Do you want to be a successful in your personal life, in your work life and in your interactions with others?? Probably one of the most important things you can do is to know yourself—your strengths and your weaknesses. Learn to appreciate your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. This will help you to be more successful in all areas of your life.
I knew nothing of Personality Tests until about fifteen years ago. When beginning a new job, I was asked to take this test and was told I am a Beaver. What in the world did that mean? As I studied the characteristics of the different personality types, I learned about Lions, Otters, Beavers and Golden Retrievers. Sounds silly, doesn’t it?
Are you a Lion? You are very fast paced and goal oriented….you are direct…you want to lead….you love challenges…you are a problem solver….you like authority and are bold. You are a natural born leader!! You will boldly and courageously go into your business!
Lions, be careful because in the process of taking authority and leading, you might dominate a situation when you should allow others to contribute. Remember to be sympathetic to those around you. Consider others (your customers, co-workers) –work with them at their level, which might not be the fast paced, take charge tendency of the Lion.
Beavers of the world, what are your strengths? You are very organized…you are a perfectionist….you are detailed…you are conscientious….if you are doing a task, you will do it right no matter how long it takes. Don’t you wish everyone was a Beaver?
As perfect as Beavers seem to be (maybe I am prejudiced?), we do have weaknesses. We can delay too long in getting a project started because we don’t have all the answers…we haven’t figured out the whole process from beginning to end. Sometimes we never get started or are slow to start because things are not perfect. We can be hard to please (because others won’t necessarily do things the way we ‘know’ they should be done). We can be critical.
What about those Otters? You are very fast paced. You jump onto new ideas and concepts and are ready to go with them without a lot of planning—which drives us Beavers crazy. I am speaking from experience since my husband and child are very radical Otters (gotta love them!). Otters are very good around people and often are in up-front situations.
Otters, beware! You might overlook essential details and be ready to start a project way before you are ready. You can be somewhat disorganized. Learn to be a little more organized in your approach to business – even plan ahead.
Golden Retrievers, you are our best friends. You are always there for us. You are very people oriented and totally loyal. You are our peace makers. Every office needs to have at least one Golden Retriever.
Your weaknesses—how can anyone so loyal and loving have weaknesses? It’s true though-you do! Golden Retrievers are usually slower paced in their work and have a harder time making decisions (you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings). You tend to not be as motivated if working alone.
Think about some scenarios. An otter working with a beaver—the otter is ready to spring ahead to the next step while the beaver is slowly, methodically working his way through all the possibilities, problems and complications. How about a Lion and Golden Retriever? The Lion is moving ahead with the speed of lightening while the Golden Retriever is making sure everyone is happy and no one’s feelings are hurt. The Lion just moves too swiftly for the Golden Retriever!
Don’t just read this article and forget it. Honestly, you will learn something about yourself and others around you. You might understand others’ work habits and communication skills better. Considering all of this—and developing yourself to your fullest potential—can be invaluable in your business, in dealing with your family and friends…… Be aware of the best qualities of each personality type and develop them within yourself. Be the best that you can be!
Do you want to take your own personality test? You can ‘google’ and find many of them—some use other ‘tags’ rather than the animals, but the concepts are similar. One I found is at http://www.sagestrategies.biz/documents/FiveMinutePersonalityTestforclass.pdf. Try to honestly evaluate yourself as you take the test. You will probably find that you have some of every personality type with one being dominant
Becka Schoettle has said that :
Together, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results.
Let’s appreciate each other’s strengths and together we can make the world a better
place!
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