Know Thyself. Then make hummus.

Listening to "Dream" The Cranberries.

OK-- SEMESTER IS OVER!!! Woo-hoo!!!!

I love summer!! (But of course, I'm really excited for school to start next semester :). Mostly because I'm gonna be a TA. EEeekk!!)

So I learned a lot of useful things this semester, but one exercise in particular was fun: The Myers Briggs Personality Inventory. In my Public Administration class, we talked about organizational structure, communication, power, etc... and we even talked about the importance of personalities. I did a presentation about personality and the affects it may have on your performance in the workplace. To complete the report, I took the Myers Briggs.


What's Myers Briggs?
Now, some of you may have taken this before. It's a small, quick personality inventory that judges whether you are:

Extrovert or Introvert
Extroverts get their energy from being around people, groups, socializing; Introverts get their energy from being alone, contemplating, and are more introspective. This doesn't necessarily mean shy vs. not shy; it's more-- how do you best interpret information. Do you think better after being alone for a while? Then you may be more introverted. Need people/noise/social atmosphere to be happy and calm? You may be more of an extrovert.

haha... cute.

Sensing or Intuition
Have you been described as gullible? Or are you more pragmatic, never believing the results until you see some statistics? Sensing personalities rely on the five senses (sight, smell, taste, feel, hear) when making decisions-- they need tangible evidence. The intuition types do not necessary make choices based on the senses; instead, they use emotions or past experiences to make decisions or interpret information.

Thinking or feeling
Are you a logical person? Do you trust laws, rules, and justice above all else? Or, do you have trouble with laws and rules. Instead, are you always contemplating the individuals involved, not the rule or law involved. Thinkers tend to look at laws and rules, making detached decisions based on what's "right." Feelers tend to be more involved in the decisions they make, trying to empathize with the situation and basing decisions on those associations.

Judging or perceiving
This one ties together sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling. Do you enjoy being committed to a task, following the updates and progress, and completing work within the well defined boundaries? Or, do boundaries make you uncomfortable? Judging types typically like to work in settings where the boundaries, requirements, etc. are clearly defined and well understood. The perceiving types are less comfortable with those and view them as restrictions.

Important: Why does this matter?
Know thyself. If you know that you are an introvert, maybe that's why you have trouble during performance reviews. Your boss calls you into her office, throws some long-term goals and ideas at you, and you have trouble reacting. You leave the room feeling as though you performed poorly, but later (once you've had time to think) you come up with all these great "I should've said"s. You're an introvert! You need alone time to think. Changing the scheduling of this conversation, or how you receive her comments, could change your reaction-- and her interpretation of your performance.

Or, if you're an extreme sensing type, but your wife is not-- hey. Maybe that's why your arguments get so convoluted. You're trying to beg against her with facts and figures, but you're not getting through! She seems confused-- even offended-- by your argument. That's because you're not talking about the emotional issues that go along with the conflict, you're only talking about the facts. Her personality has trouble interpreting facts in an argument; she better understand emotions and feelings. Maybe you could change the way you discuss future plans.

Finally, let's say you're planning a family vacation. You're ready to lock in a date, plan out the hotel, and develop an itinerary. Your kids are ready to kill you. Well, you're a judging type. You want to be locked into this commitment, while they're young perceivers. They want to experience the thrill of the not-so-planned-out vacation. Maybe you could talk about that.

Knowing yourself, your likes, your preferences, your attitudes-- it helps you adapt to others, to make sure you're being heard, and to make sure you're listening.

So. Click here to take the test for free, and let me know what you think :)

In case you were wondering, I'm a slight extrovert. I'm completely balanced for sensing/intution and judging/perceiving, but I am an EXTREME feeler. I'm not even close to a thinking type.

Matt is a more intuitive thinker, but he's also balanced for sensing/intuition and judging/perceiving.

So, it's not about finding someone who's exactly like you. Opposites attract, remember? But knowing more about eachothers personalities can sometimes assist with the communication-- and everyone knows that's key.

Have fun!

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Cooking Goals for this weekend:
-Egg salad for Matt (his request!)
-Hummus (Steph Chow's recipe)
-Maybe a dessert... haven't decided

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Your personality-contemplating
New Girl Blogger.