Article
# 5
Knowing
Your Personality Type
Remember,
personality type doesn't do anything in and of itself.
In the work
of integrating inner evolution and outer effectiveness, knowing
one’s personality type or style is always in service of
developing personal and professional mastery.
When we learn
about our personality style, it serves personal mastery in general
by showing us our habits of perception/behavior, and it serves
professional mastery in particular by showing us how our excellence
may by supported or hindered by certain habits of perception/behavior.
Ultimately
then, personality type is not about doing something to someone
else. From the perspective of personal mastery, it's about
taking charge of our own perceptions and behaviors. It's
about learning to appreciate and accept ourselves and others,
it's about recovering our attention and energy from habitual traps
of perception and behavior, and it's about understanding how our
style may support or get in the way of our realizing our dreams.
Personality
type is about gaining freedom, not about trapping yourself
in a narrow definition.
Which system
of personality style you use is up to you. There are several valuable
systems - each with it's own strengths - and all have some use
in the hands of a knowledgeable practitioner.
The key is
to use what you learn, to see yourself clearly,
and to try on alternative behaviors that challenge your habits
of perception and behavior. Use the system, but don't
get caught in it. If the system itself becomes more important
to you (e.g., you have arguments about what Thinking vs. Feeling
really means), then the system may well have trapped
you and is serving your blind spots, rather than serving your
true personal and professional mastery.
As noted,
there are several useful systems for understanding one’s
personality style/type. To learn more about some of the more popular
ones, click on these links:
- Jungian
(and/or Myersian) psychological type
- Temperament
- Enneagram
Bottom
Line - understanding your personality type or style isn't
an end in itself. It's in service of something else - your personal
and/or transpersonal development. Examples include: awakening
from habit, developing openness, honing your intent to create
what you want, mastering your career, being an effective leader,
developing better relationships.
