How to Know When to Shift Your Personality Style to Find Success
Consider this scenario. A good friend arranges a blind date between you and someone who she works with. You are told that this person is professional, dependable, nice, and fun to be around. You agree to go. At the beginning of the date however, you find that while this person is indeed fun to be around, he/she is also unconcerned with time, sometimes impolite, and very competitive — not at all what you expected.
What happened? Why didn’t your friend tell you the truth about this person? The simple answer is that she probably did. She provided what she knew. She described the person that she knew at work. What she couldn’t provide was a description of this person in other aspects of life.
Often, we find ourselves “trapped” behaving in a way that is not common in our temperament style. Whether at work, play, with family, or in religious settings, we have the ability to demonstrate the behaviors that we consider (or that others consider) appropriate and necessary for the particular situation. Whatever the event or circumstance, this ability to do other colors suggests that different environments exert significant influences on a person and supercede his or her natural tendencies.
We demonstrate other temperament styles throughout our lives
Beyond the scope of our work and social environments, we also demonstrate other temperament styles during different times or stages in our lives. When beginning a new relationship, even the greenest of Greens may exhibit some Blue behaviors. When beginning a new job, an Orange may use some Gold tendencies appear. Whatever the case may be, when the event/stage passes and life returns to “normal,” our behaviors also gravitate back into our own style.
Learning to behave in the manner common to a temperament that is not your own is not in and of itself a bad thing. In our many daily tasks and responsibilities, we often find the need to “play the game” in order to successfully accomplish our goals.
For example, the Blue salesperson may find it extremely useful to demonstrate Orange behaviors at work to make the sale. At home, this person who spent the day in head-to-head, high-energy competition, may spend the evening chatting on the phone with friends, helping their child with homework, or reading a juicy novel.
Our ability to utilize this flexibility allows us to be more versatile and better qualifies us to deal with the events of our lives.
Regardless of our primary color or temperament, it is important to remember that we all have a unique color spectrum. With this spectrum comes a myriad of motivational and behavioral possibilities. While it is common (and beneficial) to demonstrate the behaviors of the other temperaments, it is important not to cross the fine line between doing another color and attempting to become another color. In order to maintain personal health and well being, we need to balance the behaviors we can tolerate doing with our natural tendencies.