Personality and productivity are intimately connected. Knowing ones personality type can help people perform better in any area of life.
The word personality comes from the Greek word “persona,” meaning mask. A personality is a mask we essentially wear.
As a person, a human being, each of us has different masks, today often called hats, that we wear. Although we are one mind, body, and soul, different parts of our lives require and demand different parts of ourselves.
Hope, optimism, and perseverance are critical characteristics of a high-performance and productive person in many work situations. As long as the person keeps working, that person will more or less succeed within certain boundaries. This, however, is not true when it comes to romance. Despite what our popular romance stories may tell us, we can not wear a person down to love us. Persevering while remaining hopeful and optimistic will more likely result in a restraining order than a romance story. Although hopeful perseverance may help work, it can provide no, if not negative, results.
Performing well, from work to romance requires understanding the reality (the context and constraints). It also, however, requires being aware of our natural preference towards performance (our personality).
Personality
Abraham Maslow created the world-famous Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. He said that “if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything will begin to look like a nail.”
Our preferred style of performance, you could say, is our personality. Beginning in childhood and up until our young adult years, we subconsciously develop a preferred approach to solving problems. We learned a way that, for the most part, worked, but then assume that that approach works for everything (e.g., optimistic perseverance).
In some situations, falling down and getting back up, again and again, is respectable and will likely lead to a strong will and determination. Our culture does elevate people who do not give up. However, falling down and getting back up in sports and athletics can be a terrible idea. Unless the fall is minor, getting back up right away from an injury can cause further injury and permanent damage in the future.
Read Six Ways To Improve Productivity At Work
Performance and Productivity
In whatever aspect of life, there is, and we have, each of us has an innate understanding of what it means to be performing-high and productive. The most straightforward example is the business owner who builds a company from scratch into the largest, most profitable company in its industry.
However, we know that this definition of performance and productivity can not be given to other life areas. Being a high-performance and productive spouse does not mean you have multiple spouses or a constant stream of people offering proposals.
It does not mean producing the most babies, though that definition did exist at one point. Performance and productivity when it comes to love and marriage require vastly different measures.
Or take, for example, your day off or vacation—a productive one would entail rest, fun, delight, and peace. A day off or holiday in which you managed to close a deal or achieve something at work would make you a low-performance or unproductive person.
Read: 9 Ways How Simple Morning Exercise Can Boost Your Productivity
The Power of Personality in Performance and Productivity
When it comes to life, being a high-performance and productive person in every area of life, we need more than our hammer. No matter how beautiful that hammer is.
Regardless if it is made of gold or mithril, you will not be able to screw things in or out. Whether you like it or not, you live in a multi-context world that requires multiple tools, and in a way, a multi-personality.
Read: How Your Diet Affects Your Productivity: The Scientific Links
You do not need multiple personalities. It would be best if you had a multi-personality. A personality that is flexible and can adapt to the different contexts and roles you find yourself in.
Knowing your personality type or what tool you have grown to develop and regularly use allows you to assess the different contexts and the required tools. By knowing you have a hammer, you can begin realizing that screws are not nails.
Sure, you managed to get by in life by smashing screws into things, but imagine how much better it would be if you had a screwdriver?
Written by: Ryan Lui Originally appeared on: Ryanlui.com Republished with permission
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