Who Are You

You are the vehicle who is going on this journey through life. The better you know who you are the more effective you can be on the journey.

You have a vision for your life and part of that vision is the type of person you want to be. What traits do you need to strengthen, what weaknesses do you need to mitigate, what strengths will serve you the best? These are all questions you need to ask to create your plan to reach your vision, and these questions are rooted in who you are now.

What is Personality in the Life Design Framework

Personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses are aspects of the Self segment of the Life Design Journaling framework.

You are on this journey in life towards your vision. Who do you want to be on that journey? How do you want others to see you? This post is about your personality and what makes up that personality?

Many people are not aware of what their personality is. You are the person who is on the journey and your personality is going to affect how others will interact with you. Having that awareness of your personality allows you to be effective in those interactions.

Your personality is made up of personality traits, strengths and weaknesses, and Interests. This part of the life design is to brainstorm, reflect, and document what you already are. A self-inventory process that will form our starting point of creating a plan to move us on our journey to our vision.

Capabilities and habits, which are also part of our personality will be addressed separately as they are abilities that you actively create.

A couple of definitions for personality traits.

traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion.
source: Saul Kassin, (2003). Psychology. USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Knowing your personality traits is important in crafting an effective life design. There are many personality tests available to identify your main personality traits. The more specific personality traits are simply a matter of self-reflection.

Examples of Personality Traits

Positive Traits

Neutral Traits

Negative Traits

Strengths / Talents

Our strengths and talents are the things we are naturally good at.

When we live a life where we are maximizing the strengths and talents that we enjoy, we have a fulfilling life. This gives our lives joy and meaning.

Just because you are naturally good at something does not mean it needs to be part of your life design. You need to pursue the talents that you are interested in, that bring you joy and happiness, that align with your life’s vision and life’s values.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are the things we are not naturally good at. It is generally recommended that you create ways of minimizing your weaknesses, not try to turn weaknesses into strengths. It is a far better use of your time to work on your strengths. Those things that you are naturally good at you will naturally learn faster.

Interests

Interests are simply anything you find interesting. They can range from TV shows you like to items on your long-term bucket list. They can be topics you are interested in, sports, non-fiction books, activities, art, etcetera. It is out of these interests that themes and patterns emerge that can help form your life design.

How Personality Fit Into Your Life Design

Awareness is a powerful thing.

Understanding who you are now and who you need to be to live your vision identifies the gap that needs to be crossed to get to your vision.

Your personality is part of what you need to take into account when determining what your vision for life is and how you are going to go about getting there.

A life path that is congruent with your personality has less friction, brings more of you to your journey, and allows you to grow more as a person.

An effective life design is one that incorporates your personality, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. The parts of your personality become a valuable resource when planning your life design.

When you are living a life aligned with your personality you will be happier and more fulfilled. You will be more motivated to work at sustaining that lifestyle.

When you are working at sustaining the lifestyle you are likely going to start to move your lifestyle to the next level.

Journal Your Personality

Awareness is a powerful thing. Journaling is a method of getting things out of your head and documented. This process requires you to formulate and organize your thoughts. Once in your journal, you will be more aware of who you are.

You might be surprised by what is written. There is a myriad of emotional responses that may come from seeing who you are in written form. Either way, this gives you the starting point for determining who you want to be.

You have a vision for your life and part of that vision is the type of person you want to be. What traits do you need to strengthen, what weaknesses do you need to mitigate, what strengths will serve you the best? These are all questions you need to ask to create your plan to reach your vision, and these questions are rooted in who you are now.