How well do you know yourself?

For example I’m a left-handed male in my mid-forties; I’m a Meyers-Briggs INTP, Astract-Sequential, Visual Learner who prefers compromise to conflict.

That all sounds really wonderful, but what does it mean?  To some people it doesn’t mean anything, and to others it means a lot.  I could also have thrown in that I’m a Libra, which would mean something to some people and not to others; or I could tell you I was born in the Year of the Rabbit.

All these descriptors have one thing in common:  me.

So what do all these things about me have to do with you?

Quite a lot actually.

Because I know things about me, I know how I can approach buyers.  I know the kind of information I need to do a good job for someone and I also know what kind of jobs I’m most suited for.

It will be a lot easier for you to be successful if you know the same kind of things about you.  The more you know about yourself, the more you can tailor your applications to the jobs you want to do.

People with conventional jobs have it easy.  They have supervisors who watch them, and by watching them are able to tell which jobs they’ll do best.  It’s not always favoritism when a supervisor always selects the same people for the same kind of jobs.  It’s often because the supervisor knows they’re the person who’s best suited for that specific task.

Freelancers don’t have supervisors to assign jobs that way.

We have to do it all ourselves.  That’s where knowing what we’re good at– as well as where our challenges lie can be an advantage.  We know how to attack a problem for the best results.  We also know what we need to do to deal with the aspects of the job we are going to find harder than others.

Everyone develops coping mechanisms:  different ways to handle tasks and situations.  The people who have the fewest problems are those with the best coping mechanisms.  The better you know yourself, the better your coping mechanisms are likely to be.

I know some people who approach every problem with fury and anger.  They get asked to do something simple, and retort with anger and a bad attitude.  As a short-term strategy it has the advantage of often getting them out of doing things they don’t want to do– so that’s a positive.  However there’s a long-term negative that’s associated with the same reaction:  It makes people less likely to be helpful toward them.

Knowing yourself well enough to understand your coping mechanisms will pay a lot of dividends.  It will not only allow you to select the best projects to apply to, but also give you the best way to approach them.  You’ll also know how best to deal with other people and minimize interpersonal friction.

You’ll end up with more work done and less time wasted.  Both good things for anyone.

So don’t look at things like personality tests and “who are you?” quizzes as time-wasters.  Take the time and effort to do a few of them, and answer the questions honestly.  While none of these tests or approaches can explain everything about you, they can provide enough information to help you make more informed decisions.

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