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Understand Yourself and Others BetterPeople we know intimately – our family. People we know well – our friends. People we see often – neighbours, co-workers. And people with whom we just have a fleeting interaction – anyone we meet at random as we go through our daily routines. In spite of being around people daily, we do not really know what makes other people "tick" – often we do not even fully know what makes ourselves "tick." Some people are good at understanding other people, but never quite find out how to understand themselves. They can help themselves by learning to better understand who they are , which in turn will help them understand others. Others know themselves pretty well, but just don't "get" where others are coming from. In either case, life would be better all around if we all could comprehend ourselves and other people.
Personality Assessments can help you know yourself much better. It is important that you don't just get a "type" or a "color", but that you really know what the assessment is saying about you. Understanding other people can be trickier since most are unlikely to do an assessment test so you can read the results! We make assumptions. We slot people into categories that relate them to other people we have previously met, because they have something in common. But just because Joe and Pat both love Karate and fitness pursuits in general, does not mean that Joe also has Pat’s easily inflammable temper, or that Pat has Joe’s love of Sushi! Real people seldom fit into categories of any kind. We all have our own peculiarities. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. Nobody is perfect and few are all bad. You will make mistakes. So will I, and so will everyone else on the planet. By developing compassion and empathy, both for yourself and others, you will find it easier to accept the problems that come your way. It has been said that what we dislike most in others, we also have in ourselves. Think about that next time someone does something that irks you. Do you, perhaps in a slightly different way, do the same thing? For example, if you really dislike the way a co-worker appears to be jealous of you … do you feel jealous at times about someone else? Often it’s the reflection of yourself you are finding you dislike. After all, why would you care if someone else is feeling uncomfortable and jealous of you, so long as they were not acting it out in a way that negatively affects you? By realizing more about who we really are and learning more about who other people are – and how to recognize differences and similarities – we are in a stronger position to make the very best of our own gifts and strengths. Just being aware of personality differences alone, even if no changes are made, can help people get along better in even difficult circumstances. Understanding promotes achievement Achieve higher goals faster. Achieve goals that give you more personal satisfaction. Get along better with other people. Be more successful in managing your life in general. These are all things that comprehending people better can achieve in your life.
We all process the events in our life through the past experiences we have had. If you have had a really bad experience at the dentist, you may be dreading your next visit. But your cousin, who has never had a single filling or extraction, may find it a breeze to go along for his six monthly check-up. You are processing through differing experiences, thus your feelings and reaction to a visit to the dentist are very different. We also tend to process things through our “training and upbringing.” Someone who, growing up in a semi-affluent home, has been taught all her life that only designer-label clothes are “good enough” for her, may look down on someone who buys consignment clothing. But the person who is buying second hand clothes may have a totally different take on it. They are creative, artistic and find the one of a kind, unique finds in a thrift shop to be much more desirable than the “choose your size from a rack of identical items” method of even the more expensive department stores. There is no right or wrong here, just differences.
It is important not to judge other people by exterior factors, but it can also be difficult not to do so. If we could just understand the other people, if we could just understand ourselves we would behave differently and get along so much better.
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