This post applies to marriage and work. Lets kill two birds with one stone! When Christian and I got married, I had a lot to learn about our personality differences. Hanging out with people all the time sounded good to me, but he preferred to stay home. He kept a grocery list and I just bought whatever I felt like when I got to the store, that is, if I remembered to go to the store. Different doesn’t mean wrong, and work relationships turn out to be the same.

There are certain tasks at work that are just loathsome for me to do. I, for one, don’t enjoy accounting. I would also rather work in groups than by myself. But there are others that love the details and would really prefer for their office door to be shut. These personality differences make a company complete. No one wins if the sales team rocks at selling, but all the goods are priced incorrectly. So, I’m trying to harness the strong parts of my personality so I can enjoy my work and be successful. And I need to surround myself with people who are good with details and vision.

If you’re not sure what your strengths are, you might consider taking a personality test.   My favorite is the DISC test that Dave Ramsey uses. This test helps you understand your positive attributes.

Oh, and taking a personality test helps at home too. For example, after taking the DISC test Christian and I found out that we are opposites in every way. I have myself a guy who is awesome with vision and details. Our differences really do provide balance in our marriage, and make for some lively debates.

Rachel