Personal Insight Paper

Through the StrengthsQuest progam Gallup has identified 34 themes that are the key to gaining direction in one’s life, building self confidence and finding success. This program helps to identify a person’s top five themes, which allows them to utilize their personal profile to benefit them academically, professionally, and personally. The Gallup StrengthsFinder Profiler identified my signature themes to be Achiever, Woo, Includer, Positivity, and Consistency. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter investigates personality differences, temperament and character to distinguish one from the other.I was classified as an ESFJ, a Provider.

The Achiever theme accurately explains my drive to succeed and my determination to reach goals that I have set forth. I have always had a competitive spirit and strong desire to be the best at whatever I set my mind to. Whether it’s with sports or being nominated for an award, I want to win. When I was in the military, my supervisor s would say you want something done and done right; I was the one they would go to. They called me “their go to girl”. I would never deny or change this part of my personality.By being an achiever I have accomplished many wonderful things and it has helped me get where I am today.

I can see where this part of my personality can be a negative attribute or an area of challenge, I find myself being very competitive and if I fail at something I am very hard on myself almost to the point of being devastated. The second theme of my profile is Woo. “Woo stands for winning others over” (Anderson, Clifton, & Schreiner, 2006, p. 69). While reading the main points of this theme, it was like I was reading a description of myself. I could not believe how accurately this theme described a dominate part of my personality.Woos are drawn to strangers, we want to know their names and get to know as much about them as we can.

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Woos are not intimidated by strangers, we are drawn to them. As a woo, I am not scared or timid around people I do not know, on the contrary, I enjoy meeting new people, talking with them and getting to know them. I love hearing their stories and the history behind the experiences that have made them who they are. As a woo I am constantly gaining more knowledge, wisdom, and an understanding of the people and things around me that I may not have known before.The only drawback to this theme is that I find myself having so many friends or rather acquaintances, that I only know the superficial aspects of their personalities and lives. I find myself envying others who have a small group of friends because they have a deeper connection with them, they know what makes them tick and they have a closeness about them that resembles that of a family. I would not necessarily change this aspect of my personality because I thoroughly enjoy being friendly and meeting new people and without the woo factor, I wouldn’t have these wonderful experiences daily.

I would like to work on building deeper connections with a smaller group of friends and develop that closeness that is missing from my life. My next signature theme is the Includer, which is another very accurate description of my personality. The includer does not like to leave anybody out, we are very conscious of others feelings, and we don’t pass judgment on others. I am very aware of other peoples’ feelings and I take it upon myself to make sure people feel comfortable. The includer does not cast judgment on someone based on their race, sex, nationality, or religion (Anderson, Clifton, & Schreiner, 2006).Since I can remember I have always felt very strongly about these issues. I believe that people should respect each other regardless of their differences.

I often have a hard time understanding why people do not think the same way. Being an includer comes natural to me and I believe it is common sense and I get very offended and often hurt when I witness people passing judgment and not treating others with respect. My mother always tells me “I want to save the world and carry the world’s burden on my shoulders. ” My fourth theme was identified as Positivity.It is pretty self explanatory and I was honored it was one of my five themes. I strive to be positive by smiling and speaking to every person that I cross paths with. I try to always give my children, friends, and co-workers uplifting words of encouragement although sometimes I fall short.

While I was reading the section on positivity, I was able to relate with the points, that people in this category are generous with praise, quick to smile, and try to see the positive in every situation (Anderson, Clifton, & Schreiner, 2006).I can definitely see that positivity is one of the main aspects of my personality, and one of the aspects that I find to be the most rewarding. Lastly, my fifth theme is Consistency. At first I was unsure how this theme fit with my personality, but after reading the section in the book it made perfect sense to me. People who value consistency are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their situation in life is (Anderson, Clifton, & Schreiner, 2006). I find it offensive when I witness people being judged, treated differently, or unfairly due to their financial status, race, sex, religion, etc.The book states that, we see ourselves as guardians against it (Anderson, Clifton, & Schreiner, 2006).

