Reflecting On Your Personality

Researchers have studied personality traits for decades, trying to figure out what makes people tick from the inside out. The result is what’s called the Big Five personality traits.

Each of these personality traits can be measured on a spectrum and everybody falls somewhere on each spectrum. If you find yourself on the lower end of one trait’s spectrum (score of 2 or lower), you may be higher (score of 4 or above) on its opposite trait. The opposite of organized may be spontaneous or the opposite of trusting may be cautious. 

Outgoing (Trait A): If you scored high on this trait, you’re outgoing and get energy from others. Alone time for you can be boring. 

If you scored low on this trait, you may be more introverted. Many introverts enjoy their downtime and look forward to being alone because being around others is emotionally exhausting—it’s not that they don’t like others—but it takes work to always be “on.” 

Trusting (Trait B): If you scored high on this trait, you tend to be agreeable, cooperative, or trusting of others. You’re more likely to help others and see the good in them. 

If you scored low, you may be more cautious of others. 

There’s a balancing act with this trait, as being highly agreeable can create situations where others take advantage of you but being cautious may lead others to think you’re argumentative for the sake of an argument. 

Organized (Trait C): If you scored high on this trait, you’re incredibly well organized, a planner and conscientious. 

If you scored low on this trait, you thrive on spontaneity and winging it. 

Those who are super organized are often perceived as dependable (you’re always somewhere when you say you’ll be), but you may be a little stubborn and inflexible. In contrast, those who are spontaneous are happy to see where life takes them and are flexible. However, sometimes others may view you as unreliable (e.g., “so when you said you wanted me at work by 10 a.m. you really meant it?”). 

Nervous (Trait D): If you scored high on this trait, you’re anxious and may ride an emotional rollercoaster every day—especially the not-so-good emotions such as anxiety, anger, or depression. 

If you scored low, then you’re an emotional rock, where you rarely experience the emotional highs and lows that others feel. 

Curious (Trait E): If you scored high on this trait, you like new things and are naturally curious. You ask a lot of questions and want to dig deeper. You might be open to skydiving, doing an exchange program in another country or joining a new club. 

If you scored low on this trait, you’re naturally cautious. You might be happy and content at home and wonder why people would ever like to travel to the unknown. You enjoy your daily routine and breaking from it can make you unhappy. You’re pragmatic, making decisions based on what you’ve done in the past. You may find it tough to get out of your comfort zone, but don’t worry because in this guide you will work at developing your intentional curiosity. 

What Now? 

Now that you know how you rank for each of the traits, you can start to reflect on who you are. In which traits did you score highest and lowest? This is a good time to see if the assessment passes the “sniff” test. Do the results sound like you? If not, were you really being honest with yourself? You may want to go back and refine the assessment but be careful that you always answer the questions honestly based on who you are today and remember there is no right or wrong answer. 

Once you’ve assessed yourself, it’s useful to compare how others view your personality. To do this, give the assessment to a close friend or family member to evaluate you. You need them to be honest, so pick someone who you feel very comfortable with and ask them to be honest and constructive. Picking someone who’ll tell you what you want to hear is a waste of time for everyone. 

Once they complete the assessment for you, compare the scores and rankings with your own. Are they consistent? If not, reflect on the reasons why. This process—though sometimes awkward—can start to provide important insight into how others perceive you and can therefore help to figure out who you are. 

At this stage, you’re getting glimpses of your personality from both the inside (you) and the outside (others). Now you can reflect on and interpret the results by writing a simple paragraph to summarize your personality. 

A big part of exploring your personality is to better understand who you are today. The intention is not to pass judgment, but to reflect and build on your strengths, while not dwelling on what you may perceive as personality weaknesses today. With that in mind, turn your personality into a concise statement in your journal (a minimum of 250 words or so). Feel free to use the language from the trait definitions or create your own.