The twenty’s marks the start of a new decade, and everyone is raving about it. Similar to how they rave about every new year with the age-old saying “New Year New Me.” Furthermore, setting out with goals of being healthier, spreading positive vibes, changing jobs the whole nine yards. I stray away from those cliches and offer three alternatives for this new year. Pinpoint your personality type, leave your comfort zone and run toward growth. 

Personality types

I recently finished The Growth Mindset by Joshua Moore & Helen Glasgow, and they touch upon knowing your personality out of the acronym OCEAN. Below are each of the five in minimal detail, you can refer to their book for more extensive detail. 

 Openness to Experience: These are people who have a broad spectrum of interests, seek adventures and use their creativity throughout ventures. 

 Conscientiousness: Detail-oriented, good impulse control, organized and goal-oriented best describes people with this personality type. 

 Extravert: Those who love to interact with others, expressive talkative and thrive in team environments. 

 Agreeableness: People who are kind, trusting, affectionate, cooperative as well as exhibit prosocial behaviour. 

 Neuroticism: Moody, anxious and unstable best describe this type. 

Some people fall into more than just one of these personality types, which is fine, but sitting down to figure this out is essential. I know just by reading the brief definitions above you begin to lean toward one more than the rest. Once you know this, the next step is using this knowledge to escape the confines of the current comfort zone.

Comfort Zone

Over and over this is mentioned when people feel stuck, lost and are going through a rough patch. Yet, what exactly is the comfort zone? Is it comfortable, or is it just the lesser of two evils? 

I see it as a physical and emotional state of reversion to a past version of the self. Reverting to the person who assumed life was going well, even though there was no growth potential. Comfortable doing the same thing day in and day out, because it did not add more stress to life. Moreover, living in fear and masking it with excuses to prevent any kind of meaningful growth in life. 

As you read that take a step back and look at your so-called “comfort zone,” I promise you will see that it is an unacceptable way of life. One that is only dragging you down in addition to keeping you at a standstill. A realization like this won’t come easy or overnight, but it comes through a mental shift. Letting go of the story of comfort and looking at the facts, which illuminate the truth that this is unacceptable. 

Stop Running 

As the facts shine through, it provides a window of opportunity to make major life changes. Ones that will allow you to achieve any type of growth you want, but first completely stop running in every direction. Take some time to evaluate and plan what you want out of life. Planning does not mean figuring everything out at once, rather knowing a general direction. Begin to run in this direction and as the momentum starts to build up fine-tune from general to more specific. 

I suggest using your personality type to look for options that suit who you are. For example; I am conscientious, therefore I look for opportunities that allow me to be lead and create action plans for business and people. Without this knowledge, I was all over the place, trying to run in many directions at once because I could not fully grasp the kind of person I was. Not to mention, there are just so many choices these days that somewhat align with what I wanted to do.

That said, my decision does not have to be yours, but I challenge you to try one or all of three of the options mentioned in this post. 

E