ex(PR)essed

A few months ago, I took the StrengthsQuest assessment prior to attending a conference with other public relations professionals from Christian colleges. I was fascinated with my results, and I have contemplated them repeatedly the past few months. On Friday, when finally tackling the organizational disaster that is our guest room closet, I stumbled upon my Myers-Briggs results from college and a Kuder General Interest survey that I took in ninth grade. It turns out that I’m basically the same person with the same interests and talents now that I was then!

In ninth grade, I showed strength in the following areas: literary (92%!), clerical, artistic, and persuasive. I showed weakness in scientific and computational (3%!) skills. Reading the descriptive paragraph about us literary types, I learn “English is probably one of your favorite subjects, and you may enjoy…doing publicity for an organization.” Really? Enjoy doing publicity for an organization? Maybe a place like Messiah College, for example?

Then, in college when I took Myers-Briggs, I tallied as an INTJ, the rarest personality combination of them all (only 1% of the population!). This was the first time I truly identified as an introvert. The truth is…spending large amounts of time with people exhausts me. I just need to be by myself to recharge, that’s all. Myers-Briggs gave me the affirmation that I needed to justify stealing a few quiet minutes to myself regularly!

A couple of desciptors from Myers-Briggs that I find particularly telling: “INTJs are natural brainstormers…aggresively seek new ideas;” “INTJs work long and hard and are steady in their pursuit of goals;” “On the job, INTJs take the goals of an institution seriously and continually strive to respond to these goals;” “they are most independent of all types;” “the amusing and humorous is usually subtle, and, more often than not, based on a play on words;” and “INTJs seldom lose interest in owning books and knowledge.”

Independent? To a fault probably. Lover of books? Um…yes. Whew…is that me or what?

Finally, my StrengthsQuest reveals that my “signature themes” are input, empathy, individualization, responsbility, and discipline. Basically, that means that I’m an inquisitive collector who instinctively senses the emotions of those around me and is intrigued by people. My middle name is dependable, and my world needs to be predictable. No surprises there!

So, what’s the big deal about all this stuff? Honestly, I don’t really know. I just keep turning it all over in mind, and feeling reassured about the person God created me to be. Clearly he planted some talents and traits in me that people have nurtured along the way that truly define who I am (and who I’m not). And, I suspect that he’s not done with me yet! But, I’m pretty sure that another personality assessment in another 10 years will still reveal that I’m an independent girl who loves books, works hard, and likes routine!