(Part 4 of a 4-part Series)
Four common barriers to attaining the lifestyle you desire are time, tools, training, and temperament. This is the final discussion in this 4-part series. I will be addressing the barrier of temperament. If you’re just joining this series, I invite you to read parts 1 – 3, as well.
First, let’s establish that I will be addressing temperament from the point of a layperson and how the word is commonly used in general conversation. Other common synonyms of temperament are character, disposition, personality, and temper.
Temperament influences how we interact with our environment. It refers to how we behave when presented with situations, in other words our behavioral style. While personality describes what a person does, as well as why they do certain things. I acknowledge that professionals in sociology, psychology, psychiatry, and medicine operate with a distinct difference in the two words, however, I will be using the terms interchangeably.
Our genes determine our physical traits, like height, eye color, skin color, and body type. However, we can and should work to determine the influences on our behavior – especially learned behavior. It is important to give attention to your temperament because it determines how you interact with your family, the kind of contributions that you make in your community, at work, and the positions you take in society.
For instance, Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig & Korn, described a difficult temperament as a person who is characterized by a negative mood, withdrawal, low adaptability, high intensity, and low regularity. An anxious temperament is a trait that presents early in life and increase the risk of developing anxiety and depressive disorders.
Many times, barriers exist because we are unaware of their presence. Taking on the responsibility of learning more about your temperament, positions you to understand the best approach to address your emotional, social, and learning style and needs.
If you are a person who is stubborn and never seem to learn from your mistakes it could prove costly in your personal and professional life. Recognizing this personality trait could help you maneuver your next project, situation, or encounter differently so you do not take a stance that exhibits inflexibility and rigidity. Both of which could prove detrimental to your progress.
While it was previously believed that people could not change their personalities, recent research in personality science leans to the possibility that personality traits can change if there is persistent intervention.
Let’s talk about how temperament can be a barrier to your success and what can be done to minimize its effects so you can achieve your goals in life.
WHAT WE BELEIVE
While certain personality traits remain stable over time, according to recent studies, other elements change in unique ways. This means that personality is fairly steady or balanced as well as unpredictable – the degree of this change is particular to each individual. This may seem difficult to believe or accept because personality types are inborn and do not change. Being armed with this information equips you with the ability to address the “temperament” barrier. Because individuals can develop traits and habits that differ from their normal personality type or even directly contradict the description of their personality type.
WHAT WE KNOW
- Personality traits are consistent since they are easily influenced by situations.
- The traits of temperament are mostly innate traits that we are born with, although they can be influenced by an individual’s family, culture, or their experiences.
- Researchers agree that an inhibited temperament in infancy predicts a reserved, introverted personality as an adult.
- Issues like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and PTSD can certainly cause personality changes.
Temperament/Personality, Barriers and Remedies
Recognizing how personality affects learning, motivation and success is the best offense so they don’t become barriers. Based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) there are 16 personality types. It is an assessment that divides and defines personality types based on four preferences:
- Extroversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) vs. Perceptive (P)
As stated previously, personality traits are relatively stable over time, however, they can and often do gradually change during one’s life. With this knowledge, there are things we can choose to do to help shape our course.
Are you an extrovert or introvert? Understanding which of these you exhibit will determine how you manage your energy. How you direct your energy is critical, so it doesn’t become a barrier to you accomplishing your goals. If you ignore taking charge of directing your energy, you may have difficulty relating to the world around you. Therefore, knowing whether you are energized by other people and things vs. being energized by your ideas, thoughts, abstractions, or concepts, moves you to a position of empowerment. For instance, what can you do if you define yourself as shy or as having a slow to warm up, temperament? You find that you are uneasy or cautious in new situations or with unfamiliar people. Understanding and recognizing these traits and tendencies about yourself can prove vital to mapping your plans for success. Being armed with the knowledge that, while some of your personality characteristics are fixed and innate, it has been proven that the effect of your genes on your behavior is entirely dependent on the context of your life, as it unfolds day today. Therefore, no one can say what kind of person you will turn out to be or what you will do in life-based solely on genes. This is good news because it means, ultimately, we have a level of accountability that can’t be escaped.
Are you moved by your senses or intuition? Understanding how you process information from the environment is key. Are you someone that’s detailed oriented and relies on facts or do you trust your intuition or instincts, or look for patterns? Again, understanding how you deal with this information better equips you, so your responses do not become barriers. Additionally, since temperament consists of observable personality traits, such as values, characteristic attitudes, your patterns of action or habits of communication can be measured and accessed.
Are you more motivated by your thoughts or feelings? Being aware of how you make decisions is critical because not knowing this could be a barrier. Are you logical, use objective criteria in your decision-making? Do you value fairness? Or, do you focus more on values and human needs? Are you good at persuasion and do you place a premium on harmony? The more you know about what motivates you and how you process and use this information the better you will be at setting goals and setting your priorities. Sometimes when we talk about temperament, we think about skills and techniques which are easier to teach someone. When speaking of temperament or personality as an emotional disposition, we think of it as our mood. So, when it comes to values, beliefs, or attitudes such as calm, composed, pleasant, charming impressionable, sedate, excitable, ferocious, or playful, these are much more challenging to teach.
Are you a judger or perceiver, when it comes to how you approach structure in your life? How you adapt to the outside world is necessary to understand, so it doesn’t become a barrier. Do you plan and adhere to deadlines? Are you self-motivated and decisive? Or, are you spontaneous, curious, appreciate flexibility, disregard deadlines, or find it difficult to complete a task? The better you understand your temperament, personality, and behavior, the more equipped you are to ensure it does not become an obstacle.
In conclusion, you probably will not make dramatic changes in your personality, but the awareness that you can impact the course of your life opens the door to great possibilities.
