Personality tests

We went to a retreat this weekend and we took a personality test that we'd taken maybe 12 or more years ago. It was interesting to see my weaker personality traits had changed. I'd evened out in some areas, but my strongest area remained the same. This was the lion, beaver, golden retriever, and otter test. Some of you may have taken it. In this test I am a lion, a leader type person who likes to get things done and sometimes bowls people over in that process. Animal test

A few months ago Dar came on a site that did a Myers Briggs personality type which is more analytical and in fact when I tried to find the link we used today, I ran across things like you should only take this with a professional...couldn't find our original site. But this gives you personality types like ESFJ, or INFJ. Much more technical than the cute animal one. When Dar had me take this one I was a bit hurt by the results. I was ESFJ: extroverted (surprise!), sensing, feeling, judging. Dar is INFJ Introverted, intuitive, feeling, judging. Dar is in a category that is only 1.8 percent of people, so there were some really cool famous people in his category. Mine had Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh and William J Clinton (among others). Myers Briggs test

Mine sounded silly and shallow to me at that point and there were many "recommended" jobs that I've been trying to get away from my whole life. But today I reread a file I kept of my personality type and there were some better things I could see. Some artisan qualities sounded more pleasant than my first pass at the test, also I noticed that among the jobs I abhor there were things like police detective and wilderness adventure leader. Most of the people with my personality type are actors and sports players which I found disappointing. So a little space has given me some perspective.

The thing is I noticed that the two tests yielded pretty different results. I should have more otter qualities according to the analysis of how much I want other people to be comfortable and have fun (caregiver qualities in the ESFJ), but the otter category in the first test came in tied with beaver (busy perfectionist, I'm that too.) I think the two tests conflict with one another some, but in some ways I can agree with both. Maybe I'm multiple personality.

So are personality tests like a horoscope? Do I take one and it influences who I am? But the test I took 12 years apart came out the same which I found interesting. The session at the retreat talked about moving toward balance of all areas. I can see that I go too far with trying to get everyone else taken care of and not taking care of me. But being overly caring and concerned, isn't an all bad trait. I can see that I am very task/completion oriented and while this has its flaws I'm good at getting things done. I definitely take the tests too personally and feel insulted by some aspect.

So here's a new one I found that you can take online. I'm scared to do it. What else will I find out?! The new categories are: Captain, Social Coordinator, Steward, and Navigator. It sounds like a cruise.
Ahoy!