Friday, February 01, 2013

Curious

Here's a time suck for you, if you haven't seen already:

We've all seen the classic Myers-Briggs personality inventory which breaks down how people perceive the world and provides you with a four letter personality type - for example, ESTJ or INFP. 

On The Happiness Project blog, Gretchen Rubin came up with a different type of personality categorization, and here I quote her extensively: 

To see if you spot yourself in these categories, ask yourself:
How do I respond to an outer rule? A law, a traffic sign, a “request” from a spouse; a work deadline, an admonition from your doctor, an appointment with a trainer, social protocol?
How do I respond to an inner rule? A New Year’s resolution; a decision to exercise more; putting in work on a self-generated project (writing a novel, planting a garden).
With that in mind, consider whether any of these types rings a bell:
Upholder— accepts rules, whether from outside or inside. An upholder meets deadlines, follows doctor’s order, keeps a New Year’s resolution. I am an Upholder, 100%.
Questioner—questions rules and accepts them only if they make sense. They may choose to follow rules, or not, according to their judgment.
Rebel—flouts rules, from outside or inside. They resist control. Give a rebel a rule, and the rebel will want to do the very opposite thing.
Obliger—accepts outside rules, but doesn’t like to adopt self-imposed rules.
 
I discovered that I am very much an Obliger/Questioner.  I accept some outside rules, while questioning those that don't make sense to me.  I don't respond all that strongly to inner rules. I am not self-motivated to make it to the gym, for example. I put in work on a self-generated project when I damn well feel like it.

What about you? Where would you fall in this categorization, and why?

2 comments:

Bridget said...

I'm an Upholder/Questioner/Rebel/Obliger. Definitely. *snorts* I think the fact that I have to wear so many hats in life makes this true. It all depends on any given day and that given day's objectives and tasks.

Even my inner rules are in constant flux. Work on a picture book manuscript side project? On it. Restrict calories because I don't like the way my jeans look? Pass the ice cream, thank you very much.

BTW, I love reading Gretchen, too. She always has something interesting to post.

Lisa Blah Blah said...

Would love to hear more about your side project, if only to live vicariously. I am trying to pick up some side projects myself but they are not as fun as yours!

I like that you don't see yourself as easily labeled!