Attention
  Learning
  Personality
  Food Sensitivities
  Other Factors
  Conclusion

Exploring our differences helps us to understand, accept and celebrate ourselves and others.

 


Welcome to Step Three!  The focus is: Personality

The purpose of Step Three is to find out:

what your preferences are
what you need to have energy, organize your assignments, communicate with others, and manage your time.





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Procedure - Quick View


  1. Read the choices outlined below.

  2. Select the characteristics that are true of you most of the time.

  3. Find out what you need to live in a way that is most consistent with your preferences.

  4. Do the Self-Evaluation.

  5. Proceed to Step Four - Food Sensitivities.


Procedure - Details


1. Read the choices outlined below.

If it is hard for you to make a choice, based on the information given below, you may benefit from going to: The Personality Page or Humanmetrics, Jung Typology Test. Answering the questions will help you find out your four-letter type.

In each of these four sets of qualities below, you will have a preference for one or the other quality. This will give you your "letter". Just because you prefer to act in one way, doesn't mean that you can't be the other way in certain situations. It's a little like handedness. Although I have two hands, I am right-handed and it's more comfortable for me to use my right hand. However, I can use my left hand if necessary.

Now we will review the four dimensions of personality:

a) Introversion (I) ......... Extraversion (E)
b) Sensing (S) ......... Intuiting (N)
c) Feeling (F) ......... Thinking (T)
d) Judging (J) ......... Perceiving (P)

As you consider the pairs of qualities outlined below, you will notice that you probably prefer one way of being to the other. It will tend to be your "first instinct" and what feels just a little more comfortable to you. If you are not sure, ask others who know you. This is where your helper comes in handy. When you make your choice, think of how you were at the best (least stressful) time of your life. For many adults, this was in their late teens or early twenties. If your children are too young to give an answer to this question, you can answer for them.

Now, take a piece of paper, make a line with four sections. This is where you will be recording your answers.

_________
I or E
_________
S or N
_________
F or T
_________
J or P

Which one of each pair of characteristics tends to describe you most accurately? Are you more of?

a) An INTROVERT (I) who needs time alone and who gets re-energized by being by yourself?

Or an EXTRAVERT (E) who needs to be around people in order to feel re-energized and needs to "talk out" your ideas?

Make a note of your choice: I OR E

b) A SENSING (S) person who likes things neat, tidy and accurate, is able to memorize lots of details and prefers to do tasks in a "step-by-step" way?

Or an INTUITIVE (N) person who likes to think about the "big picture" and abstract ideas and who tends to do things in new and different ways. This person often has problems with details and accuracy.

Make a note of your choice: S OR N

c) A FEELING (F) person who knows how others feel and tends to avoid conflict?

Or a THINKING (T) person who likes to take the logical approach and "speak the truth", but may not always know how the other person is feeling?

Make a note of your choice: F OR T


d) A JUDGING (J) person who likes to be organized, make plans, have "TO DO" lists and finish what they start?

Or a PERCEIVING (P) person who is flexible and adaptable and who likes to spend time having new experiences rather than finishing tasks or old projects?

Make a note of your choice: J OR P

ImportantRemember, if you find it difficult to make these choices, see: The Personality Page or Humanmetrics, Jung Typology Test.

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2. Select the characteristics that are true of you most of the time.

What four letters did you write on the line?

_________
I or E
_________
S or N
_________
F or T
_________
J or P

This is what we call your 4-letter type.

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3. Find out what you need to live in a way that is most consistent with your preferences.

I will summarize the implications of your preferences in the areas of energy, learning, communication and time management. See We're Here to Help for more information about how you function and what careers may be best for someone with your preferences.

Energy:

If you are an Introvert, you need to make sure that you have time alone every day (even if it's just for 15 to 20 minutes). As an Extravert, you get your energy from being with people. If you are living or working alone, you might find it comforting to be with others by volunteering, meeting friends at a coffee shop, or going to a busy restaurant for a meal.

Organizing Your Assignments:

As a Sensing person, you are a "bottom-up" learner. This means that you need to begin with the facts and then start to organize them. You may need help identifying the abstract concepts involved. Try to identify one concept for every 5 to 7 facts that you need to learn. When doing an assignment, always use outlines that follow a step-by-step sequence. You value detail and accuracy, but in a large project, even life, it is easy to get bogged down in the details of a specific problem and fail to see the "big picture". Sometimes you need a friend who is an Intuitive type to help you put things in perspective.

As an Intuiting person, you are a "top down" learner. It is important for you to understand the "big picture" and general concepts involved before you attempt to master the facts. It can be difficult for you to memorize details, but it helps if you can organize these details in a comprehensive mind map with 5 to 7 points at the most under each heading. Proofreading is also a major challenge. You would do well to find a detail-oriented friend who could proofread your work before submitting it.

