Why understanding your personality is important?
Personality can be described as, "A characteristic styles of understanding, behaving and responding to the events and people in our world". Personality is formed through a combination of genetic predispositions to certain tendencies as well as life experiences. We take our personality into every situation and relationship. Understanding why we think and behave the way we do and how our personalities determine this, enables us to make the most of our strengths and overcome our weaknesses.
Some important facts about personality are as follows:
Some important facts about personality are as follows:
- Personality tend to be relatively stable and although fluidity is possible, we tend to return to behaviours that are part of our natural style and which require the least amount of energy to perform.
- Personality traits are not either / or but rather lie on a continuum between two poles e.g. introversion and extroversion.
- Personality is never good or bad or right or wrong. All personality traits can be seen has having a positive and negative influence on behaviour but is dependent on the situation in which the behaviour presents itself. For example someone who is competitive will display effective behaviour in a sales environment in which there is competition to perform and get sales however this may mean that he / she is not as focused on cooperation which may be problematic in an environment in which teamwork is valued. Thus the effect that personality has on behaviour needs to be clarified by context.
- Understanding that some personality traits are more natural to us than others can help us to develop more effective strategies to develop behaviours that require more energy from us thus developing a more effective behavioural repertoire and increasing behavioural adaptability.
- Understanding our own personality will enable more effective understanding of other people and their behaviours thus resulting in better personal and professional relationships.