#7: 16 Personalities, MBTI, Enneagram: How Personality Shapes Your Work Experience

Has being an introvert felt like a label that limits you? Have you struggled to understand and accept your unique personality? Has your performance at work suffered because you struggle to harness and effectively deploy your unique strengths? Then this episode is for you.

In this episode, I explore the connection between personality and work and share my experiences with personality tests and how they have helped me understand  myself better. 

I also discuss the power of labels and how they can be helpful in understanding and navigating our emotions. I emphasize the importance of aligning work with one's personality and why it can lead to greater fulfillment and success. Listen to the full episode to hear a thought-provoking question for you to consider.

Please share the podcast with your friends or anyone you know who has a big dream in their hearts.

Show mentions:

Take the free Enneagram test at Truity.com
Check out my favorite personality test at 16personalities.com
Don’t forget to share your results with me :)
Get the Uncover your Strengths Free guide at shepact.com/strengths

From the pods segment: 

The Next Right Thing podcast Episode 253: The Enneagram and Decision-Making with Susan Stabile

Contact Us

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Transcript

Hey, friend, we'll get to the episode in just a minute, but first I have a question for you.

Do you know your strengths?

I know you want to live a fulfilling life, right?

You want to feel like your life is your own, and not like you're in the wrong movie, acting the wrong part.

But do you know your strengths?

Are you operating from your strengths at work and in your calling?

Or does everything feel hard and like a chore?

I know what it feels like to not know where you belong and for me, discovering my strengths and really taking steps to deploy them effectively has been very crucial to helping me feel more fulfilled and excited about life.

If this resonates with you, if you'd like to find out more about your strengths, I have a free gift for you.

It's called the Uncover Your Strengths Free Guide.

In this guide, you'll find tools, tests and resources to help you find your strengths.

There'll be space in there to write down your discoveries.

There'll be reflection questions to help you dig deeper and prayers to help you seek the Lord for wisdom on how to move forward.

I hope you lean in to this.

I hope you not only download this guide, but also use it, grow and be empowered to pursue your next steps in faith, work and life.

You can get it today at shepact.com/strengths.

The link will also be in the show notes that shepact.com/strengths.

Now let's get to the episode.

You're listening to The Driven Introvert Podcast, a faith-inspired space for purposeful introverts who are ready to step out with courage and pursue their big ideas.

If you are an introvert who is tired of letting fear dictate what you do and how you do it, then this podcast is for you.

I'm here to remind you that the life and work you've dreamed about is possible, and your unique personality is not a limitation to achieving it.

I'm your host, Remi Roy, and I'm the co-founder of shepacked.com.

On this podcast, I'll feature introverts and others with unique perspectives on what it means to follow dreams, passionately build out ideas, and live a life that matters.

Expect inspiring conversations, resources, reflections, and stories on faith, life, and work.

Hi there.

Thanks for joining me on this episode of the podcast.

Today, I wanna talk about personality, specifically the connection between personality and the work you were drawn to.

See, I love personality tests.

I never get tired of taking them.

In the past, I approached personality tests like some sort of, you know, like a crystal ball, you know, like they could tell me my future.

It sounds silly now, but that's how I felt.

I know this because every time I took tests, like unfortunately, irrespective of the specific branding of the quiz, you know, there's lots of them, always ended up slightly let down.

Like no matter what the final reveal turned out to be.

Years ago, many years ago, my mom came home with a book titled, Finding Your Purpose, and I absolutely lost my mind.

I thought, you mean there's a book like this out there and I didn't know it?

I'm reading this today.

You know, I told myself, I grabbed the book, I began to devour it.

I was probably about 15 or 16 years old at that time.

And I was desperately trying to find myself.

I don't know what your chenille years were like, but I was just trying to find myself, right?

I always wondered about the vastness of the world and my place in it.

Like I was asking questions, like why was I here?

What am I about?

And how can I make sense of this life?

You know, how can I fill this big hole inside of me?

Well, I had finally found the book that will answer all of my burning questions.

But halfway through the book, I was restless and I was kind of upset, you know?

When was the author going to tell me what my purpose was?

