WORKSHEET PACK by artists Lillian Gray

Identify your Personality Type. These worksheets and videos are part of our Visual Diary Series on Youtube. The Visual Diary Series aims to help you develop your personal style and message as an artist. Be sure to check it out.

How to get to know yourself better checklist: 

1. Determine your values.
2. Identify your personality type. 
3. Identify and develop your personal metaphor.
4. Discover your strengths and weaknesses. 
5. Write your life’s purpose statement.
6. Strategic Artist Road Map

Worksheet 2: Identify your Personality Type  

In this worksheet, I help you identify your personality type. I’ve been drawn to studying personality types since I turned 16. It has fascinated me ever since. It latched onto Ancient Greek Culture and stumbled upon the four main temperaments they defined thousands of years ago. Sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic. These are the four main quadrants. I became a little obsessed with it because it gave me so much insight into understanding my close family members and our conflict. I was boarding for High School, so the myriad personality types in my dormitory and their interactions were fascinating.

When meeting artists, I have found some quite resistant to personality typology. Typical artist with the “I won’t be placed in a box. You cannot define me. Don’t you dare label me?”  

These responses often make me chuckle. They are already revealing their types by saying this. Yes, we cannot fit the world’s population into four boxes; no one is trying to. Stop thinking about boxes; it’s more of a massive dance floor with lots of freedom and options. So calm down. We have these tools because it presents us with a starting point. It provides the language to express ourselves better and define who we are. They are not there to mould you into something you are not. Life is not black and white. It’s incredibly complex, with a million shades and colours. However, we need to simplify it for our brains to process and understand it.

There are various personality typologies out there. It can be confusing and hard to decide which one to use. Below I look at some of the most distinguished Personality Tests and methodologies.

1. Carl Jung’s personality types

Probably all modern theories and methods are based on Carl Jung’s studies. He was a well-known psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is celebrated today as the father of analytical psychology.

 In the book Psychological Types, Jung proposed four main functions of consciousness:

• Two perceiving or non-rational functions: Sensation and Intuition
• Two judging or rational functions: Thinking and Feeling

The functions are modified by two main attitude types: extraversion and introversion.

2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

One of the most prominent personality tests is the  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It is an evolution of Jung’s Theories. Myers-Briggs is based on four categories:  Introversion/Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perception. One letter from each category is taken to produce a four-letter test result, such as “INTJ” or “ESFP”. It can generate 16 unique personalities. I have found this to confusing when working with large groups of people. Some people are drawn to this model, however. If you want to know more about this method, you can read about the 16 personality types here.

3. Assigning different trees to each personality type.

A children’s book that has impacted my life is “Grow children with character” by Hettie Britz. It assigns a tree to each quadrant. It explores what compost allows each tree to flourish and grow. It also looks at what kind of pruning is needed for that specific tree. This visual representation has been outstanding, and I have often used it to explain personality types to people. They seem to understand the four types and the hybrid combinations instantly. 

4. The Enneagram

The most profound Personality Analysis I have found is the Enneagram of Personality. It is a thorough model of the human psyche. Instead of four, it has nine interconnected personality types. Starting with the Enneagram can be pretty daunting. At first glance, it looks like some cult diagram. I can assure you it is not. It is highly thought-provoking and more complex; however, once you understand it, it is a potent tool. It is worth spending the time and effort to study the Enneagram.

What I love most about it is that it teaches you how to grow and draw from other personality types. It also identifies each number in 3 levels. For instance, there is a massive difference between a healthy number 8 and a depressed number 8.  If you are as fascinated by personal development as I am, I would encourage you to explore the Enneagram in depth.   

5. Personality Color Indicator

Carol Ritberger defined another personality type classification using four colours: Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green. She published several books about personalities and management. As seen on their website, the Personality Color Indicator (PCI)™ identifies predominant personality traits as they define how you gather information, process information, and make decisions. If you want to find out your strengths, weaknesses, and physical health, you could do this quick and easy quiz here.

