Use the Four Trends Quiz to Be More Productive
From Myers-Briggs types to Enneagram numbers, it’s natural to want to try to understand yourself better (even if it often leads to delusional “personality types” ). While I don’t believe that an online quiz really says anything definitive about who you are, that doesn’t mean that such quizzes are completely useless. One example of how a personality test can still help you gain useful information about how to motivate yourself: The Four Tendencies Chart.
We previously interviewed Gretchen Rubin, the creator of this quiz . If you’re like me and don’t care much about personality quizzes, here’s how to use the four trends as a fun exercise to rethink your productivity and maybe even find a motivation method that finally works for you.
What is the Four Trends Quiz?
According to Rubin, knowing your inclinations can help you make better decisions, meet deadlines, and keep the promises you make to yourself. The main selling point of the quiz is to understand why we act and why we don’t act.
First, the quiz is based on the idea that there are two types of expectations: external (like deadlines from your boss) and internal (like a new hobby). Rubin has a theory that when it comes to how we respond to expectations, we fall into four types or “trends.” The quiz is designed to help you identify a supporter, questioner, debtor, or rebel.
The free version of Rubin’s Four Trends quiz takes less than five minutes here , and you need to enter your email address to get the results.
How a quiz can help you become more productive
My newfound interest in the four trends was inspired by this Tiktok , in which creator @erica_mallett shares how knowing their addiction as an Obliger helped them realize they needed an “accountability partner” to get them to stick to internal expectations (like fueling their bed every day). morning).
Although I expected that my habit of pleasing people would also make me an Obliger, I got the Questioner. Obviously, this means that I am driven by reason, logic and justice – in fact, I am better at meeting internal expectations than external ones, because my internal needs make sense to me. Here’s how I apply this understanding to my productivity (I’m quoting some examples from the free report included with the quiz ):
- Askers need a lot of excuses. Arguments such as “Everyone should do this”, “You said you would”, “Because I said so” or “I am a doctor” are not convincing to the Asker.
- Say your car needs to be checked. To motivate myself to do this as an Asker, I need to focus on tangible reasoning such as, “You need to get your car checked or you’ll pay a heavy fine or risk a breakdown on our upcoming road trip.” travel.”
Your addiction can also help you understand what is holding you back. For example, I definitely resonated with the Questioner’s diagnosis of analysis-paralysis. Too often I find it hard to make a decision or move forward because I need more and more information. To overcome this analysis paralysis, my productivity hacks include setting deadlines, setting limits, or consulting trusted authorities.
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Whatever your attitude towards personality quizzes in general, they can provide you with an interesting framework for introspection and overcoming obstacles to your own motivation. And if you call it nonsense, that’s your right. It also means that your inclination is probably rebellious.