A new blog series from Haulwen Nicholas author of The Book of Personality Tests - preferences and comfort zones
Hello and welcome,
Tell me about your ideal day? The sort of day that makes you feel energised?
Is it a day spent with friends, or a day spent reading a book?
Think of those days when you feel really comfortable. Where life feels easier?
Those are often the days when you are working in harmony with your preferences and yet so few of us really truly know our preferences and truly know our comfort zone.
Let's start with preferences - you have a preference for writing with your left or your right hand. But you also know that if you write with your non-preferred hand that it is possible. So if you broke your preferred hand, you know you could learn to write with your non-preferred hand, however, it would take a lot more time and effort to do so. You would feel very tired initially until you had practiced using your non-preferred hand.
I am left-handed, but I know should I injure my left hand I could write and do other things with my right hand, and that over time, and with practice, it would get easier to do so. The same applies to personality types we all have a preference for one personality type over another. It doesn't mean we can't do the other preferences, it just means some feel more comfortable.
So now let's talk about the comfort zone, it's often discussed in derogatory terms as though being in your comfort zone shows a lack of ambition or impetus - "get out of your comfort zone" and if you Google comfort zone you get headings such as "6 reasons why your comfort zone is holding you back" "7 reasons why getting out of your comfort zone is a must" "how the comfort zone is ruining your life" - although there are some valid points in these articles, we are also living in a time where people are feeling more and more overwhelmed. So perhaps this constant pressure to work away from our comfort zone and our preferences isn't such a good thing after all?
When you identify your personality type preferences it helps you to identify where your comfort zone is. This is a good thing. Your comfort zone is where you go to recharge your batteries. If you operate outside it, consistently, as you are encouraged to in the world you live in, then you are going to be exhausted. Understanding your personality type and your preferences helps you to find that comfort zone. How can you get out of a comfort zone if you don't know what is within it and what is outside it? Personality types help you to identify this, and then, when you are ready and you've figured out where you are now and what are your preferences, you can see how you can slowly expand your comfort zone. At your pace, with no pressure from the world around you.
So many people I know are suffering burnout and overwhelm, I am one of those people. Determining my personality type helped me to stop and recognise my comfort zone, and with it, helped me to recognise what I need to do to energise myself.
Personality types are not about putting people in a box, they are about identifying their preferences, so they can learn where to recharge their batteries and recognise where they have opportunities for growth.
There is no wrong or right personality type. And you probably already know what you are, but there is something about taking a quiz and reading words that describe you, that is comforting. And remember, if it doesn't read right to you, then it's because you've answered the questions perhaps when you are operating using your learned preferences. I for years came out as an ENTJ on Myers Briggs ® type testing, but it never felt right, I then trained in it and learned that you should do the best fit analysis too and I am an INFP (3 of my letters different, no wonder I burnt out). Now I embrace who I am, my true nature, and I go there to recharge, I learn new skills and do things that expand my comfort zone, but I also know when to pause on that expansion, stop and recharge. I have the power now to know when to stop.
Over this series of blogs, I'll introduce you to some of the personality type tests out there and explain a bit of their history and how you can use them to help you with your life.
magical wishes
Haulwen Nicholas
Life Coaching with a hint of witchery
My book The Book of Personality Test is available at all good bookstores.
Sign up for daily inspiration via email HERE.
Comentarios