Who Am I?

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t “Who am I” a movie Jackie Chan did? Yes, that's right. Oh wait, was that not what you were thinking? Bet you’re thinking it now.

Jokes aside, all my life, I have given multiple tests -aptitude tests, school tests, sports tests, eye tests, life tests, and personality tests. The last one was the most recent one I took after a long time. That and well, life is always a test.

A fun test

As students of digital marketing, our professor asked us to take the first marketing-based communication assessment ‘How To Fascinate’ to understand how the world perceives us.

This test created by Sally Hogshead tells what is your archetype, advantages, anthem, and specialty adjectives. Archetype is a combination of the primary and secondary advantages. The primary advantage is the most effective mode of communication and the secondary advantage describes the second-highest mode of communication.

Having given so many boring tests in the past, I was actually excited to give this test. It is always “fascinating” to know something new about yourself. If you often self-reflect, you probably know a lot about yourself already, but there are just some things that are concealed deep under the layers of your personality. So with this test, let’s rip those layers off!

The Intrigue

“You’re not superficial, and it takes time to get to know you well.”

— Fascination Test on The Intrigue Archetype

I remember asking the teacher in middle school something silly like, “why do plants not grow as tall as trees?” Or “why do trees live longer than plants?”. If the teacher responded, a follow up question such as “why do trees have more branches than plants?” was asked. It would go on till the teacher decided she was done being humble and wanted the other 34 students to learn too.

Needless to say i have always been a curious person. Why, what, how was like ABC for my brain. Growing up, I understood some things are just the way they are and if I really wanted to know why they are the way they are, I had to go into research, which is not my forte.

Thus I moved. From plants and trees, I now research about people. Not the stalkerish research but marketing research. At the end of the day, that’s the job. To understand the product and to understand the consumers. I don't take people at face value. Even, I wouldn't want to be taken at face value. The test states “You’re not superficial, and it takes time to get to know you well.”. Damn right it does.

An Open book

Passion and Mystique are the Primary and Secondary Advantages I have according to the test.

Keeping the theme of my first blog which was, to be honest, I’ll tell you this, I like this test. As a person who is often found deep in her thoughts of self-reflection, certain ways the test has described me are actually pretty accurate.

I communicate with passion. I express my ideas and thoughts as engagingly as possible by being sincere, empathetic, and adding humor. I consider myself as one of the most approachable person and believe that even with the layers I have, what one sees is a reflection of the depth of my personality.

One of the ways the test describes Mystique is by stating the characteristic “observant”. I like to think I am extremely observant. For those of you who have watched X-Men or are familiar with the comics, the character of Mystique has always been unique, remarkable, and individualistic, and yet she adapts to whoever she wants to be. Well, I am mystique.

The truth is not enough

As a marketer, it is pretty important to know your brand inside out. As a human being, it is pretty important to know yourself inside out. After all, the world’s a stage and we’re all players. We need to market ourselves each and every day whether we realize it or not. The test only makes it easier for us to help and understand who we are.

However, there are still unexplored territories of one’s personality. The Johari Window describes the 4 ways one has a relationship with themselves and others. The unknown still exists as you learn something new about yourself every day. You surprise yourself by doing tasks and accomplishing challenges you never thought you could achieve.

Though this test might give you an idea of how others see you, it does not tell everything. Maybe someone caught you on a bad day, but that is their first impression of you. It does not mean it is true to you.

Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Lord Krishna said to Arjuna in the holy Bhagawad Gita “you have the right to work but never to the fruit of work”. Our job is to keep doing the right things, keep putting in the effort and not worry about the fruit. We need to put in work on ourselves and be a better person than we were yesterday.

“Who you are is the greatest differentiator you’ve ever had.”
― Sally Hogshead