What makes humans so extraordinary is how unique each one of us are. We all have different ideas, considerations, opinions, and personalities. Our personalities are what make us unique and useful. And everyone’s personality is a complex puzzle that forms a wonderful human being. Tedious research has gone into breaking down personality and energy into various categories. You can learn a great deal from exploring these tests for yourself. Discovering new aspects of why and how you think a certain way can help you socially as well as with a future career path. Let’s explore how personality tests can help you know more about you!
Myers Briggs and The Enneagram Institute
To start, there are a multitude of resources out there. Perhaps one of the most talked about is the Myers-Briggs personality test (also known as 16 personalities). This is a formula based of Carl Jung’s theory that rather than interacting with the world in a random manner, everyone humans use their mental processing in a few specific ways. You are either inclined to simply take in information or process the information. Isabel Briggs Myers then took this idea and further developed four categories where people’s thoughts differ — these have become the letters that make up your Myers-Briggs personality type. You can be Introverted/Extroverted (I/E), Intuitive/Sensing (N/S), Thinking/Feeling (T/F), and Judging/Perceiving (J/P). There are 16 unique personalities, each created equally, each with unique outlooks on the world and specific situations.
The interesting thing about the The Bridge Personality test is how every personality is intertwined. There are three centers of thought — instinctive, thinking, and feeling — each of which has three Enneagram numbers and react to extreme emotion in similar ways. Also, with how these personalities intertwine, you can predict how each personality number would react under extreme stress or extreme excitement based on which they connect to in the circle. This intricate system is a way to figure out your base personality for your decisions and reactions to the world.
Introverts vs. Extroverts
Now a simpler way people often put themselves into boxes of personality is by taking on the label of introvert or extrovert. This distinction gets misinterpreted. People expect extroverts to be people in light up glasses being the life of the party while introverts hide in a corner reading a book. While this may be partially true, there is much more to the story. Whether you are introverted or extroverted isn’t based on your outgoing nature, but where you get the energy to face your day. Would you rather go on a relaxing vacation or spend your time off in the hustle and bustle of Disney World — which would give you more energy to get back to real life?
Extroverts draw energy by being around groups of people and exhausted if left alone for too long. Introverts are the exact opposite. So, you can be an outgoing introvert while needing a lot of time to regroup before meeting your friends. And you can be a quiet extrovert, completely fulfilled around a group of people while staying silent. With whichever you identify, know how that will affect your future career and living situation based on how much or how little alone time you need.
Career Assessment
Personality and energy assessments can give you a key insight into what you might want to explore as a career. For example, if you really are someone who enjoys talking to strangers and selling products, a job selling vehicles or basketball tickets might be the perfect job for you! Of on the other hand, if you would enjoy sitting in a private cubicle all day working on new and exciting ideas, you may be best suited as an artist or an architect. The beauty of our growing world is that we need all diverse kinds of people to keep developing it. Knowing your strengths and your processing power will help you impress employers with exactly the kind of worker you will be.
You don’t have to start when looking for a career either. The earlier you begin exploring your uniqueness, the sooner you can start making the most of life. Check out innovative academic programs that may fit your personality as well as your intellectual interests. You want to be happy and comfortable in school because that is the first step to being happy and comfortable in a career and throughout life.
Enjoying the Uniqueness of You
You may be thinking that personality tests are an effective way to put yourself in a box without room for growth or change. That is simply not true. Your personality assessment is simply a guideline and a system for understanding your emotions and thoughts. And these resources are very clear that no one will feel the same or fit their “type” completely every single day. You are a unique individual with unique and special feelings and thoughts. And discovering these processing mechanisms are a way to celebrate your thinking styles. You are a wonderful version of you and finding out more about your own personality is a huge celebration of that.