Personality types and individuality
Yesterday, I was at an all-day workshop on the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator (MBTI). If you have no idea what this is, here’s a brief overview (courtesy of Wikipedia, of course). Essentially, it allows you to identify your personality and the way you approach the world, prefer to work and take in information by a series of questions and exercises, after which you get four letters which identify your type.
photo credit: c_thylacine via photopin cc
I’m not going to give you a psychology lesson, but in Myers Briggs and Jungian terms, an extravert (the “E” in the four letter type identity) derives energy from others, from being around people, and an introvert (the “I” in the letters) needs time and space away from other people to process the world and their thoughts. However, I had understood the terms previously as they are commonly used (extravert = confident and happy, introvert = shy and terrified), rather than their actual definitions.
A really key underpinning idea is that of preference. So we have an innate preference for a particular side, but can and do work to varying degrees of success in the other side’s mode.
When I first did the test, while trying to leave the London job, I tested as ENFP. Over the past two years, my preferences have shifted as my real self has come out to play, and I now usually test INFP.
I had mixed feelings about this, as I didn’t immediately identify as an introvert. However, the more I’ve learned about it, the more I’ve come to embrace the fact that I’m simply an introvert who really likes people and talking, but needs that time and space away from the world to recharge my batteries.
Where to find me…
Hello!
I haven’t abandoned Ducking Fabulous – but I have split my business activities into different sites, so each one is more relevant! So here’s a list of where to find me doing what…
Here on Ducking Fabulous, I’ll be focusing on social media for the terrified and being yourself online, via e-courses and workshops (and occasional blog posts).
My central hub and blog is now at carlalouise.com.
The Website Beautician is the new name for the hassle-free web design for non-techie creatives I used to offer over here
Stationery and slow living are the order of the day at Ink Drops. You can subscribe or order one off boxes of beautiful stationery, and join the conversation about living more deliberately.
I blog about life in your twenties at Letters From My Twenties.
And 2014 will see the launch of photography projects at Lotta Fiero Studios.
Just helping
Some of you will know I’m running four workshops at this year’s Essex Book Festival, on social media and writing in the digital age. (Details here if you want to join us – tickets are selling fast!)
I know what I want to cover in the workshops, but yesterday I’d set aside some time to get the structure in place and make sure I’m not cramming too much into the hour-long sessions, so that my writers actually take in the information and can apply it.
So after getting my big flipchart pad out, I went upstairs to get some coloured pens. I came back and was greeted by this:
Luna was snoozing in the conservatory by the heater, but Clover definitely wanted to help…
I love my kitties, but I’m learning to add extra time onto everything to account for watching, laughing at and cuddling them along the way!
Cake wisdom
It is a truth universally acknowledged that all discussions, whether personal or professional, online or off, and between two people or a whole roomful, every single one is improved by cake.
photo credit: thepinkpeppercorn via photopin cc
Refreshed and ready
As a friend put it earlier, “the world re-opens tomorrow”.
Though it is of course 5th January today, tomorrow marks the start of the first full week of 2014, and so feels like the proper start of the new year.
I’m heading back to my day job tomorrow after a fortnight off, and delighting in the fact that I don’t dread it. Of course the freedom of the last two weeks is my preference, but I do love what I do at the uni and it’s great to be able to head for bed and know I’ll sleep, and won’t have a lead weight in my stomach for the next fifty-one weeks.
I’ve spent a lot of time this Christmas and New Year with these two on my lap, or curled up next to me as I amble through my work. I’ve done lots of client work and lots on my own sites, including this one, but for the first time in quite some time, it hasn’t felt rushed and overwhelming.
Sleeping in late, staying in my PJs till 2pm, eating when I’m hungry rather than when society dictates I should, and staying up till 2.30am because I’m so absorbed in my work I haven’t noticed the time passing… all these are the hallmarks of the life I have lived for the past fortnight, and the life I ultimately want to live full time.
I achieve more when I can work in my natural rhythm, but like so many of us, I never have enough time away from traditional 9-5 working to get properly into my rhythm, and the kittens think all their Christmases have come at once when I want to play with the laser pointer at 3am!
Tomorrow routine starts again, which is no bad thing for me or for them – they need a better routine before they head off on their first holiday to a cattery at the beginning of February, and I need to see how my new client work fits in around my day job. All, of course, keeping BALANCE at the forefront of every plan and decision I make.
Morwhenna’s ReNEW You course starts tomorrow, and Jessy’s Snap To It photography course on the 11th, both of which I’m signed up to and very excited about.
So refreshed, invigorated, still slightly sniffly but incredibly excited for the year ahead – here’s to 2014!
My word for 2014
If you hang out in the same places online that I do, or follow some of the same people, you’ll know that having a word for the year seems to be quite a powerful thing.
But man, is it hard to choose one! I’m over-eloquent at the best of times, and narrowing down all those gorgeous words out there to just one for a whole year seemed like an impossible task.
So I decided on two, with a long list of goals and intentions to accompany them.
How did I choose? Well, I’d had a few lurking in my subconscious for some time, and I let them percolate until I settled on the ones which felt right.
Word number one is BALANCE.
photo credit: fd via photopin cc
For the last few years, my balance has been all over the place. This blog is not somewhere I want to dwell on the London job, but it became my primary focus. Since November 2012 I’ve started three businesses alongside my new (well, a year old now) day job, and I work on them in almost every spare second.
I’ve found my tribe this year, a group of other aspiring and doing entrepreneurs, and they are the most incredible source of support, encouragement and inspiration you could imagine. I’d be lost without them – and I certainly wouldn’t be writing this post.
But one of my great traits is enthusiasm. And I’m so enthusiastic about both my ventures and those of others that I’ve almost forgotten how to relax.
And so in 2014, I want to balance the work I love with some down time too. Time to sit and do nothing but cuddle my kittens, or chat to friends and family. Time to read, walk, go to the spa, and most of all not feel guilty for doing any of these things. After all, while I’m deeply connected to my businesses’ growth and success, I’m building a life, not a business empire!
My second word is ABUNDANCE. I strongly believe this is a mindset, and the more you have, the more you attract.
I also think it’s often misunderstood. By abundance, I don’t only mean money. I want to have enough money to alleviate worries when things break, go wrong or need money throwing at them. But it’s not my primary motivator. Abundance for me is plentiful love, friends and family, joyful movement when I feel I want or need it, generosity of spirit, and a whole host of other things which have no relation to money at all.
For my businesses, I wish for abundance, growth and balance too – balance between them all, success for all of them, but for none of them to become a chore. The Website Beautician is already fulfilling growth and abundance – now I just need to keep an eye on the balance part!
Do you have a word or theme for 2014?
I'm Carla, a quirky thirtysomething with a penchant for unicorns and glitter. I believe in magic and make-believe, and the gorgeous rebellion of making your life absolutely your own. And I'm a proud multipod!
I am a photographer and catalyst for small business owners, and a real life mermaid. I photograph people as they truly are, help women see and step into their brightest and best selves, add a sprinkling of magic to the mundane, and am a happy ambassador for stationery and slow living.
Proud to be both girly and geeky, when I’m not writing, photographing or daydreaming, you can find me dancing burlesque, riding my bicycle Bluebell, growing herbs and collecting typewriters.