6. Insights Discovery

The Insights Discovery methodology is based on the axis developed by Carl Jung. It uses a simple and memorable four-colour model to help people understand their style, their strengths and the value they bring to the team.  They call these the colour energies, and it’s the unique mix of Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green and Cool Blue energies, which determines how and why people behave the way they do.

• Red are extrovert thinkers.
• Yellow are extrovert feelers.
• Blue are introverted thinkers.
• Green are introverted feelers.

This method is popular due to its simplicity. It is often used in corporations and for large teams. 

Fiery Reds

Red are the extravert thinkers. Their strengths are thinking objectively, being able to separate tasks from the person, and they are competitive. Their motto is: Let’s do it now, and on a good day, red people are determined to achieve results. They are good at managing a team based on instruction.

Stress situations for red people arise due to a lack of focus or when it takes a while before a decision is made. When red people experience stress, they get impatient, annoyed or aggressive. It is important to give them control when this happens by taking a decision (or even letting them take it) or calling a time-out.

Sunshine Yellows

Yellow people are extrovert feelers. Compared to red people, they are more personally involved in their decisions and are good at motivating others. Their motto is: Let’s do it together, and on a good day, they know how to motivate others with their enthusiasm.

Yellow people experience stress when they are restricted in their flexibility and when there is no interaction or the possibility of having fun. Yellow people respond to stress by being over-responsive or trying to push their though with many arguments. To escape this situation, yellow people need space to move and save their face, or you can simply distract them by changing the topic.

Earth Greens

Green people are introverted feelers. They strive in an informal setting, and they are the colleagues who ensure relationships between team members are ok. Their motto is: Let’s do it with care, and on a good day, they are patient, relaxed, encouraging and like to share information.

Green people experience stress when people are treated unfairly, when values are at stake, or under time pressure. They respond to stress by being stubborn, resistant or by retreating from the conversation. To help green people escape stressful situations, you need to bring back interpersonal trust using personal contact.

Cool Blue

Blue people, the fourth and final personality type, are task-oriented introvert thinkers. They are strong in following processes and standards and are usually strong in analytics, having an eye for the details. Their motto is: Let’s do it correctly, and on a good day, blue people are formal, precise, careful and ask many questions.

Blue people experience stress when they think bad work is going to be delivered, information is missing, or tasks are being rushed. They respond to this stress by keeping on asking more questions, which can lead to discussions about a lot of minor details.

The help a blue person get out of a stressful situation, it is important to ask him or her for advice and offer emotional support.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: The best thing about these four colours is that THERE IS NOT ONE COLOR BETTER THAN THE OTHER, and the best teams and families even have all of the colours represented. Knowing what your preferred way of working is and the preferred way of your teammates can help you improve your teamwork.

Understanding others’ perceptions of you.

Insights Discovery helps people understand themselves and others to have more respectful, productive and positive working relationships.

• Individuals understand their own and others’ communication preferences
• They can connect better with others to improve collaboration
• They have a common language to help them overcome challenges and conflict

To better understand others’ perspectives, Substitute “On a good day” with “How I see myself” and “On a bad day” with “How they could see me”. This is the key to adapting to others.

You’ll find a more detailed explanation here, where also you’ll read about a second step to dive deeper into the methodology and what is called the eight roles.

The eight personality types uncovered:

Interestingly, most people are not 100% one colour, as both axes can be seen as a spectrum on which you can move from completely left to completely right. However, most people do have one dominant preferred colour. The four personality colours described by Insights Discovery are a great first step in analyzing our personal preferences. It is, however, also possible to dive a level deeper.

The four main colour energies branch out into a mix of eight personality types listed below.

Red – The Director

Extraverted Thinking – Results Focused, Decisive, Assertive

The Director (red) is an extrovert thinker. They are results-oriented, assertive and good at taking decisions. The director wants to keep order in his team and prefers using hard data to measure productivity and progress. They also like competition and being in control and always strive for success. Their greatest fear is to lose control and/or to fail.

