3 Keys to a Tailored Life: Personality
Today, we are starting the first of a three part series on Keys to a Tailored Life. Today’s key is Personality. I will go over understanding your personality, why it’s important, and how to use it as a filter to tailor your life to fit YOU.
Why is knowing your personality important?
We’ve all heard that quote about “Knowing thyself”, right? It seems so cliche, but there’s a reason something ends up being a cliche. Usually because there’s some truth to it.
It’s taken me a LONG time to start to really know myself. Seriously, a LONG time. I’d love to help save you some frustration from working against yourself and time trying to figure it all out.
When we just kind of go with the flow of life, and spend it just reacting to situations and what life presents us with instead of being pro-active and purposeful, it leads to a lot of stress, overwhelm, frustration, and being side-lined in our own life as we float along, so distracted and busy with all the URGENT things that we aren’t really present to enjoy it.
One part of the problem comes from not understanding our personality, why we do what we do, how we relate to other people, why some things super bother us, and why some things are really important to us.
Because we don’t have a good understanding of this, we often end up doing things that work against our personality and make things WAY harder on ourselves than they need to be.
I’m all for overcoming and of course there are things that we just have to do regardless, but I DO NOT believe that we have to make things harder for ourselves and/or our families and I DO believe that there are a LOT of things that we think we have to do that we actually might not have to if we think about it critically and creatively.
What does tailoring to fit your personality look like?
I’m going to give you an example from my own life and then we’ll get to a few simple steps to get you headed down the path towards more understanding and a hopefully better fitting life!
To give you an idea of where I’m coming from, I am a INFP on the Meyers Briggs, Enneagram 9 with a 1 wing, an introvert, a yellow with a blue streak on the color test, and a highly sensitive person. (Yes that’s a real thing).
So let’s take exercise.
For the longest time, in my early twenties, I would try to go to the gym to “workout”. The gym was little like 1-2 minutes from my house and I even had a gym buddy. My friend would come over so we could go workout, but a lot of the time I would end up talking her out of going. (I was a terrible gym buddy, obviously! lol)
I HATED the gym, the machines, everything. And yet, I kept going because that’s what other people did and I felt like I SHOULD.
It took me until my late twenties to finally realize that I liked swimming. BUT I hated those swim aerobics classes!
If I had thought about my personality a little bit (and just in general what I liked), I could have probably figured out a lot sooner that because I’m an HSP (highly sensitive person) introvert OF COURSE I would hate the noise and big group of a swim aerobics class and OF COURSE I would hate the gym with all the noises, smells, and crowds.
NOW I know that my sweet spot is swimming laps by myself (quiet time AND exercise SCORE!), walking (outside in nature), biking, yoga, pilates, hiking, and dancing.
So I don’t even have to think about it if someone invites me to a gym, or to Cross Fit (shudder). I already know what works for me and I don’t have to waste mental energy on all the other stuff.
Of course, there’s also an element of having to TRY things to figure out what you like. Especially if you are in high school/early college or haven’t tried enough in a particular area to see what you like.
My advice?
Learn your personality, and filter your options through that first.
THEN try different things and PAY ATTENTION.
Don’t just blindly do things because other people are and it works for them.
There are so many areas of your life you can apply this to! Work, relationships, schedules, cleaning, meal planning, creating your environment.
And even tweaking and making a few small changes can make a big difference!
So, personality is the first thing I screen with. Then if it passes, I move on to the next filter, which is the 2nd Key in our series!
How to apply it:
Personality Starter Steps:
Take the tests.
Know that they may not always be accurate. Especially if you answer how you WANT to be instead of how you actually are. Answer as honestly as possible with your first gut reaction and then see how that type fits.
Read up on your personality.
Now that you have a foundation to start with, take a look at some of the things in your life to see if something might be working against you.
Also write down what you REALLY LOVE and things you HATE doing.
Can you find ways to spend less time doing the things you hate and spend more time doing the things you love?
I hope this gives you a good place to start! Next we’ll talk about the 2nd Key to a Tailored Life!
XO, Heather
P.S.
Join my FREE Tailor Your Life Facebook group for more tips and ideas to help you Tailor Your Life based on your personality!
