10 online personality assessments worth taking

I’ve always been on a quest to understand myself and others as deeply as I can. I think my very first personality assessment (after the infamous www.careercruising.com) must have been True Colors (where my Blues at?) at a mere 16 years old. I’ve gotten more complex since then, and so have the various tools and assessments I’ve explored over the years. There are dozens out there, but I thought I’d share a sample of the ones that have left a certain curiosity and an impact on my life. The first three in the list have a price tag that I’ve noted; the rest are all found for free.

Pro tip: these tools can be a bit overwhelming, so don’t binge all at once on the below! Give yourself some time to chew on your findings, and if you need someone to chat it out with, I love a good debrief.

Know the kind of thinker you are with FourSight Thinking Profile ($35)

In short, this assessment truly changed my relationship to creative thinking and helped me understand how I best contribute to the problem-solving process within teams. I discovered that in me does indeed live a creative brain, when for all of my life I was adamant it had not!

The FourSight assessment reveals what kind of thinker you are and summarizes where your natural tendencies exist in the problem-solving and creativity process, whether it’s in Ideation, Clarification, Development, or Implementation.

Once you learn where in the process your brain fires up the most, you can become more comfortable taking the back seat at certain times, let others shine where they’re best, and know exactly what your team can call on you for and when.

Know your top 5 talents with CliftonStrengths ($20)

I was exposed to this assessment, formally known as StrengthsFinder, about 6 years ago and I think I’ve used this tool with absolutely every team I’ve been a part of since then. Out of a list of 34 talent themes, this assessment highlights your top 5 that, when used effectively, can develop into your greatest strengths.

For me, the most valuable part of this assessment was finding language that helped me articulate who I am and express the nuanced parts of me that we normally don’t identify or consider as notable or worthwhile strengths. I refer to the detailed report time and again, and particularly when I’m navigating tough moments or preparing for things like interviews and presentations — it reminds me I’ve got a unique set of talents worth expressing!

Know your Myers-Briggs personality type ($50)

A wonderful starting point for understanding your personality type and how you might perceive the world around and within you. This assessment refers to the introversion-extroversion spectrum and populates a 4-letter acronym that’s used to describe the type of attention and energy we place on our inner and outer worlds. If you’ve ever wondered what those 4 letters mean that you see on all those online dating bios… this is it.

Not keen to drop a 50 on this? Don’t worry. Try a free version here or here (validity considered, I think they’re rather good; if nothing else, this assessment is a fun and popular one to do and, yes, does help spark a conversation on a date).

Know how you self-sabotage with The 10 Saboteurs

This assessment was introduced to me earlier this year through a friend, and I’m so glad for it. Quite eye-opening, the tool identifies your top saboteur; that is, the characteristic about yourself that you use to self-sabotage. A Hyper-achiever? A Pleaser? How about an Avoider? Oo baby, get ready for this wake-up call.

Know how you love with Love Languages

I talk about Love Languages with EVERYONE. I’m curious to hear the ways people feel most comfortable showing their love and appreciation so that I know how to acknowledge them when I see it in action. And in the world of partnership and romance, a tool like this one serves a great purpose for understanding the acts and needs of your special people.

Even in my professional teams, I ask about love languages. It lets me know what my colleagues appreciate most and helps me better use my time with them. On a busy day with deadlines to meet, someone who recognizes love using Words of Affirmation could fare well with a 2-minute pep-talk and moment of encouragement, whereas someone who recognizes love using Acts of Service might really appreciate a surprise coffee at their desk or a tidied-up supply cabinet.

Know your energetic blueprint with Human Design

This is the most woo-woo of the pack, unsurprisingly — I learned of it in Bali during a deep life chat with a spiritual healer man over cinnamon coconut milk smoothies — but bare with me because it is a fascinating and super complex system for understanding our unique selves within the larger human experience.

The Human Design model claims there are four “types” of human beings: Manifestors, Generators, Projectors, and Reflectors. In short, knowing your type helps you determine the “correct” strategy to approaching and navigating life. When we live in our correct energy, we more often experience our “Signature” theme (ex. satisfaction, success, peace, or surprise). When we operate from an incorrect energy, we feel stuck in our “Not-Self” theme (ex. anger, frustration, bitterness or disappointment).

After inputting your birth info (time of birth included), you receive a unique bodygraph chart that summarizes all the intersecting components of your design. You can get your free chart and a sample report reading in the link above, and if you’re extra curious (or cautious, ha) you can read the basic concepts of the human design system here and visit the official page of the founder here.

Know your Ayurvedic mind-body composition with The Three Doshas

In Ayurvedic medicine, the three doshas represent biological energies within the human mind and body. Each dosha — Vata, Pitta, and Kapha — express a different blend of emotional, physical, and mental characteristics that, once you’re aware of yours, can help you detect imbalances in body and lifestyle.

A person with predominantly Vata characteristics will have qualities that reflect the element of Air; Pitta’s elements reflect those of Fire; and Kapha’s elements reflect those of Earth. There are many questionnaires out there to help you determine this mind-body composition, but I linked to one that’s more thorough than the others I’ve found. Maybe this tool is a bit New Age for some people, too, but if you have any appreciation for alternative medicine and preventative care, you might find this one insightful.

Know your best way to work with Born For This

I’ve been following Chris Guillebeau for at least six years now. He set out to travel to every country in the world and completed his quest in 2013. His blog has become a series of writing and other media projects focused on personal development, unconventional work, and travel and adventure. He recently wrote a book called Born For This — a practical guide to help readers find or create a kind of work that intersects joy, money, and flow within “today’s vast menu of career options.” He offers a free quiz that gives you a little more insight into what your best work looks like. It’s a neat one!

Know how to form habits with The Four Tendencies

In 2016, I obsessed over learning about habit formation — I started the year off by tracking where every minute of my day was going for an entire month and, welp, got strikingly eye-to-eye with my shortcomings. I read books and listened extensively to podcasts. I soaked up as much as I could about what went into forming habits and making them stick. Notably, on one rainy evening in February, hidden in the self-growth aisle of Banyen Books, I discovered Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before, after which I promptly found the nearest beanbag and sat reading it cover to cover.

In her book, she explains four tendencies that affect how we form habits and respond to outer and inner expectations: either as an Obliger, Upholder, Questioner, or Rebel. Knowing your tendency (and you probably have a hunch to yours) helps you consider why you act and don’t act, and the circumstances you might need to create in your daily environments to help you do the things you care to do.

Know your hidden biases with Project Implicit

A powerful one. Created by a team of scientists and researchers’ investigating social cognition, this test helps identify your hidden attitudes, stereotypes, and biases that influence perception, judgement, and actions towards others.

There it is! 10 assessments to help you get to know yourself better in 2018.

The last message I’ll leave you with is this: While personality assessments and similar tools act as insight, they’re just that: insightful information. We are ever-changing beings, so they are not infallible and they certainly may not resonate at times. The point, I think, is that they can give you a particular set of data to work from and their results can help you notice and evaluate trends and patterns that you get to decide what to do with.

From this self-proclaimed personal growth junkie, take what you learn about yourself in stride: personality tools are not meant to confine you or label you or limit you! There is, after all, an entire future-you to still discover.

Did you give the assessments a try? Any other favourites to add? Let me know what you learned in the comments below!