Like, why was it taking so long?

I was a teenager.

All I wanted was a quick answer, like get straight to the point, sir, you know?

I didn't want to hear about stories of people who had found their purpose or the lessons or principles the author was so meticulously trying to teach me.

At least not right then.

I just wanted him to deliver on his promise of helping me find my purpose.

Unfortunately, that book left me with more questions than answers.

And as I closed it up, I was disappointed and of course let down.

A small voice floated into my consciousness.

And the question it asked me was, did you expect to find your purpose in a book written by someone else?

Like other people probably have this book in their hands too.

Are they also gonna find theirs?

Well, this is exactly how I treated our personality test.

Like they could just magically tell me my future and everything I needed to know about myself.

Well, now I know better.

And thankfully I know how to use them to my advantage.

Because I think there's so many things that we can learn from personality test, right?

There are a couple of great personality tests out there.

I guess the most popular one will be the MBTI, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

It's really cool.

But I've heard so much about the Enneagram also, but for some reason I haven't taken that one as popular as it is.

And I think what I'll do is I'm gonna take the test and share my results with you.

Yeah, that should be fun.

If you'd like to take the Enneagram test with me, join me by following the link in the show notes.

I'm gonna put the link right there.

And yeah, you can send me an email or a voice note with your results.

Okay, so let's move on.

Just for kicks, there's an ancient kind of personality test that my siblings and I did when we were growing up.

It's not exactly a test now that I think about it.

It was just in a book.

The book is called The Spirit-Controlled Temperament.

And it had four different personality types.

And there was the sanguine, the choleric, the melancholy and the phlegmatic.

I don't know if I'm saying those words correctly, but those were the four different kind of like personality tests.

And in my house growing up, we were four kids and somehow we had every one of every personality in my family.

Guess which one I was.

If you're familiar with these four categories, send me an email.

I'm really curious to know if anyone else knows about this.

Well, my best personality test to date actually is found at 16personalities.com.

I absolutely love that one.

It's actually based on the Myers-Briggs test.

I love it because it not only gives you the personality that most describes you based on your results, it also gives you more insight into how the personality kind of shows up in different areas of your life, right?

So it gives you like the strengths and weaknesses of your personality in say, romantic relationships, in friendships, in parenthood, in your career paths and in also your workplace habits.

And for me, when I read it, the results that it gave me, it made absolute sense.

I'm an INFJ, INFJ, which means introverted, intuitive, feeling and judging.

And there's also ENFJ, which will be the extrovert, there's INTJ, like there's so many of them, right?

Like 16 of them actually.

And according to the 16 personalities websites, this type, which I am, which is the INFJ, is actually called an advocate.

I mean, they just kind of give it a name, it's called an advocate.

And you can check the website for the description.

I'll leave that in the show notes.

It's 16personalities.com, really easy.

The part that really got me really was the career parts, because it made me realize that the search for purpose is a huge deal for INFJs.

And I had to think back to my life at the age of 15 and 16, asking God for my purpose, asking God what my life was about, asking God what plans he had for me.

That checks out, right?

I have a little snippet from the website that I want to read here.

Quote, for people with the INFJ personality, professional decisions are not guided by conventional yardsticks of success, like financial gain or status, but by the potential their work holds for meaningful connection and personal fulfillment.

INFJs are often passionate communicators, though sometimes in subtle ways.

This explains why they are often drawn to careers in writing, creating books and blogs and stories, video games and screenplays.

For people with this personality type, the opportunity to tell stories for a living can be nothing short of a dream come true.

Other INFJs might pursue music, photography, design, illustration or fine art.

But some work environments may rub them the wrong way.

This is especially true of workplaces that offer little independence or agency.

For this reason, many INFJ personalities seek out more flexible autonomous positions or branch off altogether to start their own businesses.

End quote.

I mean, they clocked me.

And I absolutely love it.

Like when I read this, I felt like this is me.

This is, I felt so seen.

It's amazing.

Now I know that some people see these kinds of things as labels, I remember having a conversation with someone and I mentioned that I was an introvert and they said, well, it's interesting how we allow ourselves to be labeled.

