The Shadow Side of Personality Dimensions

We like to focus on the bright sides of our personalities, celebrating the traits that make us shine. But what about those aspects we’d rather not talk about? The ones that make us a little uncomfortable, that can lead us into conflict? But we’re not always a ray of sunshine, and the ones who are leave me with more questions than answers, and a healthy dose of suspicion.

Psychologist, Carl Jung believed that understanding these more challenging parts of ourselves is key to personal growth. It’s not about dwelling on our flaws, but rather acknowledging that we’re complex beings with room for improvement. Looking at the less popular parts of each personality dimension, in a kind and honest way, helps create a path for understanding ourselves and others.

Starting with Inquiring Greens, for no particular reason; they are the people who never stop asking “why?” and “how?” Sometimes to other people… endlessly, or to themselves when wrapping their minds around a problem. Their curiosity and analytical skills are admirable, but sometimes they can get so caught up in their thoughts that the real world fades away. An Inquiring Green might spend hours researching the perfect vacation spot, only to realize they forgot to book any time off work.

The challenge for Inquiring Greens is to find a balance between intellectual pursuits and practical matters. They might also need to work on their emotional intelligence. After all, responding to a friend’s exciting news with a detailed analysis of probability statistics isn’t always the best way to show you care, if their personality is different from yours.

Moving on to Organized Golds; these are the people who keep the world running smoothly with their planning and attention to detail. But sometimes, their love for structure can tip into inflexibility. An Organized Gold might feel genuinely stressed when a meeting runs five minutes over schedule, or when someone suggests a “spontaneous” lunch outing.

The growth opportunity here is learning to embrace a bit of uncertainty. Life doesn’t always follow a neatly organized plan, and that’s okay. The challenge is to maintain their admirable reliability while developing the ability to roll with the punches when things go off-script.

Next, let’s look at Authentic Blues; they are great at picking up on and understanding other people’s feelings and emotions.  However, they can sometimes become so focused on maintaining harmony that they put aside their own needs. An Authentic Blue might find themselves agreeing to help with yet another project, even when they’re already stretched too thin.

For Authentic Blues, the key is learning to set healthy boundaries. It’s admirable to care deeply about others, but not at the expense of their own well-being. They might need to practice saying “no” occasionally, recognizing that short-term discomfort can lead to better long-term relationships.

Finally, we have Resourceful Oranges; these adaptable, action-oriented individuals bring excitement and energy wherever they go. But their love for novelty can sometimes lead to difficulty with follow-through. A Resourceful Orange might have a garage full of half-finished projects, each abandoned when a new, more exciting idea came along.

The growth opportunity for Resourceful Oranges lies in developing persistence. While their ability to think on their feet is invaluable, there’s also great satisfaction in seeing a project through to completion. The challenge is to stay spontaneous while also learning how to stick with tasks that might not give immediate rewards.

Having these shadow traits doesn’t make anyone a bad person, it makes us human. We all have areas where we can improve, and acknowledging them is the first step towards growth. The goal isn’t to change who we are at our core, but to become more well-rounded individuals. It’s one of the reasons why our personality dimensions begin to even out as we get older; but that’s a topic for another time.

The next time you find yourself slipping into a typical “shadow” behaviour, try not to be too hard on yourself. Instead, view it as an opportunity for growth. After all, these quirks are part of what makes each of us unique. Embracing our whole selves, strengths, shadows, and all, is what makes life interesting. It’s about striking a balance between self-acceptance and self-improvement. At the end of the day, it’s our quirks and growth areas that make our journey through life not just interesting, but truly our own.

 


Brad Whitehorn – BA, CCDP is a lifelong Introvert, and the Associate Director at CLSR Inc.  He was thrown into the career development field headfirst after completing a Communications degree in 2005, and hasn’t looked back!  Since then, Brad has worked on the development, implementation and certification for various career and personality assessments (including Personality Dimensions®), making sure that Career Development Practitioners and HR Professionals get the right tools to do their best work.
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One Response

  1. An interesting perspective, one that we don’t often consider, that is a part of what makes us into the well-rounded human beings that we are.

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