By Ellie Greenberger
I hate personality tests. I hate the feeling that I get when it turns out I am a list of easily explainable things. I hate that I can get the same result as someone else. I hate that a computer seems to know me. When my whole personality can be summed up in a three page document following a fifty question test, I don’t feel like an individual.
At the same time, I love personality tests. I love the possibility that a personality test will reveal something about myself that I didn’t know. I love the possibility that the test will align with what I already thought about myself. I love the possibility of finding more words to put on a application when the Please describe yourself in one word question arises.
At every leadership conference and training event that I have attended, I have been asked to take a personality test. I am an INFP in the Myers-Briggs personality test, and my top five strengths from the gallup strengthsfinder are Input, Intellection, Learner, Restorative, and Adaptability.
The Myers-Briggs tests tells you a little bit about your personality, and how you work in interactions with people. The Gallup Strengthsfinder test differs because it can rank your skills from the strongest to the weakest. It is more applicable to a leadership and work environment whereas Myers-briggs looks more at your personality in relation to others. If you wanna learn more about me then you can read my strengths summary, and the traits of an INFP.
https://gx.gallup.com/services/pdf?v=pdfGeneration.prince.7.0.binPath
https://www.16personalities.com/infp-personality
Now, I can see where some of these things are right. I find myself in each of these descriptions. Reading the reports about the different strengths and weaknesses of each trait, I can see where I fit in.
For example, in the Myers-Briggs test, one of the weaknesses of being an INFP is that I am often hard to get to know. I don’t let a lot of people in. I am horrible at first impressions and small talk. I have learned how to have full conversations in which I reveal things about myself without revealing the things about myself that I deem truly important.
In addition, I got adaptability from my Strengthsfinder test. I am good at dealing with anything that comes my way. Over the years, I have switched schools six different times from elementary to high school. Being able to quickly adapt has helped me in each of these transitions.
But, I am not simply a mix of things on these list. I do not fit every category, nor am I confined to every category. I may be hard to get to know, but I am not hard to talk to. In fact, I can talk for hours (Its why I actually love giving speeches). In addition, while I am adaptable, I hate change. I don’t like thinking about the future because it scares me, but somehow I know that I will get through.
I had a speaker at one of these events who was loud, entertaining, and silly. At the end of the talk, he challenged all of us to guess which personality type he was. All of us got it wrong. We guessed that he was an extrovert who was people oriented. He revealed that he was an introvert who prefers working with data. He showed us that just because you are one certain type of personality that you are not confined by your personality.
Who we are at the moment doesn’t mean that is the only thing we can be. People can learn to step outside of their natural strengths, and become adept at something completely different.
For example, when I was in the eighth grade I took the ACT. One portion of the ACT was a survey that was supposed to tell you what career you should pursue. Mine came back saying that I should pursue a career in the category of data and things. I came home that day and told my mom who loves math that she must have rigged it because I hated data and things. I was not confined to have a career in data and things. I am now majoring in Journalism and minoring in English.
If you read your personality test, and either don’t see where you fit in or don’t like what you see, remember that this is a test. It doesn’t know you. It is not who you have to be. You get to learn to be whatever you want to be.