And I know what they mean or what they meant or what they were getting at.

But I really want to challenge that thinking a little bit.

I know that when we talk about labels, it's in a negative light.

The labels that limit us, that make us feel shameful or misunderstood.

But I think not all labeling is bad.

Think about it.

Why do we label things at home or in the office?

So that we know what it is and also what it is meant to do and how it should function.

If I gave you a bottle of white stuff with no label and I said, go ahead and drink that, you would laugh in my face.

Why?

Because you're not gonna drink something like you don't know what it is.

Exactly.

Think of the feelings we have, but don't understand.

How do we deal with them?

I feel like first we have to name them.

We have to label them.

You have to name that feeling.

Then you can figure out why you're having them, how to deal with them, and really that's what you're doing.

You're labeling that feeling.

So not all labels are bad.

I remember years ago, one of my nieces asked me a question one day.

She said, why is it that some kids can just raise their hands in class and start talking?

Like they're not afraid.

That question really hit me hard because it reminded me of the time when I was that young and I was afraid to speak my mind.

What was she feeling?

What was she going through at that moment?

See, she wasn't a naturally bold person.

She couldn't figure out why she always felt kind of apprehensive when she was asked to do certain things.

So she had to name the feeling first.

Then we could talk about why she was feeling that way and how to speak up even though this feelings were there.

Growing up, I didn't have the language for the way I felt and showed up in the world.

But the moment I learned about introversion, it was like a new world was opened up to me.

Now I knew why I was the way that I was.

See, the label of introvert, it didn't limit me.

It made me realize I was normal and not defective.

I was just me.

Then I could figure out how to be the best version of me I needed to be.

See where I'm going with this?

I'm curious to know your thoughts on this.

I know that people have different ways of looking at personality and yeah, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Anyway, through my experiences over the years, I've realized that the work I'm drawn to and the goals that I have, the dreams I'm nursing, they're all connected to my personality in certain ways.

I love that I can come up with ideas and figure out how to make them happen.

I love that I can be home as a new mom and also work with my clients from the comfort of my home and make an income.

It's not easy, but it takes a lot of thought and being intentional to give attention to how I work and how I can be the best version of me.

I love that my personality empowers me to sit for hours writing, creating and building stuff.

And then maybe spend maybe a night playing games with my family and friends.

Like it took me a while to figure out how to make my life work in a way that feels authentic and true to me.

But I'm glad that I did.

And I dare say understanding my personality was really crucial to that process.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and what you're discovering about your own personality.

All right, so welcome to the From the Pod segment.

This is where I share ideas and insights that I've learned and heard from podcasts that I love and listen to.

And today I wanna share a thought from The Next Right Thing podcast with Emily P.

Freeman.

I love her.

She has the smoothest voice.

Oh my God, it's amazing.

You should listen to her podcast.

Well, in this particular episode that I listened to, which is episode 253, she's talking about personality.

It's titled The Enneagram and Decision-Making with Susan Stabile.

I love that episode because I was really drawn to it.

Of course, it's about personality typing.

But the guest on that show, she came at it from a different perspective.

She mentioned that, obviously she's very passionate about the Enneagram.

She teaches the Enneagram and she doesn't see the Enneagram as like a personality test, so to speak.

Like it's deeper than that.

I feel like I really need to listen to that episode a couple of more times and also do the Enneagram test for myself to really understand where she was coming from because it sounded quite intense and I love it.

I love it.

I love to dive deep into these things.

And she talks about the fact that, quote, the Enneagram is very different because it shows you what you get wrong and identifies that for you.

But it also shows you how to do something about it at the same time.

So rather than working away with the color type or letters like the INFJ, I guess, or a leadership type, you walk away with an understanding that the best part of you is also the worst part of you.

And that Enneagram work has everything to do with balance with awareness, end quote.

I love it already.

I'm really intrigued.

I'm very open to learning about it.

And yeah, I'm excited to really dig into the Enneagram.

Yeah, so if you wanna do the Enneagram test along with me, visit www.truity.com.

I don't know if I'm saying that correctly.

Truity, that's truity.com.

To take a free version of the test.

