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Character traits: What does your personality reveal about you?

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Character traits: What does your personality reveal about you?

Reliable, self-confident, helpful - which character traits apply to you? Have you ever consciously dealt with your personality? If not, it's high time! Because knowing them will help you enormously, both professionally and privately. But what exactly are character traits? How do they develop? And in which areas of life do they have an effect? This and much more you will learn in the following lines!

What are character traits?

To answer the question, you should first divide the word into its constituent parts: The term "Character" originally comes from the Greek language and means imprint or feature. And a "Property" is also, strictly speaking, a characteristic that belongs to your being. Everything clear so far?

We hold that a character trait is an individual competency that defines you as a person. It is responsible for your BehaviorsYour moral and value concepts, as well as your emotional world. In modern language, the term "personality" is often used as a synonym for the totality of your personality traits.

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How do character traits develop?

To get an accurate idea of what makes you as a person, your knowledge of how character traits are formed is crucial. Therefore, here is a little digression: character traits are neither innate nor inherited. They develop in the phases of your life and can change at any time.

Of course, your genes carry certain predispositions for certain traits. However, it has been proven that the first years of life are more important for the formation of your character. Not for nothing is this time called the "imprinting phase". In this phase observe Children the reactions of their parents and adopt them for themselves.

What is the difference between traits & characteristics?

With the different terms around your personalities it's easy to get confused. Character traits and traits are often used synonymously. But what exactly is the difference here?

The Duden has the following to say about the two terms:

  • Character trait: "trait understood as an expression of character".
  • Feature: "characteristic, distinguishing sign by which a certain person, group or thing, also a condition, becomes recognizable".

Your character traits therefore describe your personality. How are you as Human? What characterizes you? A characteristic, on the other hand, is something superficial. For example, your sympathetic nature or taciturnity can be a Feature ...be. You can be recognized by your characteristics. Whereas character traits are emotional traits of you and describe your personality.

Character traits: Woman is happy and laughs

Why should you know your character traits?

You see, your character traits play a big role when you're dealing with your personalities and your individual characteristics. But why is it so important to know your character traits? Isn't it enough to have a rough idea of what makes you tick as a person?

Being able to describe your character traits with the right words brings some advantages, for example in your professional life:

  • Think of the typical question in every job interview: "What are your strengths and weaknesses?“ Recruiters can almost recite the monotonous answers by heart. Surprise them at your next interview with creative and varied character traits!
  • In your job profile you can use your individual characteristics in a targeted manner and do not have to resort to conventional and boring terms such as "reliable", "meticulous" or "enthusiastic".
  • You improve your Expressivenessbecause you expand your vocabulary and can verbalize better.
  • Not on the job seeker's side, but hiring other people? Then use differentiated character traits to pepper a job description with the really relevant traits for the job.

Is there a list of all the properties?

Let's get this straight: character traits are the sum of your your personality traits. They develop in different phases of life and can also change depending on the experience. Knowing your exact character traits will help you stand out in job interviews, among other things, or find people for a job who really fit the job you want because of their characteristics.

Now you are surely asking yourself: How do I find out my very personal character traits? A good place to start is to look at various qualities, first of all. At the latest now the question of a list comes into play - a list that contains all character traits and from which you only have to pick your personal characteristics. Unfortunately, it's not that simple! The reason: These lists would be endless, because as diverse as we humans are, as diverse can also be the characteristics that describe us.

The most important character traits

However, you can find a large number of character trait lists on the Internet that contain at least some of the existing traits. These are usually enough to give you a first impulse. Perhaps you can think of other adjectives that you think describe you well. A list with numerous character traits can be found for example at Word Growth

We have compiled some positive character traits for you here.

  • resilient,
  • assertive,
  • honest,
  • empathic,
  • fair,
  • flexible,
  • patient,
  • conscientiously,
  • helpful,
  • communicative
  • creative,
  • willing to learn
  • loyal,
  • proactive,
  • confident,
  • sporty,
  • responsible
  • confident.

These are negative character traits:

  • workaholic,
  • analytical,
  • fraudulent,
  • Influenceable,
  • biting,
  • petulant,
  • choleric
  • dominant,
  • critical,
  • careless,
  • depressive,
  • lonely,
  • boring,
  • reckless,
  • psychopathic,
  • schizophrenic,
  • sad,
  • dissatisfied.
Character traits: Woman chatting with colleagues

Can character traits change?

But the formation of character traits is not finished after childhood. Even later, the social environment enormous: Friends, classmates, fellow students and work colleagues influence your behaviour. This can continue into old age, because your learned characteristics do not have to last your entire life. On the contrary: your Profiles can be strengthened or diminished, new character traits can be added or old ones discarded. However, you do not discard them like an old jacket that you have just worn.

Instead, they are firmly in Awareness anchored and are difficult to change. How can this be done? Well, a Change can be set in motion due to a formative experience, for example. Also, if you develop a special interest in a subject that requires certain character traits, this can lead to adjustments. Example: For some time now you have been a great fan of model making. This hobby requires precise work, Patience and perseverance. Through your newfound passion, your Interests and inclinations in these areas will most likely change.

