I am TRASH for Personality Development

Oh boy howdy, friends, I am about to nerd out on you all. This really won’t surprise any of you, but man. I’m excited.

Personality development – I live for it. I absolutely love taking quizzes about personality development and growth – quizzes like, “What Hogwarts house are you in? (and COME AT ME if you think this can’t help figure out your personality strengths),” and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). I often ask *cough* don’t give them a choice *cough* men I’m dating take both quizzes, because, true story, I can understand them better if I know their answers. Fun fact? Derek (the boyfriend!), is a Gryffindor to my Slytherin and INFP to my ESTJ. Opposites really do attract <3

The most recent development assessment I’ve added to my knowledge bubble is the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment, something I’ve wanted to take since COLLEGE (which as I”m approaching 30, PANIC, is now further away than I want to admit).

So, this morning, I got a notification from Facebook that the Strengths Training luncheon was TODAY – cue. the. freakout. It totally slipped my mind, and I was frantically emailing the organizers to get a last minute seat – and they let me!

I took the Strengths assessment, and found out that my Top 5 are:

1. Woo
2. Communication
3. Consistency
4. Maximizer
5. Positivity

Now, you can google these to look up what they mean, but I read my insight report, and was highlighting like a crazy person, SO SO excited for what the luncheon would bring.

This stuff is like a drug for me, I’m not even kidding. I dug into my strengths a little today, and even just the two hours I had gave me so much valuable information about what I’m good at and how to build on those. One of the most interesting things that I found was that my strengths align with my current career choice. Plus I learned that businesses and employers that cultivate their employees’ strengths see increased employee engagement and decreased employee turnover.

I’m coming up on a year of being fired, which was the best thing that ever happened to me. And when I look at the differences between my previous work environment and this one? WOW does today’s session make a lot of sense. I’m more engaged because I’m being cultivated. I’m more dedicated because I’m being praised. I’m more excited because I’m being encouraged. 

I’m HAPPY.

So what’s next? Each day (for 21 days, then you know I’ll have to figure out how to budget this stuff – those “free trials” work on my EVERY. TIME.), I will receive daily exercises that are specifically designed to use my strengths.  I will also be encouraged to post a daily reflection. I’ll be shown trends and be able to draw conclusions and become a more well-rounded, effective employee and person through this development.

And peeps….I can’t wait.