Communication with Others:

If you are a Feeling person, chances are that you know HOW other people feel. You probably try to take this into consideration in working with others. What may surprise you is that not everyone has this gift of knowing how others feel. Since you like to avoid conflict, it can be hard for you to stand up for yourself and your own needs. Learning to use I-messages can help you to let others know how YOU feel in the most direct and gentlest way possible.

If you are a Thinking person, you tend to value logic over the feelings of others when you are trying to make a decision. People may feel that you are insensitive or abrupt, mostly because you may not be making enough effort to take their feelings into account. It is good to ask others how they are feeling. Don't assume you know.

Time Management:

If you are a Judging person, you like to be organized, make decisions, and finish what you start. It can be very helpful to ask others to give you a 5 to 10 minute warning when it's time to move onto another activity. For you, plans are comforting. Without a plan or schedule, you might feel unsettled or anxious. Just because you have planned something doesn't mean that you are not open to change… it just might take some time to consider the options before you are comfortable switching directions.

As a Perceiving person, you are very flexible and adaptable. You get more of a thrill from learning new information than from finishing things. Your biggest challenge is in time management and your best strategy is likely to be "work before play". Even though you tend to feel like you are in prison when you have a plan or schedule to follow, you can set your life up in such as way so that you can get your work done and be able to respond to anything spontaneous that comes up.

ImportantReminder! You know yourself best, so if these suggestions work for you, great. If not, I encourage you to do what you feel is best.

At this point, we're done with The Personality Page. If you want to learn more about your own personality and that of others with whom you live and work, see We're Here to Help. It's up to you, whether or not you look at this information now or later.

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4. Do the Self-Evaluation.

Our goal in Step Three - Personality was to see:

what your preferences are
what you need to have energy, organize your assignments, communicate with others, and manage your time.

Were you able to choose a 4-letter type? Yes or No?

If YES, did it make sense? Great!

If NO, did you go to the web site The Personality Page and complete the questionnaire designed to help you choose your type? Yes or No?

If YES, you were able to choose a 4-letter type. Did you read the Summary of 4 Letter Types? Now that you know your type and the implications, I hope that you make a note of these suggestions, try them out and see if they work for you.

If YES, you went to the website, but it was still hard to decide, you may need to see a professional trained in this area (Let's Chat!).

If NO, go back and review the information on personality on the web site The Personality Page. The better you will be able to understand yourself and others, the better you will get along with others.

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5. Go to Step Four - Food Sensitivities


Need more?More questions? We're Here to Help

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FAQ - Questions

Q1: Why are we looking at personality?
Q2: What if my child or I already know our personality type?
Q3: How can you tell my personality type without doing the test?
Q4: If you can't tell my type, what is the point of doing this exercise?
Q5: Why do you include this way of looking at personality? Aren't there many other ways too?
Q6: Where did this way of looking at personality come from?
Q7: What else can you tell me about myself now that I know my 4-letter type?

FAQ - Answers


Q1: Why are we looking at personality?

A: The purpose of this page is to help you learn to understand, accept and celebrate yourself. Discovering your personality type does not define all of who you are. It does, however, provide you with guidelines to live in such a way that honours and respects who you are.

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Q2: What if my child or I already know our personality type?

A: In my experience, many people who have participated in workshops or have had formal assessments of their personality type may have forgotten what their type is and what the implications of each type are. If you were tested when you were under stress, when your marital status or career was in transition, or when you were too young to be given questions on a formal test; you may have given answers that didn't really reflect who you are at your core.

Therefore, even if you already know your personality type, I encourage you to go through this step, see if you recognize any patterns and learn about some simple strategies that can have far-reaching effects.

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Q3: How can you tell my personality type without doing the test?

A: We are using a "consultative" approach that looks at general patterns, rather than one based on formal assessment. Just relax and have fun with it. If you would feel more comfortable taking a test on the Internet or if you want more details about this way of understanding yourself and others, see We're Here to Help page when you are finished.

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Q4: If you can't tell my type, what is the point of doing this exercise?

A: Generating your 4-letter type as we have done here cannot be considered a formal evaluation of your personality. It is also beyond the scope of the Self-Managed Journey to be able to tell if your choices accurately reflect your personality or that of your loved ones. For this, you will need an individual evaluation by a trained MBTI practitioner. However, it can still help to be aware of the differences in people's preferences, in order to become more sensitive to what we need and how that might be different from others around us.

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Q5: Why do you include this way of looking at personality? Aren't there many other ways too?

A: There can be many ways of understanding personality. This way of looking at people is not the "be all and end all" of who you are, but it does provide you with some guidelines on living in ways that honour and respect how you are wired.

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Q6: Where did this way of looking at personality come from?

A: This way of looking at personality is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®). If you would like to be trained in administering the formal test or find a practitioner who is trained in your area - see We're Here to Help page.

back to faq


Q7: What else can you tell me about myself now that I know my 4-letter type?

A: For a summary of various aspects of your personality, according to your preferences, read Summary of 4 Letter Types.

back to faq


Need more?More questions? We're Here to Help

If not, see Step Four - Food Sensitivities.

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