Do The Personalities Put People in a Box?

When people are resistant to taking a Personality Profile, whether it be the Wired That Way Profile or some other system, they often use the excuse that they don’t want to be put in a box. Or, they claim that such programs pigeon-hole people. While this may be true of some other approaches, it is not true for The Personalities. In fact, once a person determines his or her natural Personality, we actually encourage growth and maturity by emphasizing that folks work to develop strengths that are outside of his or her natural set of traits.

You are Here

On the actual Personality Profile, online or the paper version, we have a section titled “You Are Here.” There we liken the results you receive from taking the Personality Profile to the “you are here” marker you may find on a map when touring a new city or shopping in a mall. That marker helps you identify where you are. From there, you can figure out where you want to go and determine the best route to get you there.

Overcome Your Weaknesses

Using the Personality Profile tells you who you are naturally. But just like the marker on the map, who you are naturally is not where you want to stay. Your Personality Profile score helps you identify the starting place. Through the accompanying charts and support materials, you will see lists of strengths and weaknesses common to your Personality. Seeing your weaknesses clearly listed for you gives you an obvious path for growth and maturity. The first step is to work to overcome your weaknesses.

Perhaps, for example, as a Popular Sanguine (Yellow), you are always late. When others complain about it, you laugh it off saying that just how you are. While that may be true, you don’t have to stay in that box. You can grow and mature. Seeing that trait as a weakness, that forces others to accommodate for you, can be eye-opening. You can make a conscious choice to work on being on time—start getting ready earlier, cut out an errand or two that you’d intended to do before the scheduled appointment, etc.

In a different person, a Perfect Melancholy (Blue), being critical may be one of the issues you need to address. Because you naturally look for perfection, when someone, often a spouse or colleague, doesn’t meet your high expectations, you withhold a compliment or praise and instead point out what should have, or could have, been better. You view it as being helpful, so he or she can do it better next time. When in fact, the criticism often makes those around you give up as they can never be good enough. Awareness that criticism is a weakness, can help you bring balance into your responses by looking for the good and responding to it.

Develop Additional Strengths

In addition to working to smooth out some of your rough edges (your weaknesses), the ultimate goal is to develop strengths from each of the other “boxes.” Especially from the Personalities that are opposite from your natural strengths and weaknesses (see above graphic). In my case, I’ve learned to be organized and on time. Traveling all over the country giving speeches, I’ve had to put forth the effort to develop systems that work for me so I pack everything I need. I must get to the airport on time—airplanes do not wait for anyone. People often comment on how organized I am. Chuckling to myself, I think “if she could just see my desk!” But, in the important areas, I am organized. It is something I have learned, something I’ve worked on.

Linda explained it this way: “The Personality Profile helped me bring balance to my life. When I first took the Profile I was so high in Popular Sanguine, I had no awareness. I needed to work to bring the strengths of the other three Personalities into my life. I am still the same person naturally, but I have developed positive traits from each Personality–which keeps me on even keel. Looking at my weaknesses and working to have balance in my life has grown me in so many ways. It gives me the freedom to be my best. The Personality Profile helped take away my weaknesses and created awareness for awesome growth in my life.”

Grow and Mature

Remember, this does not mean that your Personality changes. It does mean that as an intelligent human being, a caring individual, you can grow and mature. When facing difficulties, your natural Personality becomes more evident. Addressing this topic, one of our Certified Personality Trainers, Sharon Marshall Lockett, who specializes in grief issues, says: “When you finally learn to love and embrace the person God made you to be, you have the self-esteem and power to step outside your box anytime you need to. But under stress, you always go home to heal.”

When used as a tool for growth, as intended, The Personalities do not put you in a box. Instead, they actually help you out of the box, so you become a more rounded individual, a more balanced person.