Seeing as how everyone else has been so busy lately, including myself, our posts have been rather few and far between, and I figured that despite how tired I am, I’d at least try and post something tonight. I can’t promise that the following will be coherant and rational, but I’ll give it a shot. You’ve been warned…

I’ve been taking a principles of management class at Worcester State College this semester, more because taking three classes has let me keep my health insurance than anything, but this class has proven genuinely interesting. Not to mention management is management, I’m sometimes in a leadership role at the fire department, and I’m going for my Masters in Public Administration at NIU in the fall, it just seemed like a good idea to take the class. I’m over-joyed at the prospect of being able to use the knowledge I’m gaining in various other applications besides just business.

Anyhow, tonight we did personality types, oddly enough. The professor is big on people knowing themselves, and I basically agree with the tenet. A few weeks ago we all took the famed DISC personality test, and he gave us back our results tonight and we went over all the personality types, including their descriptions, strengths, weaknesses, and how to deal with our traits and the traits of others.

Turns out that there are two extroverted personalities, D and I, and two introverted personalities, S and C. I, much to no ones surprise at all, am both S (<– dominant personality) and C, with only a tiny bit of D, and negative I. What does this mean for me? Well, here’s a summary:

S = Steady personality type, sometimes reffered to as the Phlegmatic
We S’s are submissive, stable, supportive, shy, prefer the status quo, and are often specialists.
Consistent, like stability.
Accommodating, peace-seeking.
Like helping and supporting others. Good listeners and counselors.
Close relationships with few friends.
Ask, rather than tell.
Ask ‘How?’ and ‘When?’

The Wikipedia page on the four-personalities system describes me as such:
“A phlegmatic person is calm and unemotional. Phlegmatic means “pertaining to phlegm”, corresponds to the season of winter (wet and cold), and connotes the element of water.

“While phlegmatics are generally self-content and kind, their shy personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent, relaxed, rational, curious, and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Like the sanguine personality, the phlegmatic has many friends. However the phlegmatic is more reliable and compassionate; these characteristics typically make the phlegmatic a more dependable friend.”

I personally find the personality system to be pretty fascinating, because it puts all of my relationships into perspective when I look at them through this lense. Naturally, it’s not perfect, but it’s still interesting. I at least understand why, since that definition fits me so well, a lot of people get pissed off at my seeming lack of enthusiam and emotion for things others get way over hyped about, or my inability to express myself in any way, shape, or form.

Well, there you have it, you now know more about me than you ever really wanted to know. At least my post-apolocyptical-me-and-my-friends-verse-a-world-of-zombies fantasy is easily explained as my need to help my close friends in a world of no other real people. That’s rational, right?

I invite you to read the Wikipedia page and learn more because, who knows, you might learn something new about yourself, or someone else, or your relationships. At the very least you’ll become knowledgeable about something new, and in the end, isn’t that the point?