How Your Personality Can Help You Succeed in Life

You know how certain personality traits make people suitable for certain jobs. For example, one person could have extraordinary social skills but lack emotional regulation, while another person may lack social confidence but have a remarkable ability to regulate themselves emotionally.

It’s no coincidence some jobs even make you take their personality tests to see if you’re the right fit for a particular job. Knowing this aspect helps them know you as a person and predict your future success within a job.

But it’s not just your personality that plays a role in the hiring process. Personality can tell much more than predicting your job success. Your personality can predict how successful in life you will be in general, not just in work. The level of success in other areas of your life — your social interactions, your work ethic, your level of commitment, your discipline, your level of tenacity — can be measured by your personality too.

Your Personality Is Within Your Control

Certain personality traits increase your chances of success while others ruin it. But the good news, you’re in control over your personality. As the new research points out, you can change your personality to a degree to effect better outcomes.

One post written by Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D. in Psychology Today, explains that certain personality traits can hold people back from success. She pointed out a few personality traits that are associated with problematic life, such as impaired social functioning, the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, and decreased satisfaction in life. Knowing where you are as far as personality traits are concerned can help you be more aware of them.

How to Identify Your Personality Flaws

Before you attempt to change anything within yourself, the first step you need to take is to identify your problem areas. To help you determine which personality problems apply to you, you can take a simple 26-question assessment developed by Whitbourne. This is an intrapersonal test where you answer questions regarding yourself — the problems that occur within you that don’t involve another person. For each item on the list, you would rate yourself on a scale from 0 (not a problem) to 3 (serious problem). The questions within the test are based on the 7 scales below:

• Emotion dysregulation (difficulty managing stress and intolerant of frustration)
• Internalizing (sadness and self-criticism)
• Will to achieve (lack of direction and distractibility)
• Externalizing (acting out in risky behavior)
• Scrupulousness (rigidity and perfectionism)
• Fantasy proneness (getting lost in fantasies)
• Apathy (lack of enthusiasm or strong emotions)

Anyone can look at this list and identify their problem areas. I’m sure you’ll find one or two areas that apply to you. For example, I won’t lie if I say that self-criticism is my weakness. Often I’m being too critical of myself but I’m learning to be more lenient and forgive myself more.

After all, we as humans are not perfect and anyone can have flaws in their character. But the good thing about knowing what they are is that you can start working on them right away. Acknowledging your weaknesses helps you to take the step forward in the right direction.

As Whitbourne points out,

“Gaining insight into your tendencies to thwart your own chances of success is an important first step in short-circuiting a self-defeating vicious cycle. You may never be able to solve all your intrapersonal problems, but gaining insight into their effect on your life can help you be that much more likely to gain long-term fulfillment.”

Once you identify your flaws, you can take steps to overcome whatever problems you’re struggling with in life. Maybe you want to improve your social interactions with people, maybe you have perfectionist tendencies that are holding you back and preventing you from achieving your dreams. Or maybe when faced with stress you resort to risky unhealthy behaviors, such as overeating, consuming alcohol, or resorting to drugs. Don’t be ashamed of being honest with yourself — honesty will be your best friend.

The Takeaway

Your level of success in personal and professional life depends a lot on your personality type. But certain personality traits can put you at risk for problems in life and decrease your level of satisfaction. Luckily, you can change the trajectory of your life by identifying your personality flaws. Being in control of your personality can set you up for success in life.

While you may not solve all your problems at once, gaining insight into the areas you struggle with can help you become more aware of yourself. After you’ve identified your problem areas, you can work toward improving yourself.