Psychology of Personality Essay

The method by which a person can seek to be successful in the varied areas of their life, can be pin pointed to how well a person is aware of them self. To be more specific, the person needs to have an understanding of self-awareness and the connection it has to success. â€Å"Self-awareness is fundamental to self-leadership. Leaders who have mastered self-awareness are realistic and accurate when they assess their personal strengths and weaknesses.† (Watson, 2004). Thereby self-awareness comes from knowing what are the personal strengths and weaknesses we have as it relates to the areas of our lives such as with family, work and school. Based on my desire to better myself in the different areas of my life, I seek to identify the abilities and skills I hold strongest, discover the areas I am weakest in and define how I can go about in making improvements based on my findings. During my readings at the University of Phoenix, I arrived at discovering learning styles and how understanding your own style can be the key to grasping control of a successful education. The process of which touched on the subject of self-awareness and how assessment tests could help you to reach the level of understanding needed. In chapter 2 of â€Å"Keys to College Studying: Becoming a Lifelong Leaner† (Bishop & Carter & Kravits, 2002), it was stated that, â€Å"Many different kinds of assessments give people a method of self-discovery, providing different means of exploring strengths and weaknesses, abilities and limitations.† (p29). After completing a couple of assessments as covered in the chapter, I found myself to have a logical and adventurer personality style with strengths in being skillful in a variety of fields that make use of my abilities to organize materials logically, explain things in sequential order, analyzing information, and hands-on problem sol ving to name a few. These strengths are not only evident in my line of work as a welder, but in the way I live my personal life and the way I interact in with my learning team members. Along the lines of an old commonly known clich & eacute;, for every positive there is a negative, I learned that just as I have good personal strengths, there are as well weaknesses to bare. â€Å"Human strengths are as real as human weakness, so say history and science.† (Lopez, 2003, p. 5). Among my weak points are the lack of being musically talented, sociable, and even though  being skillful in various fields can be a strength, there is a high sense of pride from doing good quality work, that if not controlled could feed an ego rush that may rub off the wrong way for some people. In addition, while there are strengths to being an adventurer personality type with a desire to be involved in an action-packed environment that is on the constant go with a taste for the variety of things that can be done. The down side comes from the intense want for a personal life, work and school environment that can fulfill that diversified need. Overall weaknesses can be problematic and t he thought of there being kinks in somebody’s armor, can bring a persons moral down. However, it needs to be understood that it is human to have weaknesses and that weaknesses can be strengthen. Among the various study materials I’ve read, in addition to discovering both personal strengths and weaknesses, there was as well supporting information on how a person can go about improving their weaker personality styles. The website for Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2006) defines the word improve as, â€Å"2a: to enhance in value and quality: make better.† (Definition 2a). That enhancing of value and quality is precisely what I seek to accomplish in my areas of home, work and school which I plan to make better so as to improve my overall life. Over and again, in my readings, it was commented that a person should make use of their personal strengths in order to support and improve on the weaknesses. As thus, by taking what I have come to learn about my personality style and in seeking courses, training, self-help books and kits tailored to my learning style on subjects that cover those areas I am weak in, will it be possible for me to improve. Of course, only through practice on top of more practice shall I be able to truly make improvements to my weaker areas and in time when I reassess my personal strengths and weaknesses will I be able to tell where I stand. Anyone with a good understanding of his or her self-awareness, thus knowing what his or her own personality style is, can very well hold the key to having a successful life. So in knowing what your personal strengths and weaknesses are, will you be able to know what type of classes will suite you best in school, what type of job would you be best fitted for at work and understand what reasoning there is behind the way you live your personal  life. In discovering my personality style was I able to grasp an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses I hold, which has allowed me to go forth in using my strong points to over come my drawbacks. In time with practice shall I be able to strengthen my weak points and perhaps one day reach, a level of equal enlightenment between the various personality styles. References: Bishop, J. & Carter, C. & Kravits, S. (2002). Learning Styles and Self-Awareness. Keys to College Studying: Becoming a Lifelong Learner. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2002, pg. 29. Lopez, Shane J. & Snyder, C. R. & Rasmussen, Heather N. (2003). Striking a vital balance: Developing a complementary focus on human weakness and strength through positive psychological assessment. Positive Psychological Assessment: A handbook of models and measures. 2003, pp. 3-20Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2006). Improve. Retrieved March 6, 2006, from http://www.webster.com/dictionary/improveWatson, Liana (2004). Self-leadership: Becoming an Exceptional Leader. Radiologi Technology. Iss. July-August 2004, p457.