I find whether I am at work or at home, my friends and family always joke with me about fighting everyone’s battles. I tend to defend people who do not have the courage to stand up for themselves so I wind up fighting the battle for them. This is a trait I am proud to have, although I find that by taking on other people’s problems, or battles, I in turn take on an extra amount of unneeded stress in my own life. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II questionnaire identifies your basic temperament type.At the end of the questionnaire it provides a combination of letters which describe your type of personality. I was identified as an ESFJ, (E) Standing for extraverted, (S) for sensory, (F) for feeling, and (J) for judging (Keirsey, 1998). These combinations of letters help determine your specific type of temperament.

Temperaments are broken down into four groups: Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationals. ESFJ’s are placed under the category of the Guardians. Members of the Guardian group are then broken down into another four groups: Supervisor, Inspector, Provider, and Protector.This test classified me as a Provider. I read the section that described the attributes of the Provider and I felt it was another accurate description of my personality. Providers take it upon themselves to arrange for the physical health and welfare of those in need, yet they are the most social of all the Guardians, and thus are great nurturers and would do well working in intuitions such as schools, churches, hospitals, or social clubs (Keirsey, 1998). Providers are very emotional, conscious of appearances, and take the opinions of others very seriously.

I am a very sensitive person and my feelings are easily hurt. I personally believe that one’s outward appearance is very important and do my best to make sure my children and I are presented in a respectable manner. I also take criticism to heart; I tend to worry too much about what others think of me. ESFJ’s need to be needed, and spend much energy making sure they deserve to be (Keirsey, 1998). Those statements are mostly true of my personality but the section in the book that discusses the roles of a Provider with their family, mates, and children were a perfect fit for me.When I read these paragraphs, I laughed out loud because it was so true of my personality and my beliefs. It was like I was reading an exact description of myself.

I take my role as a mother, wife, sister, and daughter very seriously. I am a very loyal and loving wife and an extremely devoted mother to my children. I am amazed at the accuracy of this test and had quite a an eye opening experience, all the while, learning more about myself. Based on the knowledge and understanding of my strengths and Keirsey profile, I believe that my traits, would contribute greatly to a group or team.I am an achiever who has the drive, energy, and motivation to accomplish any task. The WOO in me, allows me to meet and accept new people easily. I believe my characteristics as an includer are also very important and crucial to being a team player.

I want people to feel included and always try to make them feel comfortable. I understand that people are different and therefore will have different beliefs, but everyone should be treated with respect no matter what the situation. Positivity is another trait that would be beneficial for a team member to possess, I am always smiling and friendly with everyone I meet.I try to be optimistic and bring out the good in every situation even when it is hard for others to see the positive. Consistency is also important because members of a team should be consistent, reliable, and dependable. I strive to be all of those things with the team that I belong to at work. The aspects of my personality that are a challenge for me would be my traits as an achiever.

By being an achiever I can come across as ultra competitive so I have to be conscientious about my competitive nature and try to contain it, understanding that I don’t always have to be the best.I have noticed that my drive for success and achievement on occasion has cast a shadow over the other areas of my personality that may be better suited to a group setting. Being happy for someone else is sometimes a challenge for me but I know that, that is one of my weaknesses and I try to make a conscious effort to control it. I believe that I am blessed to have many attributes that make me a good team player. The journey to self discovery and self understanding has been insightful, fun, and motivating.I have learned to embrace the strengths that I do possess and to try to enhance and strengthen the traits in others that I may be lacking. By better understanding the different personality traits and the different temperaments we can learn from one another and figure out a better way to solve the problems associated with life.

References Anderson, E. "Chip”. , Clifton, D. O. , & Schreiner, L. A. (2006).

StrengthsQuest. New York: Gallup Press. Keirsey, D. (1998). Please Understand Me II, Temperament Character Intelligence. Del Mar: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company.

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