I'll also leave the links in the show notes so you can find it.

And yeah, if you're interested, you can email me or send me a voice note with your results.

And I'm gonna share my results also.

All right.

Every time I do a solo episode, I'm gonna leave you with a question.

I hope you will take the time to consider that question.

And if you're so inclined, send me a note with your thoughts.

Today, my question to you is this.

What kind of life and work do you want?

I want you to really think about it because I feel like sometimes we drift, we coast along, we just take what comes.

But I want you to be intentional about writing down what you really envision for your life.

I remember doing this a long time ago when I was a child.

It's so funny that I had the presence of mind at that age to say out loud what I wanted.

I mean, I didn't say to anyone, I just spoke it to God and I wrote it down.

And I wish I could find that little book where I wrote my thoughts as a preteen.

I'm learning how to keep my journals better so that I can really go back to them.

I have a stack of journals that I love to go back on, but I digress.

I want you to think about the kind of life and work you want.

I remember telling the Lord as a child that you can take me anywhere you want me to go.

Please do anything you want with my life, but just give me the grace to be there for my family.

I was probably 12 or 13 at that time.

And when I think about that desire, it's the same prayer that I have today.

Like, Lord, I'm willing to follow the path you have for my life, but I want to be able to be a family focused person.

I want to be a mom that can figure out how to spend time with my kids, to love them, to play with them, drop them off at school and pick them up, just to spend time with them and enjoy their presence, you know, and see them grow and develop and blossom.

But I also want to do things.

I want to build stuff.

I want to create stuff.

I want to chase my dreams.

I want to make money if I dare say so.

I want to live a life of impact, right?

I want to live a significant life, but I don't want to choose one in favor of the other.

And that's one really big desire that I had for my life.

So I guess my question too is, have you thought about that?

Like, what do you really want?

What kind of life do you want?

I challenge you to take time to think about it and then write it down and then go figure out a way to make it happen.

So that if at any point you realize that where you are is in no way close to where you really want to be, then you can begin to do something about it.

What are you gonna do about it?

Don't just let it go.

Think about it.

Don't think that the life you want is too far-fetched and unattainable.

You can attain it.

You can absolutely attain it.

I'm not sending you on some wild goose chase.

I'm asking you to really dig deep.

Figure out what you want, what is important to you and ask her to give you the grace to go after that.

I hope you think about it.

And yeah, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Send me an email at thedrivenintrovert.chipact.com or send me a voicemail at chipact.com/voicemail.

I'll leave all the links in the show notes.

Don't forget to join me in the next episode as I bring you an interview and insightful conversation you don't want to miss.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Driven Introvert Podcast.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please take a moment to click the follow button on your podcast app, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

As always, don't forget to take courage, trust God, and go pursue your big ideas.

See you next time.

The Driven Introvert Podcast is produced by sheephark.com and Remi Roy.

With content, editing and strategy expertise from Candice Zaccaria and Aishat Olariwaju.

Want to ask a question or share a comment on a future episode?

Email us today at thedrivenintrovert.sheephark.com or click on the link in the show notes to record your question in a voicemail.

Hey, friend, do you know your strengths?

I know you want to live a fulfilling life, right?

You want to feel like your life is your own, and not like you're in the wrong movie, acting the wrong part.

But do you know your strengths?

Are you operating from your strengths at work and in your calling?

Or does everything feel hard and like a chore?

I know what it feels like to not know where you belong.

And for me, discovering my strengths and really taking steps to deploy them effectively has been very crucial to helping me feel more fulfilled and excited about life.

If this resonates with you, if you'd like to find out more about your strengths, I have a free gift for you.

It's called the Uncover Your Strengths Free Guide.

In this guide, you'll find tools, tests and resources to help you find your strengths.

There'll be space in there to write down your discoveries.

There'll be reflection questions to help you dig deeper and prayers to help you seek the Lord for wisdom on how to move forward.

I hope you lean in to this.

I hope you not only download this guide, but also use it, grow and be empowered to pursue your next steps in faith, work and life.

You can get it today at shepact.com/strengths.

The link will also be in the show notes that's shepact.com/strengths.