#KnowYourHow
This is part of the #DesignYourLife series, check out the other articles in this series in our publication.
In Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle model, after you have figure out your “Why”, the next thing you need to figure out is your “How”. Understanding how you learn, how you solve problems, and how you connect with others is important to help you achieve your goals in a manner that is effective for you.
Your “How” is essentially your personality. Here’s a framework which many personality psychologist recommend — the big 5 personality.
Personality 1: Open-mindedness — how receptive you are to new ideas
If you lean towards the open-minded spectrum, you’re more likely to be more open to trying new ways of doing things and accepting of contrary opinions. You may come across as someone who is humble but the drawback is that people might think that you do have your own opinion and lack confidence.
Whereas, on the other hand if you’re not so open-minded, you might prefer tried and tested way of doing things. You usually come across as someone with strong conviction and believe fully in what you say.
Personality 2: Conscientiousness — how much attention you pay to details
A conscientious person is likely to focus on the details and make sure everything runs smoothly. You make sure to check your answers multiple times, and that your plans are well thought-out and full-proof. You probably keep a calendar or a to-do list and ensure that your life is well-organised.
Whereas if you’re not the most conscientious person you know, you probably prefer bigger ideas and see the bigger picture. You find that you shouldn’t have to fret the small stuff and leave it to others to work it out. Your work place and living space is probably kinda disorganised too.
Personality 3: Extraversion — how you get your energy
An extravert gets energy from social activities.
An introvert gets energy from solitude.
Personality 4: Agreeableness — how often you go with the status-quo
Someone who is more agreeable tends to be more cooperative and just wants to go with the flow. Even if you may have formed an opinion on what to eat, or how certain things should be done, you don’t mind following the others in the group.
If you are a more disagreeable kind of person you may feel the need to voice out everything that you have an opinion on and often play the devil’s advocate in group meetings. Your disagreeableness could be invaluable when it comes to important matters and if you can disagree with others in a respectful manner.
Personality 5: Neuroticism — how you react to stress
A neurotic person tends to have a larger variance in their emotional state and tend to have knee-jerk reactions. Taken to the extreme, you could be a hot-headed person and go off at anyone that pisses you off.
The opposite of the spectrum would be someone who has lots of “Zenness” in them. You are emotionally more stable, take things in your stride, assess situations rationally and handle stress well.
Having some of these traits is arguably better than not having them in society today. But of course, no one is perfect and not having some of these traits doesn’t make you a terrible person. We all have our strength and weaknesses. When encountering your weaknesses you can either:
- Deny them (The easy way out; don’t choose the easy way out)
- Accept them and convert them into strengths by working hard at it (May not always be possible)
- Find ways around these weaknesses, by finding people who are good at these other things (Tap on the potential of your friends/employees)
Understanding what your traits are, i.e. your “HOW”, will be extremely useful for you to get the most out of your life.
#DesignYourLife
