Reading People

How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything.  This is a delightful overview of some of the most common personality frameworks by Anne Bogel, best known (so far) for her fabulous blog Modern Mrs. Darcy and her interesting podcast What Should I Read Next . I was selected to be on the launch team for this debut work; as such I was given an advance copy of the book by the publisher. If you pre-order this book at https://www.readingpeoplebook.com/ before its release date of September 19, you'll get some fun bonuses: a FREE download of the audiobook (which Anne recorded) and a class to dive deeper into the 9 reading personalities based on the quiz found on ReadingPeopleBook.com. (I'm an explorer.) The class comes with book recommendations for each type!

Okay. With all the business out of the way, let's talk about the book! I am a personality framework junkie, however, even if you're not, this book is incredibly helpful. We can all benefit from understanding ourselves better and, once we get to know ourselves, we can begin to know others; especially their motives. When typing yourself, in whatever framework, be sure to see yourself as you are, not as you want to be.

Anne begins with a discussion of introverts (that's me!) and extroverts. I learned some things; for instance, extroverts process information in less time than introverts. The reason is fascinating to me. Anne then has a chapter on those with high sensitivity (yep, HSP here!). This was a chapter I had intuitively grasped but cognitively knew nothing about. Since I am also raising highly sensitive children, I will make use of the wonderful bibliography to research this topic more thoroughly.

The next chapter is an overview of the framework found in Please Understand Me II, by David Kiersey. This one was a new one for me and a little difficult to grasp. I believe I am an Idealist (NF), with cooperative tools and abstract words. I will have to read this overview several more times, then read the book referenced to fully understand.

She then goes on to address the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This is perhaps the most well-known framework and maybe the most difficult for some because it breaks down into four dichotomies; thus sixteen possible combinations. I am INFP; introversion, iNtuition, feeling, perceiving. The next chapter continues MBTI with a discussion of the functions (another I'll have to read again).

Chapter 8 was about the Clifton Strengthsfinder, which focuses on what's already working. There are 34 themes in 4 loose categories to find the top 5 themes. This one was brand new to me; just eyeing the themes I came up with belief, communication, empathy, input, and intellection. Next, Anne addresses the Enneagram (I'm a 1, the Reformer, with a need to be perfect). Whoops! Somewhere in here she talked about the five love languages... I seem to have skipped over them. My primary language is quality time.

Anne, of course, explains each framework, tells some of the science behind each, and gives anecdotes from her life as to how each one has helped. This is a gentle introduction to personality frameworks and leaves the reader wanting to study more for himself. Recommended.