Know thyself

Quizzes anyone?

I am a real sucker for quizzes especially when they are supposed to reveal what sort of person you are! Not that I believe everything the results yield but I am interested to see how the quizzes are set and how characteristics/ categories can be derived from them. I was reading a neighbour’s blog today and was drawn to do the following . Note the results it yielded. Interesting to say the least … : ) You might want to try it yourself.

(http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourhiddentalentquiz/)
Your Hidden Talent
You have the power to persuade and influence others.
You're the type of person who can turn a whole room around.
The potential for great leadership is there, as long as you don't abuse it.
Always remember, you have a lot more power over people than you might think!
(Leanne say: Wow! Never knew that leh.)

(http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyouridealrelationshipquiz/)
Your Ideal Relationship is …. Polyamory
You want to have your cake... and everyone else's.
Which isn't a bad thing, if everyone else gets to eat too!
You're too much of a free spirit to be tied down by a traditional relationship.
You think relationships should be open and free, with few restrictions.
(Leanne say: Double wow! By the way, what is polyamory eh? Poly equals many, amor means love ~ many loves ar?)

polyamory n. participation in multiple and simultaneous loving or sexual relationships
Source: Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.6)
(Leanne say: Wow! Lagi "keng"!!!)

(http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourbloggingpersonalityquiz/)
Your Blogging Type is … Confident and Insightful
You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog.
Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights.
A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time.
You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!
(Leanne say: Triple wow! You learn new things about yourself every day eh?! Flattery will get you everywhere, everytime! :P )

(http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanquiz/)
Your Birthdate: January 30
Your birthday on the 30th day of the month shows individual self-expression is necessary for your happiness.
You tend to have a good way of expressing yourself with words, certainly in a manner that is clear and understandable.
You have a good chance of success in fields requiring skill with words.
You can be very dramatic in your presentation and you may be a good actor or a natural mimic.
You have a vivid imagination that can assist you in becoming a good writer or story-teller.
Strong in your opinions, you always tend to think you are on the right side of an issue.
There may be a tendency to scatter your energies and have a lot of loose ends in your work.
You may have significant artistic talent and be very creative.
(Leanne say: Um … I am flattered beyond words. Hahahaha … )

I was testing out these quizzes by putting in different answers. One thing for sure, there is never really anything absolutely negative said about any specific characteristics. Guess these quizzes abide by the rules that people only want to hear good things about themselves! : ) Any truth in them? Some are pure blarney of course! And others ... *shrugs* ... perhaps the questions do reflect more intellectual thoughts ... your guess is as good as mine though as to the accuracy and authenticity of them. However, any similarity to reality are most likely coincidences and of course, the fact that we want to believe what we read especially if they are flattering ones. Hahaha …

If you are truly interested in understanding your personality, you might want to check out MBTI. Earlier this year, as part of understanding team dynamics, I had the occasion to attend the Myer Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) training. We did a lengthy test answering numerous close ended questions. I think it was about 50-60 questions in all. The results it yielded was extremely interesting. And quite similar to the readings I received several years ago when I did the same test. Running through the questions, you would notice that there are many that cross check against earlier questions (which is very unlike the above). In any case, I neither have the expertise nor the depth of understanding to further explain the details in this post. Should you be interested, you might want to check out the following website: www.mbti.com

Do I believe in the results? Suffice to say that it hits close to home. The good thing about this is that you are more aware of your personality traits. There’s no right or wrong, good or bad traits. They are just ~ our strengths and weaknesses. And being more aware of them, we can then consciously augment the positive traits and mute the negative ones. Personally, I believe that no matter how much we want to hide or put a brave “face” to the world, it is very important we know and is aware of who we are and not live in denial. In short, lie to the world if you must but never lie to yourself. You are what you are. Only when you know and understand yourself, can you then improve upon that and deal more effective with other personality types.

Personality tests anyone? : )