By Sara Halliday

 

Get inside my mind

 

I did a personality test earlier on 16personalities, a la Marc’s infamous test on arrival at the SCA selection day. In a hope to discovering things I hadn’t realised about myself, or finding out why I’m so notoriously bad at replying to Facebook messages I filled in the seemingly endless questions. As the name suggests, this kind of Myers-Briggs test recognises 16 personality types, each identified by a different combination of four letters (e.g INTJ).

 

• Introversion (I) or Extroversion (E)
• Intuition (N) or Sensing (S)
• Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
• Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

 

Some of you might be thinking that this is just horoscope level bullshit, more suited to the back pages of Hello magazine and I’m sure there’s an element of that, but stick with me. I’ll take you through my results then we can chat about my thoughts.

 

So, we begin with a big fat E for Extroversion.

58% extrovert vs. 42% introvert

 

Personally I see myself as an extrovert with a dab of social anxiety, but sure. The thought of starting a conversation with someone new by myself is uncomfortable to say the least (thanks to Becky for being my first chat at the end of year party a few weeks ago), but I think of myself as a bit of a small snowball; as soon as I have collected a few extra snow people then I can roll quite happily as the nucleus of the pack (painfully drawn-out analogy, sorry).

 

Next, N for iNtuition.

61% intuitive vs. 39% sensing

 

This one is a case of being interested in the abstract rather than the concrete. I’m someone who asks a lot of questions but rarely has answers prepared. I was always the quizmaster and rarely the participant (particularly when challenging my friends to a game of Harry Potter quiz in primary school). Still doing some soul searching on this one, open to any suggestions though!

 

Then T for Thinking

54% thinking vs. 46% feeling

 

My most close cut result, with a mini win for the hard-nosed side of me. According to 16personalities I am more concerned with efficiency than harmony, a trait which I can’t see much in myself right now but might come out with some more deadlines.. I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly sensitive, but I do need to keep a check on becoming defensive about my work.

 

Finally, P for Perceiving.

67% perceiving vs. 33% judging

 

Harsh words from 16personalities here, apparently I’m more likely to be a law-breaker with a general disregard for parents, teachers, or employers. The perceiving type is seen as a flexible and thankfully creative type though, so there is saving grace for my future employment. I’ve always seen myself as an ideas person, so this seems fair, but I need to work on following through with the grunt work in addition to coming up with the ideas.

 

The most important thing about all this is that I have worked out (on the surface) what makes me tick. From here it’s a case of applying these principles to the way I work. My results warned that I am a bit shit at finishing things, which is precisely why I have three unfinished SCABS on my desktop. This reality check is just what I need for the next 20 days.