Orange – The Motivator

Extraverted Intuition – Drive, Enthusiasm, Positive Thinking

The Motivator (orange) is the extrovert intuitive person. These are the positive thinkers, the enthusiastic people who like motivating others to move forward. They have the gift of finding connections between different events and translating them into new opportunities. They like adventure and unlimited possibilities and strive for prestige and respect. Their greatest fear is to be restricted or to lose respect.

Yellow – The Inspirer

Extraverted Feeling – Persuasive, Creative, People Skills.

The Inspirer (yellow) is the extravert feeler. These are the creative and convincing people who have people skills. They are not only good at sharing their feelings but also have a gift for reading what other people might need to be satisfied. Inspirers are the people who make sure everybody in the group feels comfortable and they love the interaction. Inspirers strive for approval and popularity, and they fear rejection and loneliness.

Light Green – The Helper

Helper: Introverted Intuition with Extraverted Sensing – Flexible and helps others, sharing ideas.

The Helper (lime) is the true feeler.  They help others, share ideas and are the most flexible. Helpers enjoy intimacy and affection, strive for human connections and like to make a difference in the world. Their greatest fears are being rejected or being isolated. The helpers usually score high on either the combination of introvert-intuition or extravert-sensing.

Dark Green – The Supporter

Supporter: Introverted Feeling, Listens, Loyal, Team Approach.

The Supporter (green) is the introvert feeler. These are the good listeners, the ones that are loyal to the team and like working in groups. Their gift is simply knowing what is the right or wrong thing to do and knowing what drives people by listening to their gut. They love using this gift to help others and strive for harmony and acceptance. Their greatest fears are conflict and change.

Light Blue – The Co-Ordinator

Introverted Sensing – Planning, Organising, Time Management

The coordinator (light blue) is a person who scores high in introversion and sensing. He is the king in both time management and planning. They are usually good at learning from past experiences to prevent the same problem from occurring again. Coordinators love structure and safety and strive for correctness. They fear risk and chaos.

Blue – The Observer

Introverted Thinking – Sets Standards, Product Knowledge, Analysis

The Observer (blue) is an introverted thinker, and he is good at defining structures and analyzing data and is known for his knowledge about the product being sold. Observers enjoy getting to the bottom of an idea or a problem and finding the exact right terminology to communicate it. They love logic and facts and strive for understanding and objective truth. They fear confusion and time pressure.

Purple – The Reformer

Purple: Reformer: Extraverted Sensing with Introverted Intuition – Determination, monitoring performance, discipline.

The Reformer (purple) is a true thinker. They are determined colleagues who are good at keeping track of performance and are usually very disciplined. They love solving problems, strive for perfection and excellence and therefore fear that work is not done properly. Reformers usually score high on either introvert-intuition or extravert-sensing.

The Science behind it

If the truth is told, all these tests are not science, or as some psychologists say, they are junk science, at least referring to MBTI.

Read this Adam Grant article from Psychology Today about MBTI. In summary, we all probably agree to recognise that four letters don’t do justice to anyone’s identity.

Even if they are not science, I will still vouch for these personality tests. It provides us with a starting point for understanding each other, a common language communicates our differences and similarities. It also helps us to identify our blind spots and grow. I believe this to be their main usage.

Conclusion

Maybe you have never heard about Personality Tests and Methodologies, but most are based on similar concepts and goals. All those models are not looking to evaluate skills, they are useful for knowing behaviours and evaluating preferences.

It’s important to note that there aren’t better people’s personalities or better colours than others. We have a predominant personality or colour, but we generally have different quantities of all the available functions and attitudes (we are multi-coloured). Sometimes when we feel that we could fit in many of them, it could drive us to what’s called Barnum or Forer effect.

Based on those classifications, you could understand and react to attitudes, affinities, or behaviours. And regarding management, it could help you identify which kinds of tasks are most suitable, which skills should be improved, and how to adapt better to others. The goal is to communicate better.

These personality tests are tools available to help. You could give them a try, even as a game.