Struggling with what you should be doing?

[PapaGang]

I stumbled on a Jordan Peterson lecture recently where he went into some fascinating detail on personality traits and entrepreneurship.

Short version:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwH4cEOICGg

Long version:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCceO_D4AlY


Now, I have struggled in the past with trying to figure out why I had such a hard time finding a job, keeping a job, and becoming successful. And for years I thought I had some pretty serious defects. Turns out, I was aiming in the wrong place, almost EVERY single time (and I also had to get rid of some serious defects ).

But it took me years to figure this out on my own, without the help of a world renowned psychologist with a 25-year practice.

You don't have to struggle like me. Just take the assessment he put together. It's 10 bucks. Should take you 20 minutes or so.

Understand Myself - Understand Myself

www.understandmyself.com

* I should also note that I'm not an affiliate, have no ties to Dr. Peterson or his organization, and that I am only adding this post because I really believe that this can be a powerful tool to help you understand yourself and perhaps, as Dr. Peterson puts it, "properly orient yourself in the world."

I took it, and it is very impressive as far as accuracy. It validated many of my suspicions. This may help you figure out what occupations / leadership positions you are well-suited for, as well as industries in which you might flourish. You might have to do a bit of culling from the assessment, it is not meant to be a comprehensive career assessment, rather a detailed psychological profile of who you really are.

Here is an example of an excerpt I pulled from this which I used to help determine the next moves in my career and entrepreneurial enterprise:

• more interested in things – like machines and technology - than people

• 
prefer systematizing over empathizing

• Not particularly deferential to authority – nor markedly obedient. 
Can be respectful, but only to people who clearly deserve it, and am willing to push back when challenged

• High conscientiousness - obligation, attention to detail, hard work, persistence, cleanliness, efficiency and adherence to rules, standards and processes. Good administrator and manager.
* Conscientious people implement their plans and establish and maintain order. They are unlikely to procrastinate (particularly if they are also below average in neuroticism). If a highly conscientious person promises to do something, he or she will probably do it, even in troubled circumstances, without excuses. Highly conscientious people are also fundamentally committed to personal responsibility.

* High Industriousness - these people are successful in administrative and managerial positions (particularly if they are intelligent)

* Extraversion: High = well-suited to jobs involving sales, persuasion, work in groups and public speaking (particularly, once again, if they are low in neuroticism). 

* Not as suited to occupations that require a lot of isolated work (such as computer programming or accounting).

* Assertiveness: High = Highly assertive people are “take charge” types.
* Have a communication style that is often associated with leadership.
* Don’t generally wait for others to lead the way.

* Openness to Experience: Moderately High =
Openness to experience is a measure of interest in novelty, art, literature, abstract thinking, philosophy as well as sensitivity to aesthetic emotions and beauty.

* less well adapted to situations or occupations that are routinized and predictable.
* Some trouble fitting in at the bottom of hierarchies
* They are less suited to entry-level, repetitive, rote positions,
* Often think up new ways to do things, and such ideas are seldom welcome from someone at the bottom.
* Creative thinkers. They tend to shake things up a bit

At least moderately high levels of openness to experience appear necessary to the formation and leadership of business and other forms of complex organization, although conscientiousness appears required for the attention to detail and process management that such organizations also always need.

Intellect:
find complex, rapidly changing occupations to their liking and will generally do well at them (particularly if they are also high in conscientiousness and low in neuroticism)

substantially less well-suited to stable, straightforward and more traditional occupations, where the rules don't change, and will experience frequent periods of boredom and frustration in such positions


What I get from this:
* I should be in a management or leadership position in a company involved with machines and technology - particularly in complex, rapidly changing environments.

* Do better in an environment where the organization is flat, or in a leadership position where I am not constantly deferring to authority - or another way to say this is that I do better when my superiors care more about good ideas and trusting someone to get shit done than they do about obedience and power.
 Yet another way of saying this is to run my own damn company.
* Do better in a position where I implement plans and maintain order, even during a time of turmoil or chaos.

* Well-suited to jobs involving sales, persuasion, working in groups and public speaking
* Find complex, rapidly changing occupations to my liking and will generally do well at them (particularly if I am also high in conscientiousness and low in neuroticism, which I am)

* Less well-suited to stable, straightforward and more traditional occupations, where the rules don't change (accounting). 

* Will experience frequent periods of boredom and frustration in more traditional occupations, where the rules don't change.

It's quite possible that my ideal situation might be to track down an older business owner who is looking to retire in a couple of years who is willing to bring me in to learn the business with the agreement that I buy the business from them, so I am going to look into that.

If you ever wonder what your profile type is, or are just curious to know where you are likely to succeed, take the assessment. I believe it can be quite helpful.

Hope everyone is staying safe, preparing for the worst, hoping for the best, gaining new skills, and focusing on being better every day.

 

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