What is personality?
Your personality is who you are to yourself and others. It is the blend of traits, characteristics, and behaviors that we display to the world around us, a judicious mix of external appearance and one’s inner values. We each form a distinctive character, shaped by our upbringing and interactions with the environment we grow up in. The nature of our personalities can make or break our careers and shape our success in life.
Are there ways to modify or improve personality?
The simple answer to that question is yes. Taking good care of oneself and being in tune with personal strengths and weaknesses is vital to develop a great personality. Easier said than done; personality development involves hard work. However, with sustained effort and discipline, it is possible to improve our habits and patterns of thinking. It should be a source of encouragement that developing one’s personality will positively impact life and career.
- Be open to people interaction. A healthy personality is intrinsically connected to strong interpersonal skills , our level of self-confidence dictates our openness to social interaction. Sharpening our social skills and building good relationships require the constant use of positive gestures and consistency in thought and deed. It is about learning how different people want to be treated and the differences in their personalities. Aligning your likes and dislikes to others will make people see you as a highly amenable personality.
- Practice the power of a happy face. A great smile never fails to connect and hit the right spots. Combined with eye contact, a pleasant disposition goes a long way in creating the right vibes to bring people closer to you. However, this does not mean that you are always grinning away. There are ‘friendly smiles,’ ‘formal smiles,’ and more intimate smiles that one shares with close confidants. It would be best if you made sure that your pleasant behavior is authentic, not forced. A forced smile can be easily spotted for its falseness and is bound to affect you adversely.
- Listen more than you talk. Listening to other people is the easiest way to give them importance. It nurtures openness and makes it distinctly comfortable for people to deal with you. Good listening skills also help us learn a lot about our surroundings. When we listen, we are also seeking to understand and empathize with the other person. And this, in turn, makes people pay more attention to you, and your interactions will become far more engaging and meaningful.
- Stay calm and composed. People with well-developed personalities rarely get angry without justifiable cause. A relaxed demeanor is usually possible only when you are mentally strong and confident about yourself. In other words, when you genuinely believe in yourself, others will start to believe in you too. Strength of personality is about having a solid mind with self-control.
- Maintain a humble stature. People with strong personalities exude confidence in the way they talk, behave and act. However, it is a fragile line between confidence and overconfidence. Being overconfident can make you come across as a show-off with a big mouth. Remember, what people say behind you, not in front of you, determines your personality. And it has nothing to do with what you may think of yourself. The question of what is etiquette is answered by modesty, authenticity, and being unpretentious.
- And finally, take care of yourself. To build personality, one should never make the mistake of doing it all to impress people. Personality development is a highly personal journey. The changes one tries to make must be honest. It should never be an exercise in pleasing others but a process of discovering who you are and your ambitions. And it is equally crucial to take genuine care of your physical health and ensure you are always in your best shape, looking and smelling good.
