My Annoying Type A Personality

Over the years I’ve taken many different personality tests.  I’ve taken them for career exploration, teams, a course, work groups, leadership training, and personal interest.  They all confirm what those around me already know: I’m primarily a type A, driver, achiever, task oriented person.  Add to that my Virgo perfectionism and you have a recipe for an obnoxious presence.  Admittedly, my personality is at times annoying to people who are far more laid back, warm, and fun-loving.  I’m always trying to moderate or tone down my strong inclination to get things done and done perfectly, but it isn’t easy.I wake up every morning seeking a mission for the day.  I crave accomplishment.  I measure the end of my day by what has been achieved.  As far as I know, this has been true for my entire life.  My best friend says that I am driven.  It’s funny that I’ve always chosen to surround myself with friends who are more relaxed than me.  I think I’m hoping that some of their personality traits will rub off on me.  I admire their ability to stop and smell the roses.  I will smell the rose for a mere second and then examine it more closely to see if I need to do any deadheading.   I do have a beautiful garden though.  Others enjoy the beauty and serenity it offers far more than me.   I enjoy creating and maintaining it.

According to the Strength Finders personality test, in addition to being an achiever, I’m also a maximizer, an input, and a connector.   This just means that I try to make everything and everyone better.  It means that I crave and seek out the most recent knowledge and information on a topic, and it means that I am adept at connecting the dots between people, events, and actions.

I do love people and I see value and potential for excellence in everyone.  I just want to draw it out of them and in the process I have to work hard not to annoy them.  I’m thankful that most people can sense my sincere caring and that seems to make me a bit more tolerable. However, the fact that I prefer non-fiction books, museums, and C-Spann over fiction, mountains, and network news means that I’m usually found to be right in an argument.  I’ve done my homework and facts will always triumph over opinions based on feelings and an over-emphasis on one anomalous example. I’m an analytical person.  You’ll have to prove me wrong, and only then do I easily accept and integrate the new truth.  Few people will bother with me long enough because they mistakenly think I am being stubborn. I annoy them.

To top it all off, I’m an introvert. Being an introvert just means that I get tired by an abundance of human interaction.  I’m not at all shy.  In fact, I am pretty outgoing and enjoy being with people.  But I tire at parties and have a strong need for being alone to recharge.  Too many events in one week and it can take me days to recover.  After extensive interactions at work, I usually need to vegetate at night and may not even answer the telephone.  I’m not avoiding anyone in particular; I am avoiding everyone in general.

We don’t get to choose our personality.  If given the choice, I think I would likely choose one that is less intense and more people friendly.  But then,  others would not benefit from my few contributions to the world: my work, my creativity,  my problem solving, and my beautiful and productive backyard.