Bored. Took a test.

Here are the results:

ISTJ

Responsible, punctual, and thorough, you are temperamentally well-suited for long-term planning and execution. You like to familiarize yourself with the facts and think things through, and you tend to shake your head at people who neglect the importance of committing properly to a goal. Once committed, you tend to find it easy to muster the discipline and patience required to stay the course, even in the face of distractions that would make others change directions or abandon the endeavor. You tend to come across as serious and you are generally not one to wear your heart on your sleeve. But as those closest to you have probably seen, you also have a sentimental streak and a wry sense of humor underneath the stern facade. Because you are so diligent in approaching your projects, you may at times be caught off guard by sudden changes which arise in a flash and which are hard to guard against. Steady and purposeful, and endowed with a good deal of common sense, you exhibit an enviable thoroughness and attention to detail that makes you well-suited to taking on long-term commitments and leading them to triumph by way of the sure and steady approach.

No surprises. 🙂

Oh, and the corresponding Wikipedia article for ISTJ.

At the recent Kalamazoo X Conference, I challenged all of the speakers to give me their life in six words. This exercise was inspired by a book I read, It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure. Like the book, the speakers came up with some fantastic Six-Word memoirs – some lighthearted and funny, some deep and heart wrenching.

In the same spirit as the Six Words question, I was recently asked to describe myself in three words.

Three words.

Three. Words.

I actually stumbled around with this for what seemed like a few minutes before coming up with a couple. It took more time to come up with the third. Ugh. My mind was spinning. Of all the questions I was asked, THIS was the one that tripped me up.

Hard-working
Trustworthy
Honest

Yup, that’s the best I could come up with on the spot. Could they be any more lame? I mean, yes, they’re true, but they’re also just what someone would say when they can’t think of anything, right?

The next question was, “how would your team describe you in three words?” Again, I struggled, mainly because it’s not something I’d ever really put any thought into. My mind had settled down a bit, and I was able to come up with the words a little more quickly, but it was still a difficult exercise.

Fun
Persistent
Helpful

Regardless of whether these are actually good questions or not, they were both tough, and in the weeks since both questions were asked, I’ve been thinking about them. A LOT. Probably more than I should.

I’ve always struggled with “selling” myself, which is strange considering I spent 14 years as an independent consultant. In 14 years, you either learn to sell yourself, or you don’t. In any case, it’s always been tough.

And those three words are still on my mind. I can’t go back and change what I said – what’s done is done, BUT after some thought, if someone asked me today to describe myself in three words, I have a much better answer. An answer that accurately represents who I am today, and that is not someone sitting in a room trying to answer that question on the spot. 🙂