What do you see for your life in the future?
Are you happy? Are you healthy? Do you have the successful career, loving family and lavish holidays that you've always wanted?
When you think of the type of person that has the life you desire, are they the same as you? Or are they a totally different personality type to you?
Do you have the skills, beliefs, money, support, knowledge and experience to be that kind of successful?
For most of us -if we even dare to dream that big- the answer is usually a big NO... I'm not the type of person that can have those things- I'm not smart enough, confident enough, savvy enough or experienced enough- so this must mean... I can't have those things... Right? WRONG!!
Your goals create your personality
We often think that our personality is who we are and that once we find the personality 'box' we fit into, we're in it for life. We believe that our personality determines what we are capable of in life. This, while it has been true for a large proportion of the population, thankfully, isn't actually the case.
Contrary to popular belief, our personalities are not exactly the same at all times but change depending on our stage in life, our experiences and our situation year to year, day to day and even hour to hour. Just think of how different your personality is around your family compared with when you're around your friends- or how you behave in a work setting vs a social setting. Think about how much you've changed over the last decade... over the last two!!
In the book Personality Isn't Permanent, author, Benjamin Hardy, suggests that your goals- not your past- shape your identity, and that your identity should be intentionally designed, based on your desired future self.
How do you do that?
Personality traits run on a sliding scale, rather than in distinct categories, which means you have all personality traits- it's where you tend to sit on that scale, that determines how you behave.
The problem with some personality profiling systems is the idea that if you are one thing, you can't be the opposite. Take extraversion for example. Society tends to tell us that you are either an introvert OR an extravert- and that if you're an introvert, it means that you don't like extravert things, or if you're an extravert, you don't like introvert things.
The truth is that we all slide along the scale of introversion to extraversion depending on our situation and the results we want to get. In a room full of people you don't know or like very much, you may be more introverted but, in a room full of people you love and are comfortable around, you'll be much more extraverted. Both are true to who you are in each context.
I've recently come across a personality profiling system that allows you to code peoples personalities quickly and accurately, and understands that you are not always going to be acting from the values of the same personality type.
It helps you understand your own personality type, including your likes, dislikes and strengths, as many other systems do. But this one also understands that you are all four codes (types) at the same time, and you draw on those values depending on your situation.
{The bonus with this system, is that you can code other people's personalities and understand exactly how to communicate with them by speaking the language of their code! But, that's a topic for another blog, so if you want to know more, feel free to reach out!}
The important thing about this system is that once you know about the 4 codes, you realise that you are not one or the other- you are all four in different amounts. This means you can draw on the strengths of each code whenever you need them, rather than discounting your abilities, based on the strengths required that usually belong to a different personality type.
When creating your vision for the future, imagine what you could achieve if you believed you didn't need to be a certain 'type' of person, but rather chose to think that you could draw on different aspects of each personality trait in your personality whenever you needed them. Does your future look a bit different then?
When you decide what you want in your future- whether you dare to dream big or not- imagine the types of traits and values this future version of you has and needed to get to where they are. When you make a decision as your current self that will either lead you to-or away from- this desired self, you can ask yourself what part of future-me's personality do I need to draw on to take this step?
Before we go any further, you can check out your own personality code by clicking this link and sliding the values cards in order of most important to least important to you. Then if you'd like a free personality report, simply enter your name and email at the bottom and hit submit.
How did you go? I'd love for you to leave a comment with your code at the bottom of the page!
While your code gives you an idea of what your strengths are likely to be, you can still draw on the strengths you have that are more common to the other codes. So, when you hit a road block on your way to your dream future life, you can often solve the problem by asking 'what strengths do I need to draw on to solve this puzzle?'
Are you getting lost and disorganised along the way? Draw on your Blueprint strengths and create a system that helps you stay on track.
Are you getting stuck and losing momentum? Draw on Action's flexibility and improvise to push through.
Lost motivation? Draw on your Nurturing ability to inspire and coach yourself through the next best step.
Not working the way you thought it would? Use your Knowledge skills to analyse what isn't working and trial better ways to move forward.
These are all skills you probably have at least a little bit of in your personality (unless, perhaps if it's your last code!) but when you come across a problem that requires a strength you just don't currently possess, you can draw on the strengths of other peoples personalities.
Again, when you understand the strengths of each code, you'll know that you can draw on your Nurturing friend to give you some inspiration and motivation, draw on your Knowledge friend to do the research and analyse the data, draw on your Blueprint friends to come up with systems to help you organise your time, or draw on an Action friend to pull things together and create that momentum.
BLUEPRINT STRENGTHS- Organisation, sequential thinking, planning, logisitcs, following systems, discipline, commitment.
ACTION STRENGTHS- Flexibility, building teams, creating momentum, handling crises, improvising, promoting, having fun
NURTURING STRENGTHS- coaching, encouraging, inspiring, communication, empathy, training, people skills
KNOWLEDGE STRENGTHS- Problem solving, rationality, exercising willpower, abstract thinking, analysis, searching for a better way, strategic thinking
We can solve almost all of our current problems from our future-self perspective. Just ask the simple question: WWFMD?- What Would Future Me Do? What strengths does future me have, and how can I draw on them right now to solve this problem?
You might be surprised at just how close you already are to being your future self!