“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
Mary Oliver
WHO ARE YOU, REALLY?
Do you know?
Do you realize that it’s not only exciting to unearth your strengths, but it’s liberating to acknowledge your weaknesses. It’s wildly inspiring to discover how you’re wired and who you’re truly knit together to be, and the journey is half the fun.
As I dig deeper into the wonderful world of Life Coaching, the more I realize that this basic level of self discovery is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Discovering your unique personality, temperament, gifts, strengths and love languages are a great way to get to know yourself and intentionally make strides in pursuing your unique goals and dreams. After all, how does one move forward when they don’t understand the ‘vehicle’ in which they travel, or the method and style of that movement?
Below are some free online tests that are not only fun, but enlightening and revelatory in nature. I love reading results with a resounding…“yes! that’s totally me! Who knew I wasn’t the only one who processed life this way” or “no wonder I tend to respond to conflict that way!” or “why of course I gravitate towards that…it’s because I’m wired like this!”).
Please note that these ‘tests’ are not intended to be labels, nor are they attempts to shove you into a neat little category or box (we are far too complex and multi-dimensional for that).
PERSONALITY & BEHAVIORAL-MOTIVATION TESTS:
• HumanMetrics*
• Memorado*
• Personality Pathways* (very brief, but has a great overview of the E/I, S/N, T/F & J/P)
“Hide not your talents. They for use were made.
What’s a sundial in the shade?”
Benjamin Franklin
OTHER GREAT TESTS & ASSESSMENTS:
• Discover your Emotional I.Q.
• Strengths & Weaknesses Aptitute Test
• StrengthsFinder is an award-winning book & assessment dedicated to helping you develop your strengths
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT:
• Chazown (this is a fantastic resource developed by pastor Craig Groeschel)
• The Chazown Spiritual Gifts Test
• S.H.A.P.E.**
• The 3 Colors of Ministry (this requires sign-in and a small fee, but it is incredible insightful when it comes to identifying and developing your spiritual gifts)
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*These personality tests are based on the Jung/Myers-Briggs style assessment.
Carl Jung characterized people using three criteria:
- Extraversion vs. Introversion
- Sensing vs. INtuition
- Thinking vs. Feeling
Isabel Briggs Myers then added a fourth criterion:
- Judging vs. Perceiving
This assessment results in the 16 personality/temperament types.
You’ll find that you get slightly different results from the different tests (and sometimes that’s due to not fully understanding the question, or answering from what you desire versus what you actually do), so I found that taking a few over a course of a few days allowed me to get a handle on the different types, narrow down the results, and really nail down my ‘type’.
You may be interested to know that my hubby and I are complete opposites in this area (along with in our love languages…go figure). I am an ENFP (‘words of affirmation’ and ‘acts of service’) girl, while he is an ISTJ (‘physical touch’ and ‘quality time’) guy.
Not only did taking these test together give us a fresh appreciation for how the other is wired/inclined, but it helps us not get caught up in banging heads over things that don’t really matter. Repeat after me…”it’s not wrong, it’s just different“.
You’ll discover that knowing you’re different – on purpose – actually helps keep the peace and helps add weight and value to why you think and behave the way you do. It turns out opposites do in fact attract!
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**S.H.A.P.E. is designed to explore the ‘Five Ways God Has Shaped You’:
S – Spiritual Gifts : What has God supernaturally gifted me to do?
H – Heart : What do I have passion for and love to do?
A – Abilities : What natural talents and skills do I have?
P – Personality : Where does my personality best suit me to serve?
E – Experiences : What spiritual experiences have I had? What painful experiences have I had? What educational experiences have I had? What ministry experiences have I had?
“Your ministry will be most effective and fulfilling when you are using your gifts and abilities in the area of your heart’s desire in a way that best expresses your personality and experience.”
Rick Warren
