What's Your Personality?
My teenage son burst into my bedroom this weekend, bursting with excitement.
“Listen to this, Mom,” he said, and proceeded to read me a lengthy description from his personality test result.
“Doesn’t that sound exactly like me?”
My kid has been bitten by the personality test bug.
When I was a kid, I loved doing the quizzes in the back Sassy and Seventeen magazines. Was I a poser? What was my phone personality? How fun was I?
As an adult, I easily shifted from magazine quizzes to all the personality tests, wanting to gain insights about me.
Over the years, I’ve taken many assessments:
StrengthFinder - learner, communication, input, maximizer, responsibility
16 Personalities - Protagonist (ENFJ-T)
WHY.os Discovery - Contribute
DISC - IS/SIc
Enneagram - 1
I’ve even had an Emotional Intelligence (EQ) assessment.
Each one has taught me a little more about what I might see in myself if I look.
But you know what has taught me the most about myself? Regular, daily reflection in my journal.
When I journal, I get to know myself a little bit more every time. I look at what’s happening in my life and discover what I feel about it.
I identify what’s keeping me stuck. And I determine what I can - and what I want - to do to move forward.
I uncover what I like, what I need, what motivates and drives me. I see patterns in my behaviors.
All of this helps me choose who I want to be. How I want to move through life. How I can make an impact.
You can bet I’ve worked each one of these assessments through in my journal, and played with how they integrate with and support each other.
But ultimately I’m not stuck having to be what the test indicates. I’m able to make my own decisions, write my own story of who I want to be.
What a gift!
How much do you know about yourself?
Weekly Journal Prompts:
Use these prompts as written or as inspiration to uncover what you need in your life this week.
What do you know about yourself?
How have you learned this?
Which personality assessments have given you clues into who you are or how you could approach the world?
Have these results been accurate for you?
How have you changed and grown over the last year?
What motivates you to keep learning and growing?
Which areas of your life need attention?
How can you be the best version of yourself?
One Journaling Idea I Love:
Garden Journal. Every year I’m sure I’ll remember exactly what I planted where, how I amended the soil, how much I harvested. And every year I think I should keep a garden journal so I don’t have to store all of this in my head!
This year may just be the year I do it. Last year I learned if I want to grow sunflowers, I can’t plant seeds directly in the garden - we have too many chipmunks for that. This year I learned that the chipmunks like tender sunflower seedlings as much as they love sunflower seeds. Writing all of this down should help me remember to make sure my sunflower starts are really sturdy before I put them outside if I want a crop!
Use your garden journal to track what you planted and where, how you cared for your garden, what the weather conditions were, and so forth.
Photo by Олександр К on Unsplash
Where You Can Find Me:
Want to talk journaling with me? I’m holding Office Hours this Thursday, June 9 at 7 pm via Zoom. Register here for the link!
I share journal related content on LinkedIn every day by 8 am Eastern. Visit me there for stories, journaling ideas, and more!
I have a website! Visit me at GoodThingsComeToThoseWhoJournal.com
I’m always reachable by email.
My teenagers are doing their best to avoid me on TikTok…
Interested in Helping Me?
I’m excited to announce that I’m developing a new journaling coaching program to support people in building solid and sustainable journaling practices.
To be sure I have the greatest impact, and help the most people with the right solutions, I’m asking for your help in doing some market research.
My goal is to interview 50 people to be sure I get the best and most comprehensive insight into what they need to be successful with journaling.
My ideal interviewee describes themselves as someone who carries a lot of responsibility and hates asking for help. They set really high expectations for themselves and beat themselves up if they fall short. They are overwhelmed and exhausted when they look at their calendar but have a hard time saying no to anything because they don’t want to let people down. They are the trustworthy go-to person for others who need help and reassurance, yet they wrestle with imposter syndrome.
They ultimately want to find time to take better care of themselves, build confidence and recognize their accomplishments, and feel worthy of living the life they dream, but they haven’t been able to get there on their own yet.
The interview would only take between 15-30 minutes, and I promise, this is NOT a trick into asking people to be my clients. This is just market research, so I make sure my program is exactly what is needed.
So, if this is you, would you mind doing an interview with me? To make it super easy, here’s a link to book a call with me.
Thank you!
Happy Journaling!