Organizing Life, Home and Work
Where did I put my keys?
By Mandie Crawford
Apr 29, 2005, 10:12

My favorite and most often expressed frustration! My husband just looks at me like I have nothing between my ears when I say that. And I often wonder about myself too. However I know better. My favorite time to misplace my keys is when I am teaching or doing a special talk on organizing, or when I am in charge of a large project.

Learning about personality styles has really opened my eyes to understanding and accepting my own little quirks and developing strategies to help me remember things like where I last left my keys. It has also helped me to understand why it is that someone else may become judgmental of my forgetfulness.

In a family there are bound to be several different personality styles. If they do not understand that each of them is wired a certain way, they may never learn to accept the differences, and may never learn strategies to overcome problems. Without going into a long dissertation or giving you the full on line course, suffice it to say that we all view the world through a different colour glasses. What to some may seem like red others view as blue. And neither party is likely to ever see what the other sees. In a simplistic explanation: people who are highly task oriented and reserved like my husband, see people who are outgoing and people oriented to be air-headed when it comes to getting organized.

And again people who are more reserved and people oriented can never understand what the fuss is about when the highly outgoing/task oriented person is upset about how long it is taking everyone to get dressed and into the car for the trip. Almost everyone can see someone in their family in each of these descriptions.

So how do we cope with these differences?

If you are outgoing and people oriented: Recognize with all your energy and excitement that to some you may seem illogical. Form strategies to locate items. Have a place for all things, and develop a habit of always putting things where they belong. That way when you find yourself excited about something you can always go to the tried and true place to find things.

If you are reserved and people oriented: Understand that some may see you as slow and indecisive, even though you know you are just making sure that everyone in the situation is happy. Your thoughtfulness seems to some that you are dragging your feet, and that you cannot make up your mind about anything.

If you are reserved and task oriented: Recognize that you may seem to be cold to others around you. Not everyone is nearly as regimented as you can be. Understand that to some talking to someone is far more important than remembering where they put a 'thing'.

And if you are outgoing and task oriented - this newsletter is already too long for you! You got the point in the first paragraph, read the last one and have deleted this already. Just remember that your decisiveness can often put you in the right position to run over others as you make your decisions and go forward with your plans.

Of course none of us fits totally in one category. In fact each of us has more of some and less of others but we are a blend of all personality styles. So occasionally I do have the opportunity to raise my eyebrows when I am standing at the door waiting impatiently for my hubby, who is frantically looking for his keys!!!

Learning about how you are wired can help you to understand why some see the glass half full and others see it as half empty. Take a moment this week and be patient with others who do not think the same way that you do. And develop strategies to overcome your little idiosyncrasies.

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For more information on learning about your personality style contact Mandie by e-mail or by calling 905 628 0998. Mandie is a certified Behaviour Consultant with Personality Insights.

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