Personality Part 1: Approaching Life

I have been doing A LOT of reading about differing personalities lately because the subject is absolutely fascinating to me. I have been using the Myers/Briggs test to "label" my personality and my husband has taken the test as well. We knew we had opposite personalities when we got married and even after 9 wonderful years of marriage, we're still learning about each other, as everyone is. I have found the study of personalities to be so helpful to this cause!!

I do believe personalities can change a bit over time. I will address this more in another post.

Here's the link if you want to take the test yourself:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

I'm going to start out with my strongest personality trait: Judging/Planning. I am around a 90% Judging/Planning personality type. Thankfully my husband is right on the border at 50% (he understands both sides of this issue) but is slightly on the side of the Perceiver/Journeyer (more of a free spirit . . . life is an adventure type of person).

The Judging/Planning personality traits that I identify with:

• I am extremely conscious of time and schedules.
• This is extreme in me . . . so much so that if I'm at the store and I have plans to be somewhere (even if it's not important) after I finish my shopping and I find myself running out of time, I will leave without getting everything on my list! Weird, I know but my inner calendar likes a schedule! I'm not one to try and "fit things in" if I have somewhere to be . . . or even if I don't!!
• My entire day is mapped out from the time I wake up until bedtime.
• I don't usually map this out on paper (takes too much time so it is in my head) but I actually remember making a schedule for my summer days when I was in the 5th grade . . .yes, this has been "me" for quite some time.
• One of my biggest life annoyances is if something messes with my schedule (which is everyday all day long).
• Sometimes I have to plan to be spontaneous . . . helps me cope with my plans being disrupted! My "plans" don't always include something tangible such as a trip or place to be but in my mind that doesn't make them any less important!
• I think of money has something that provides security. I measure success and progress by growing savings account numbers!
• Journeyers tend to view money as only worth the pleasure it provides and this is very difficult for me to grasp!
• I like to work hard first (get everything done!) and then play."
• I have to be careful of this because I often run out of "play" time.
• I am destination focused on trips/vacation!!
• This means I want to get there without ANY delays, dillydallying, stops, or side excursions. These things feel like extreme wastes of time to me!

Recognizing traits relating to this personality type that I can work on:

• I know that I need to not be irritated by changing of "plans".
• I need to develop my sense of comfort when "going with the flow". 
• I need to work on enjoying "surprises". 
• I need to focus on the here and know and not worry about the distant future. I need to focus on "enjoying" and sitting back instead of always accomplishing, succeeding, planning, doing.

Recognizing traits relating to this personality type can help when relating in marriage:

• Thankfully my husband and I aren't complete opposites on this point (cause we've got other ones to work on understanding each other through) but we have struggled some with changing and making plans together. He tends to bring something up by being very excited about it "let's do this" which irritates me since my plans are being changed. He's learned to say "Consider this for a moment . . . ". It doesn't take me long to be able to think through some plan changes and agree to a better or different plan and having the space to think about that is so helpful. That's why I love that phrase!

These traits aren't bad! I actually enjoy them in myself (ha ha)! They've made me more self-disciplined, self-aware, prompt, hard-working, etc! I just need to be sure that I'm not stuck in the "my way or the highway" approach to life, as I can so often be.

If you've made it this far in reading . . . bless you! I'd really love to hear from anyone who knows what their personality trait is (from the test or you just know) and any self discoveries you may have!!