3 Advantages of Knowing Your Personality Type

How knowing your personality type can help you in personal and professional life

Have you ever wondered why certain personality types pull you in while others repel you? That’s because each personality is unique. It has certain traits that we find either appealing or repulsive.

Until a while ago, I thought personality types were divided into two categories: introverts and extroverts. As it turned out, I was wrong, and there is much more to that.

Introverts and extroverts are two general categories, but there are many sub-categories in each one. According to the Myers–Briggs classification system, there are 16 personality types.

Each personality type is represented by a code, under each code, you can see a description of the personality it represents. To find out yours, you have to take the test. After I took mine, I learned that I fall into the ISFJ personality type. The code ISFJ stands for Introverted, Observant, Feeling, and Judging personality traits that are typical of my personality.

Knowing your personality type can give you an edge in your personal and professional life. Here are three ways it can help you in life.

Know your strengths and weaknesses

By knowing your personality type, you’ll be able to identify your strong and weak areas. Everybody loves doing things in different ways — no two humans are alike in how we approach things.

Knowing your strengths, you’ll be able to play to them and use them to your advantage — in work and relationships. Likewise, knowing your weaknesses can help you see how they interfere with your life and perhaps help you find ways to minimize their impact on your life.

Knowing the common traits of my personality, I know I’m focused and meticulous. I can use these traits to perfect my skills. For example, I can focus on one activity for a long time to be productive. I also know that structure plays a big part in my life, so having a schedule helps me.

My personality also helps me connect with my emotions on a deeper level. Knowing I score higher on the feeling and intuitive side, I tend to be sensitive and sometimes vulnerable to the outside world. This realization helps me to be more aware of my emotions and keep them in check.

Understand your feelings and actions

Knowing your personality will help you better understand yourself and the people around you. It can give you clues as to why certain people think or feel in a certain way and why and how you think or feel is different from them.

For example, you may wonder, why does being in public or giving a public speech give you so much anxiety while others are so relaxed about it? or why do people feel comfortable making their schedules on the go while you’re so rigid on a structure and like to plan everything out in advance?

Knowing your personality is the key to uncovering your deep self. Cracking that “why” code helps you feel more at ease with yourself and also be open and accepting towards other people’s way of thinking.

To put it in perspective, knowing I’m an ISFT personality type, I know I function at my best when I’m alone. I’m sensitive to noise and outside stimulation and prefer to work in a quiet environment. I also know when I’m stressed I need more alone time to recharge myself. I don’t feel starved when I don’t refuel myself socially in a way extroverts do.

Knowing myself helps me understand there’s nothing wrong with me — that’s who I am and how my mind is wired to function in this world. If someone ever points a finger at me and criticizes me for hiding in my shell, I’ll be comfortable knowing it comes from my personality.

Learn to control your emotions

We all react differently to stress, conflict, and other circumstances that life throws at us. Knowing your personality will help you predict how you will react to certain situations.

For example, if you’re an extroverted type, when faced with stress, you’ll probably be more inclined to be around people and engage in social interactions. You’ll use social outlets as a way of helping you to minimize the stress. Being around others is what you need to recharge yourself.

But for someone like me who is an ISFJ type of introvert, in times of stress, I prefer to hold in my emotions and not let them out the way extraverts do. I also prefer more alone time as a way of coping with stress.

The bottom line

Knowing your personality can help you learn more about yourself and the people around you. It can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, understand your feelings and actions, and control your behavior in different situations.

This knowledge will enable you to build stronger and more meaningful personal relationships and be successful in work life.

What is your personality? Take a test here to find out.