What Your Taste in Music Says About Your Personality (ALSO A FREE PERSONALITY QUIZ AT THE END)

Doug wants to do personality tests on people. And then compare it to their taste in music. He wants to know if there is a trend.

I took a personality test once. It was sent to me in an email. I deleted the results. It wasn’t on purpose.

Let me explain.

I deleted all my emails. It was an accident. Cathartic, but a complete mistake. (Is that a personality trait?)

I can’t even remember if I was an introvert or extrovert. It probably doesn’t matter. The truth is, we aren’t one thing.

You can use personality types to get an idea of what kind of work someone would be good at, a feel for how they will interact, and a decent idea about what will motivate them. I bet there is a connection to art and music as well. You would likely have to separate out certain types of music and certain time periods.

There’s a theory that when looking to hire someone, you should consider the personality type and if it fits what you need. Not meaning if you will get along with them, but some personalities are better suited for different jobs.

But I will say this: Personality is more important than skill.

I have several businesses and I have no clue what any of my employee’s personality types are. If I knew the connection to music tastes, I could better evaluate them. I’ve been really lucky with employees. Introverts, extroverts, sensing, intuition, feeling, thinking, judging, perceiving.

At work, I force them to listen to either the 80s or the 90s station. Force is a strong word. I suggest it.

I am a child of Grunge. And proud of it. But lately, I’ve been pulled to this gnarly 80s station. It plays Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, and The Bangles (Eternal Flame is possibly the greatest song of all time). With these songs, I’m singing along all day long. And if you want to know the secret to my optimism, my happiness, my extreme positivity, it’s this: 80s music! (And of course sometimes Taylor Swift, and sometimes Metallica, and sometimes Pearl Jam, and sometimes the Avett Brothers. But mostly it’s 80s music)

What does that say about my personality, I wonder?

I read once that an introvert re-energizes by being alone and an extrovert by being around people. This is why I can’t decide what I am. I talk to people all day. But to prepare for this, I get up at 5am and get a few hours to myself in. This is the time I write and exercise and meditate. But I need both, the time to myself and the time around other people.

That’s reality, people are different and have different needs at different times.

In high school everyone is worried about something. Mostly worried about not fitting in. They worry about their peers, even if their peers are idiots. (Better to be weird than an idiot. Better to go your own way, than blindly follow off the cliff—-author’s opinion.) I want my children to know you don’t have to worry about this, but I know they will anyway. Everyone does.

Looking back at high school, it’s quite amazing how insignificant people’s opinions were. But at the same time, I have friendships to this day that were forged back in those days.

Then there’s college. You are more anonymous. Maybe this makes it a little easier to be yourself. Or maybe it’s worse, because you never gave yourself the time to figure out who you were anyway.

But mostly, it’s more of the same.

Then there’s the “adult” life. Work. When we are finally able to live life unencumbered. No more worry. No more anxiety. No more having to fit in. We can be ourselves. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Of course we have to “make a living”. Our schedules become our tyrants. We are no longer slaves to our peers, but to time.

Then retirement. Which, I’m not qualified to write about.

(I will say this though, in January I made a change in my schedule and I feel like I retired. Strange.)

I wonder what it is we are born with and what it is we choose to become. Personality: Nature vs Nurture. The ultimate question. But we all know the answer. The answer is: YES.

And if we choose our fate, can we not choose to change? Are we set in stone? Or is there some flexibility?

There’s too much talk on what has made us who we are. We are here and that is all that really matters.

The past may explain some things, but it doesn’t help us. Today, is all we have. And that is all that we need.

Many of my patients find themselves stuck in the past. They’ve tried things and they failed. Now they’ve quit trying things. But even quitting is an action. All actions lead to a destination.

The other day, I was walking through my living room and a strange feeling came over me. I felt a weird emptiness to my house. Like something was missing. With 4 kids, 3 dogs, and 2 cats, it’s difficult for there ever to have any “emptiness” to my house. But this was the same feeling I had prior to deciding to have my second daughter, and then the same feeling prior to my third.

The very next day DHS calls and asks if we would be willing to take in another child.

Life is strange and in the midst of chaos, it often plays a sweet melody. And that’s my favorite type of music. So what does that say about my personality?

p.s.

I’m going to give a way a few prizes for those on my newsletter. I’m closing out the contest after the next 100 sign up. Here’s how to qualify: 1) Sign up for my newsletter by clicking HERE And 2) Follow me on twitter: @chrispark97

p.p.s.

This free personality test is not your typical introvert vs extrovert test. It’s the Hexaco Personality Inventory and looks at the 6 major dimensions of personality. It’s cool. CLICK HERE TO SEE FOR YOURSELF