What are your positive qualities?

What positive character traits do you have? What makes you stand out? Have you ever asked yourself this question? If not, now is the perfect moment to do so. And that is why we would like to ask you to take a pen and paper at this point.

Now write all positive traits that you display in your private and professional life. Here you should come up with at least 5 characteristics. Here is an example of corresponding characteristics: Determined, adventurous, loving, friendly and disciplined.

Once you have found your 5 positive character traits, you should now look for concrete examples from everyday life. Write these down. For each trait, feel free to write down as many examples as you can. Why is this so important? In this way you will always remember your Awareness, what you are good at and what you should hold on to. For this purpose, corresponding examples:

  • Resolved: "I am resolute in my professional opinions and work hard to implement them."
  • Adventurous: ,,I like to try new things: for example, travel with friends, get to know new cultures and people."
  • Lovely: ,,I give love, attention and the necessary respect to the people around me."
  • Friendly: "I am kind to all people, even when they are not."
  • Disciplined: ,,Even when times are tough, I stay disciplined and go my way."

What are your negative qualities?

I'm sure you can guess that everyone's talking about... negative character traits that limit us in our daily lives. What negative qualities do you have? What qualities do you like to get yourself into trouble with?

Again, take a pen and paper and write down your 5 most negative character traits. Again, we would like to give you a concrete example. In this case, the negative character traits are: anxious, impulsive, stubborn, jealous, perfectionist.

Once you have found your 5 negative character traits, it is again a matter of finding concrete examples from your everyday life. In this way, you will become more aware of the traits and can work on them more intensively in the future to improve your personalities to develop further. At this point we would like to present you with corresponding examples.

  • Anxious: ,,I often find it hard to speak my mind at work, even though I often know better."
  • Impulsive: "I'm very emotional, and I easily fly off the handle when I feel attacked."
  • Stubborn: ,,I often act stubborn and don't back down from my opinion even when I'm wrong."
  • Jealous: "My insides boil when I see my partner talking to another person."
  • Perfectionist: "I often get bogged down in small details that prevent me from moving forward in life."

Also important in this context is the issue of Self-lead. Because if you can lead yourself, you will steer your life in the right direction. So that you succeed, we have prepared a suitable Greator video for you at this point: "Leading yourself: Self-awareness and responsibility as success factors"by Nicolai Christ. We wish you a lot of fun.

How to recognize your qualities

Sometimes it is not so easy to find out your individual character traits. Personality tests can be helpful here. They help you to identify your characteristics and also give you valuable information about your character. There are now many different tests available. We would like to briefly introduce two of them here.

Big Five - The "OCEAN Model

The Big Five personality traits or the OCEAN model called, try to describe the character traits of a person with only five adjectives. The American psychologists Paul Costa and Robert McCrae were able to prove that exactly this is possible. Because no matter what methods are used: The characteristics of people can be summed up with these five adjectives - and all over the world.

  • O - OpennessPeople who are open-minded are imaginative, reflective, experimental, curious, inquisitive, versatile and creative.
  • C - Conscientiousness (Conscientiousness): These people are often neat, punctual, organized, thoughtful, careful, reliable, and responsible.
  • E - Extraversion (Extraversion): Extroverts exhibit traits such as talkative, energetic, gregarious, spontaneous, optimistic, and confident.
  • A - AgreeablenessPeople with a high degree of agreeableness are compassionate, benevolent, understanding, cooperative and helpful towards others.
  • N - Neuroticism (Neuroticism)Neuroticism traits include insecure, anxious, embarrassed, tense, and sad.

The 4 DISG personality types

With the DISC model you can create your individual Personality profile Create. It will help you to create your character and the underlying Beliefs to understand better. The four personality types according to this model are the following:

  • D - The Dominant: The dominant personality type is extroverted and task-oriented. Characteristics: strong-willed, challenging, determined, results-oriented, stubborn, assertive, direct, open, courageous, persistent, demanding
  • I - The initiative: The initiative personality type is extroverted and people-oriented. Characteristics : Influential, entertaining, emotional, stimulating, inspiring, optimistic, spontaneous, sociable, relationship-oriented, talkative, fun.
  • S - The steady: The steady personality type is introvert and people-oriented. Personality traits: relaxed, loyal, helpful, insightful patient, pragmatic, modest, attentive, consistent, loyal, considerate, team player, compassionate, reliable.
  • G - The conscientious one: The conscientious personality type is introverted and task-oriented. Personality traits: controlled, cautious, detail-oriented, self-disciplined, forward-thinking, logical, systematic, accurate, analytical, reserved, thorough, accurate.

You want to find out which personality type you are? Then take the free Greator personality test!

disc types

Reflect on your character traits

Character traits are much more important than most of us realize. They influence your everyday life in your private and professional life. You should therefore think more often about who you are and how you want to be. Reflect yourself! So you can work on negative character traits and transform them into positive ones. Only when you become aware of your good character traits can you reinforce them and express them more often in everyday situations. What are you waiting for?

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