Personality Acronym

I feel the need to be frank.  I am actually very grateful that I am no longer bound by my promise to write a daily blog entry on gratitude!  It was fun.  I enjoyed sharing stories and reflecting on what’s good in my life, but I also felt a little restricted by the month-long theme.  I had other ideas in my head that I wanted to get out, many of which are now floating around aimlessly, lost in the abyss of my mind, never to be seen or heard from again!   I was able to hold on to a few, and I’ll share them as I have time.  I can’t promise a daily entry anymore either.  It takes a while to write such thought provoking and stimulating material, people!  Haha! 

A few weeks ago, I found an awesome link for a watered down version of the Myers-Briggs personality test on my friend Abby’s blog (you can click her name to check out her blog too, if you like!)  I asked her if I could steal it, and she kindly said yes.  I think these kinds of tests are very interesting, especially when they are backed by actual psychological research. After Jacob was born, I went  back to school to get a graduate degree in psych, only to drop out due to post-partum burnout.  It was fun until I had my own nervous breakdown!  Seriously, though, I think it’s interesting to take these test and see how accurate the descriptions are to our true selves.  Having insight into our own motivations is sometimes very helpful.  It’s good to know why you are the way you are, or why you do what you do.   I also think it’s interesting to take these tests with another person.  Having an understanding of someone else’s personality type can be very advantageous in assisting with the compatibility of a relationship.  Sometimes just knowing why a person behaves a certain way is enough to ease frustration, or to help us understand how and why we need to change our approach when interacting with others.  I’ve always worked with people, and I find behaviors very interesting.  There’s never a simple answer behind human motivation, but sometimes you can gather at least a smidgen of understanding from a simple analysis.

I took the test and my result was ISFJ.  That’s Introversion, Sensing, Feeling and Judgement.  Introversion refers to where you focus the most attention.  Introverts gather energy from within rather than from large groups. "Sensing" means how we discern information.  An "S" takes information in via the senses, preferring concrete information rather than the abstract.  "Feeling" refers to how we make decisions.  Feelers value personal considerations over objective criteria.  And "Judgement" means that I am a planner (surprise, my highest score was in this area!) (The result definitions came from Wikipedia)

Here is the David Kiersey summary of the ISFJ personality: 

We are lucky that Protectors make up as much as ten percent the population, because their primary interest is in the safety and security of those they care about - their family, their circle of friends, their students, their patients, their boss, their fellow-workers, or their employees. Protectors have an extraordinary sense of loyalty and responsibility in their makeup, and seem fulfilled in the degree they can shield others from the dirt and dangers of the world. Speculating and experimenting do not intrigue Protectors, who prefer to make do with time-honored and time-tested products and procedures rather than change to new. At work Protectors are seldom happy in situations where the rules are constantly changing, or where long-established ways of doing things are not respected. For their part, Protectors value tradition, both in the culture and in their family. Protectors believe deeply in the stability of social ranking conferred by birth, titles, offices, and credentials. And they cherish family history and enjoy caring for family property, from houses to heirlooms.

Wanting to be of service to others, Protectors find great satisfaction in assisting the downtrodden, and can deal with disability and neediness in others better than any other type. They are not as outgoing and talkative as the Provider Guardians [ESFJs], and their shyness is often misjudged as stiffness, even coldness, when in truth Protectors are warm-hearted and sympathetic, giving happily of themselves to those in need. 

Their reserve ought really to be seen as an expression of their sincerity and seriousness of purpose. The most diligent of all the types, Protectors are willing to work long, hard hours quietly doing all the thankless jobs that others manage to avoid. Protectors are quite happy working alone; in fact, in positions of authority they may try to do everything themselves rather than direct others to get the job done. Thoroughness and frugality are also virtues for them. When Protectors undertake a task, they will complete it if humanly possible. They also know better than any other type the value of a dollar, and they abhor the squandering or misuse of money. To save, to put something aside against an unpredictable future, to prepare for emergencies-these are actions near and dear to the Protector's heart. For all these reasons, Protectors are frequently overworked, just as they are frequently misunderstood and undervalued. Their contributions, and also their economies, are often taken for granted, and they rarely get the gratitude they deserve.

I think that’s a fairly accurate picture of me!  What do you think?  I don’t know about the “believing in the stability of social ranking conferred by birth, titles, offices, and credentials” part, but I definitely cherish family history and heirlooms! I also don’t think that the introversion part is all that fitting, depending on the situation.  It was my lowest score, actually.  I can be introverted.  I definitely need alone time.  Unlike Greg, I am not someone who can be around other people 24/7 and still feel sane, but I also like being with others.  I may be initially quiet until I get to know a person or a situation.  Once I am comfortable, I tend to be quite loud and opinionated, actually.  I think that my demeanor is sometimes misinterpreted by those who don’t know me well, either because I didn’t say enough, said too much, or said it sarcastically.  When I said that “sometimes I appear to be more of a jerk than I really am” in a prior blog entry, I was serious.  I say a lot of cynical things that I think are comical, but if you don’t know me well enough to know that I am just kidding, I can come off as very judgemental and condescending.  In reality, I try very hard to be considerate of others, understand where they are coming from, and to reflect on people’s life circumstances before forming opinions…most of the time.  Some people are just assholes and don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.  But when it’s possible, I try to give it.  

The rest of the analysis - thoroughness, planning, preparing for the future…well, of course that’s me!  If nothing else, I am a planner!  

Now, wasn’t that fun, reading all about me?  Go take the test yourself and tell me your results! I think it’s fun to compare with friends…are we attracted to those who share our personalities or do we go for polar opposites?  Click here and find out about yourself!