Most people have probably heard of the basic Type A and Type B personalities. Did you know it gets even more detailed? Understanding personalities is a large part of a therapists’ or coaches’ work.

Helping clients learn more about their personalities is a powerful tool in the therapeutic and coaching process. This awareness promotes self-acceptance, identifies personal strengths, and indicates problem areas. From here, I like to build on the identified strengths to compensate for and cope with weaker or less adaptive characteristics.

To learn more about personality one might journal, spend time introspecting, or talk to trusted friends/family. Another approach are tests and inventories that describe general characteristics of personality groups such as the Myers Briggs, Big Five Personality Test, and Enneagram.

The Myers Briggs measures four personality traits and it’s been around forever. I’m not sure how reliable it is, but it does a very good job of describing specific personality traits and quirks. Although the online quiz is lengthy, I believe it’s worthwhile and often recommend it to clients. One piece of advice: be sure to answer the questions as you TRULY are and not how you would like to THINK that you are. You can look up your personality type here.

For online versions of the other personality inventories, go here for the Big Five Test, and here to discover your Enneagram. Realize that online tests are not official and certainly not the end all, be all in terms of assessments. Consider these tests tools to assist you in learning more about yourself that can work in conjunction with the work you do with a professional counselor of personal life coach.

Happy testing!