No. 72 - RATE YOUR PERSONALITY

No. 72
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

RATE YOUR PERSONALITY

Did you hear about the conceited nurse? She always subtracted 10 beats from the pulse count of each of her patients to compensate for the effects of her personality. In relation to this, here is a question that may be worth thinking about. When it comes to your personality, do you have a good one or does your personality have a way of turning other people off? You probably know he answer to this question and if you feel your personality could stand a little improvement, I would like to invite you to take the following personality self-rating scale. Since it is self-rating, be totally honest with yourself, because no one needs to see it but you.
There are 23 questions in this exercise, so please take a moment and rate yourself 1, 2, 3, or 4 on each one. As you answer each question, give yourself 1 for poor, 2 for average, 3 for above average and 4 for superior. 1) Do I maintain a well groomed appearance? 2) Do I have a pleasing voice? 3) Is my posture alert and poised? 4) Is my disposition cheerful? 5) Do I make friends easily? 6) Do I exert positive leadership? 7) Am I generally thoughtful of the feelings of others? 8) Is my enthusiasm sincere and contagious? 9) Do I persevere until I achieve success? 10) Am I sincere in my interest in other people? 11) Am I ambitious to get ahead? 12) Do I get along well with others? 13) Do I react constructively to criticism? 14) Do I remember names and faces? 15) Am I punctual on all occasions? 16) Do I have and evidence a spirit of cooperation? 17) Am I free from prejudice? 18) Do I know how people react in most situations? 19) Am I generally a good listener? 20) Do I refuse to allow what other people say to hurt me? 21) Can I criticize without giving offense? 22) Am I reliable? 23) Can I adapt myself to all situations?
When you total up your answers, if your score was 70 or more, your personality rating is superior, 60 to 70 is above average, 50 to 60 is average and anything under 50 definitely shows some room for improvement. This is one of those personal development tools that I picked up at an education conference and I don't know who developed it, but it sure "hits the nail on the head." According to my large Funk & Wagnell Dictionary, the word personality means "distinctive qualities or characteristics of a person." In other words, it's what distinguishes or sets us apart from every other person, it's what makes us totally unique, unlike any other human being in the world.
If you will go back and re-read each of the 23 questions in this exercise, you will see many of these characteristics such as your appearance, your voice, your posture, your disposition, your thoughtfulness, your memory, your enthusiasm, your listening skills, plus many others. This should make it easy to see why your personality is so very important.
A good example of this came the other day when I was talking to the manager of our local Chamber of Commerce. He was telling me about filling a position on his staff and he had two applicants with outstanding credentials. Both were highly qualified, but he gave the job to a young lady who has a great personality, in addition to her education, experience and personal appearance.
Until our next visit, here is a statement that I hope you will think about. When we combine a great personality, excellent character, creativity and a genuine love of work we have a winning combination. Obviously, we can have the first three and be lazy and still fail as a person. Our personality is what we are when people are around, the rest is what we are when everybody else goes home. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)