Amway & The Power of Personality

So what is personality theory and why am I so passionate about it?  Because an introduction to personality theory changed my life and I believe it can change yours!  My first introduction was at an Amway event when the presenter introduced the book “Personality Plus.”  I was introduced to the idea that people make decisions differently (thinking or feeling) and move differently with other people (introverted or extroverted).  As simple as these ideas seemed, before this moment in my life I had never thought about these things or how they would affect how you perceive others, how you perceive yourself or how others perceive you.  My type was identified as the Powerful Choleric.  As I read the description I was amazed at how accurately it described me.  Reading about the other types I began to realize how different I was from other people.  Understanding how other people are “wired” in comparison to the way I’m wired really helped me understand how misunderstandings and miscommunications happen!  It was clear that I couldn’t just learn about my own type but could really benefit from learning about all the types.  As I began my learning journey, I soon discovered that there are many different personality theories, assessments and labels.  I fell in love with reading and researching all the details about how our personalities develop.  There are many theories. Greek Philosopher Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) wrote that one’s persona, or temperament could be like differences in bodily fluid : blood, mucus, black bile and yellow bile. Many believe this approach to eventually influence Jungian theories of archetype, now associated with the very popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Ramon Llull, (c. 1232 – c. 1315a) sophist, writer, poet, theologian, mystic, & mathematician, from the Kingdom of Majorca, may have been the first writer to use the terms and symbols associated with passions, vices, virtues and holy ideas and to place them around a nine pointed diagram surrounded by a circle, similar to today’s Enneagram of Personality.  In 1307, he published his Ars Brevis (Brief System) in which an Enneagram-like figure is drawn with nine points clearly presenting nine corresponding personalities.
Today, there are many popular assessments such as MBTI, DISC, True Colors, 16 PF, Enneagram, etc.  I’ve come to believe that there is great value in all of the assessments as they all share the idea of increasing knowledge of self and others regarding traits and tendencies in regard to how we gather information, process information (decision making) and how we move with people (stance or introversion/extroversion).  I can’t imagine doing my job (counseling) without using assessments as a starting place for personal growth.

I never made a million dollars selling Amway… but I’ll always be appreciative of all I learned and the way my life was positively affected!