Have you ever taken a personality test? Have you ever been worried about what the outcome would be? I know I was once scared to take a personality test. I decided to venture out though and do it anyways. I am a very big fan of personal growth and development. So here’s what I found out.

What I Learned By Taking a Personality Test

The first personality test I decided to take was the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The MBTI is a career assessment and personality test that many companies and schools provide to their employees and students. I was pretty far into my career when I discovered what my personality type was and it made me realize a lot of things about myself and how I work with other people. 

 

I am an ISFJ.

What does this mean? Let me break it down for you.

I stands for Introvert.

For so many years I always felt like there was something wrong with me. Why do I always have to think about something before I say it? Why do I need time by myself to get refreshed at the end of each day? Why is it hard for me to get a word in during group meetings? What I realized through this test that you can’t confuse introversion with shyness. I have always been labeled as that shy person but this test helped me see what people I work with needed to know in order for me to get my ideas and thoughts heard.

My co-workers and classmates who are extroverts now realize that I will go out to happy hour, just not every night. They also know to ask me questions during group meetings and give me time to think about questions.

If people aren’t aware of your type, they sometimes automatically make judgements which are hard to get around.

My best memory was taking the MBTI Personality Type indicator with all of my classmates in business school. One of my favorite memories of MBA orientation is when all the introverts and extroverts were separated. The extroverts, who greatly outnumbered us introverts, wrote down what we both liked to do in our free time. The introverts said jogging, reading, cleaning and watching TV. What did the extroverts say? You guessed it! Hanging out with friends, social activities, team sport activities, having dinner, going to the movies, etc.

S stands for Sensing

Do you pay more attention to information that comes in through your five senses (Sensing), or do you pay more attention to the patterns and possibilities that you see in the information you receive (Intuition)?

I like to solve problems by working through facts until I understand the problem and I learn better with hands on experience. I guess this is why I used to be a great financial analyst!

F stands for Feeling

I am compassionate about others and values are important to me. If you are a thinker, you like to analyze the pros and cons, and then be consistent and logical in making a decision, regardless of the situation.

J stands for Judging

I scored extremely high on this one! Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean I like to judge people….

I can’t get through the day without my to-do list and I feel so great when I can check things off during the day! I plan ahead and try to get work done ahead of time so I don’t have to rush to make a deadline. Also, once I start a book, I have to finish it no matter how awful I think it is. I have worked with many perceivers and without openly communicating with them about your expectations, you will always be on a different page.

This was a huge eye opener for me. I thought that the perceivers I worked with were lazy and didn’t care about deadlines or workload. What I realized is that they actually do a great job at the last minute because they work better under pressure. They are actually stimulated by an approaching deadline. You must know this about the people your work with.

To sum it up, this is my personality:

Quiet, friendly, responsible, and conscientious. Committed and steady in meeting their obligations. Thorough, painstaking, and accurate. Loyal, considerate, notice and remember specifics about people who are important to them, concerned with how others feel. Strive to create an orderly and harmonious environment at work and at home.

My classmates and I took the MBTI test the very first week of school.  In our study groups,we discussed how we could work better together now that we were aware of each others personalities. I highly recommend doing this assessment and sharing it with the people that you work with or go to school with. It will be very rewarding!

What is your personality type?