So, do you have what it takes to be a perfectionist? I’m kidding. But, really, did you know that some personality traits lend themselves more easily to perfectionism than others? Many people ask me if perfectionism is a byproduct of nature or nurture, and based on research, as with many traits, it’s a combination of both.
Your Current Personality Traits
Given that it’s the start of a brand new year…!! Wouldn’t it be helpful to know more about your current personality traits before embarking on changing up your lifestyle? I stress the word current because we come with a blueprint- whether it’s due to our personal history, the story we tell ourselves about our history, our genetic makeup, our astral chart – whatever your cup of tea is – we have a blueprint that is our foundation for our current belief systems and behaviors. This means that we can learn from it and modify it as necessary and as often as we deem fit to fashion our life to the one we wish to live. We impact our surrounding environment as much as it impacts us!
Five-Factor Model of Personality
The Five-Factor Model of Personality is a structural model of personality traits comprised of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that tend to be stable across a person’s lifespan. The factors include:
- Neuroticism: Psychological maladjustment, distress, rigid, irritable or moodiness, dysfunctional belief systems, poor coping skills.
- Extraversion: Quantity and intensity of social interactions, activity levels, capacity for joy, assertiveness, and having fun.
- Openness: Proactive seeking and appreciation of experiences for their own sake, comfortable with unknown and unpredictable situations, curiosity.
- Agreeableness: Ability to get along with others, sympathize with others’ feelings, and prosocial behaviors.
- Conscientiousness: Degree of organization, persistence, and goal-directed behavior.
Take this quiz and see where your scores fall on the Big Five.
Next up, we’ll see which personality traits relate more to perfectionism.