By Sofia Rolim Sibila | 7th May, 2023
Are personality quizzes really worth taking? Do they accurately define who you are? Read on to find out why relying on personality quizzes to define yourself may not be the best idea. Discover how to find your true self through focusing on your strengths with the Strengths Finder test.
After taking over a thousand of BuzzFeed’s most important quizzes, I’m ready to help you find who you are...that's a joke, now you laugh 😂. But really, why are there so many personality quizzes across the internet? Are they really worthy? And if not, why do some many people rely on them to tell them who they are? Let’s dive right into it!
One of the best ways to find out who you are is through BuzzFeed! 😂
Who Are You?
I doubt if there really is a right answer to that question. We all know that no matter how many times we tried, this question could not be answered in a way that made us complete. Then, why do we expect others to properly define who we are?
When taking a random personality test on the internet, our results rely on logic, sometimes developed by a group of professionals, others by some teenagers. But I believe, no matter how trustful it is, we tend to believe it; not only when the results feel off. It’s interesting to acknowledge that. We don’t know who we are but we somehow know when others are wrong about us! It feels weird, doesn’t it? That is because it is.
We can project ourselves into characters, objects, places, or even full descriptions, but they're all just part of something bigger— you.
Knowing that we can better understand how we should try to find who we are: through blocks.
Who are you when working? Who are you when passionate? Who are you when you're tired? Or when you are excited? We are a lot of things!
Beware!
You may agree with what just I wrote but the next time you have a crisis not knowing who you are and who you want to be, you may want to open the MBTI Subreddit; understand your personality, gain a deeper perspective, and instantaneously feel "full". This is why I hate personality tests so much, they're like addictions trying to save us from the grave emptiness of our generation. There isn't a problem in wanting to be "full", but normally the same affirmations that make us happy keep us tied, and happiness doesn't last. In total honesty, I won’t state that you will be happier without these personality tests telling you who you are, because you simply will not. There's nothing more disorienting than not being sure of your own identity. I’ve come across people that can navigate life relying on personality tests but, I personally cannot like many others. So that is why I ask you to be mindful. You are, first of all, yourself. Then, part of yourself may be an INFJ-A Slytherin, a daughter of Athena, and a black coffee (yes, these pieces of information are about me about me; so I hope this explained me better).
But Really, Who Am I?
That sounds all beautiful and all great but, who are you, actually? After all, you started to read this article to discover your true self, not to listen to my aimless perspectives. To find out who you are as a person in terms of your strengths in work and life, the assessment that assisted me the most was the StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Don Clifton (mainly presented as a book). If you can procure the actual book with the real code to take the test, it would be great. If not, I’ll leave a free alternative at the end of the article.
The Strengths Finder
The book narrates the story of a shoemaker that, even while making the best shoes in town, could not be as productive as he wanted to due to the excessive time he need to administrate his store. After finding an able administrator he didn't need to spend too much of his time doing what he was bad at, thus he could be more productive and make many more shoes per week than before. The book revolves around the idea that "we have to spend our time getting better at what we're already good at and, to not linger learning what we dislike. A lot of us are of the notion that we must be perfect in most realms and focus more time on getting better scores in subjects we dislike instead of delving deeper to gain extra information about what we're truly passionate about. The conventional method won't help you become "brilliant", simply because competitiveness inherently reduces chances of being special, and, pursuing something we dislike further limits our potential specialty.
Okay, that may seem obvious, but do you know your strengths? We all may know what we truly despise but only a few of us can take note of what we're good at. In theory, this is why it seems so hard to make decisions related to ourselves; we don't learn to find what we're good at or passionate about. So, the group of psychologists and searchers that developed the StrengthsFinder assessment tried to develop a way to catalogue our strengths. After taking the test, 5 of the 34 strengths they put together will appear as your dominant traits and, by being aware of them you may enhance your life and you might put yourself in a position from where you will feel more excited to traverse forward.
So folks, here is the test and I hope it helps you: https://high5test.com/cliftonstrengths-free/! If you cannot understand how to utilize the results you receive, don't feel shy to ask for help in the comments! That is for today, Bye 👋!
Thumbnail Design by Mudit Jha
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