Advice From Other Authors Can Be Bad...REALLY Bad
This morning I read yet another essay on success built on the premise that if you did not share the author’s personality type, you were condemned to a life of mediocrity and failure. As a professional counselor, I find the basis of essays like this to be faulty because:
The author’s definition of success is either incorrect or so subjective as to be worthless, and/or The author assumes that a person can change their personality as easily as changing a set of clothes.The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular tool for counselors and psychiatrists and they can cubbyhole a person’s personality into one of 16 different types. The popular DISC assessment identifies 15 different types. They all assume that one’s base personality, though it can be perfected and adapted, cannot be dramatically changed. For example, a person who scores as an ENFP in the MBTI can work on the weaknesses and strengths that are inherent in the ENFP personality, but s/he will never become, say, an INTJ. Personality can be adapted, but it remains fixed throughout life. So if an author assumes that his personality is the only one that can result in success (however he defines it), that leaves a number of people out in the cold and very frustrated.
It is my conviction that we can avoid all that by simply replacing the word success with another.
Success is a difficult word to define. Go to your self-help section in any bookstore or library and you will discover as many different definitions as there are authors.
One man’s success is not another and because ultimately the definition of the word is subjective, a far better word is the word, effective.
Effectiveness is easier to define and allows much room for all personality types because effectiveness is merely achieving the purpose of whatever activity a parson puts their hands to. A man who reaches the goal of raising a ton of food in the restrictions of a small garden is just as effective as the woman who puts a satellite into orbit. Their monetary rewards may be different, but the emotional satisfaction of an objective well achieved is the same. The cook who makes a first-rate soup will always enjoy more emotional satisfaction than the creator of a second-rate painting.
In the world’s eyes, not everybody can be a success, but everybody, regardless of their personality type, can be effective at what they put their hands to.
In his book Dedication and Leadership, Douglas Arnold Hyde wrote:
So just write. Make mistakes, write at your own pace, write what you like to read, take criticism with a little bit of humor and a shrug of the shoulders, read a book or two on grammar, and BOCHOK (Backside On Chair, Hands On Keyboard) as often as you can.
The author’s definition of success is either incorrect or so subjective as to be worthless, and/or The author assumes that a person can change their personality as easily as changing a set of clothes.The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular tool for counselors and psychiatrists and they can cubbyhole a person’s personality into one of 16 different types. The popular DISC assessment identifies 15 different types. They all assume that one’s base personality, though it can be perfected and adapted, cannot be dramatically changed. For example, a person who scores as an ENFP in the MBTI can work on the weaknesses and strengths that are inherent in the ENFP personality, but s/he will never become, say, an INTJ. Personality can be adapted, but it remains fixed throughout life. So if an author assumes that his personality is the only one that can result in success (however he defines it), that leaves a number of people out in the cold and very frustrated.
It is my conviction that we can avoid all that by simply replacing the word success with another.Success is a difficult word to define. Go to your self-help section in any bookstore or library and you will discover as many different definitions as there are authors.
One man’s success is not another and because ultimately the definition of the word is subjective, a far better word is the word, effective.
Effectiveness is easier to define and allows much room for all personality types because effectiveness is merely achieving the purpose of whatever activity a parson puts their hands to. A man who reaches the goal of raising a ton of food in the restrictions of a small garden is just as effective as the woman who puts a satellite into orbit. Their monetary rewards may be different, but the emotional satisfaction of an objective well achieved is the same. The cook who makes a first-rate soup will always enjoy more emotional satisfaction than the creator of a second-rate painting.
In the world’s eyes, not everybody can be a success, but everybody, regardless of their personality type, can be effective at what they put their hands to.
In his book Dedication and Leadership, Douglas Arnold Hyde wrote:
“In any profession, you will be respected if you are good at your job – not because you are good at talking about your beliefs. It may be quite irrational, but the fact is that, if you are recognized as being outstanding on one thing, you will be listened to on all sorts of subjects in no way related to it... and so, if you are going to be really effective [for your cause] in your place of work, you must set out to be the best man at your job.”Stop struggling to be a success. Master what you have put your hand to and do it with effectiveness with a focused eye on quality. As many have discovered, success is fleeting. Respect and recognition carry much more weight.
So just write. Make mistakes, write at your own pace, write what you like to read, take criticism with a little bit of humor and a shrug of the shoulders, read a book or two on grammar, and BOCHOK (Backside On Chair, Hands On Keyboard) as often as you can.
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