Some typical personality tests:
Before speaking at great lengths about personality and relationships to life and life goals, I would like to first state that while I find personality tests interesting, I ultimately do not place much value on them. People have a wide variety of behaviors and preferences, but these do not necessarily correlate to particular careers or modes of operating. The human action machine is more elastic than most people give it credit, with people being readily able to change behavior patterns with proper incentive and time. As part of my philosophy, I consider behavior, which manifests itself truthfully in the world the way words or bubbles do not, to be a greater measure of preference than a test.
As an example, somebody classified as an “introvert” might be considered a poor choice as a salesman, due to his preference for alone time. However, if sales as a job is considerably preferable to him in its action and rewards than other things, such as digging trenches, that individual will find the social activity – sales – far more preferable than the alone activity of digging. The dichotomous questions posed by personality tests seem to see preference as some solid, immutable, and “true” quality, but in the real world preferences are assigned based on options available to an individual. The above introvert might find aeronautical engineering to be an exciting field, but that may not be an option to him due to his choices and inherited life situations. Sales, however, might offer him the best pay and hours available compared to other things. He might weigh his dislike of sales as having some economic value, but sales might also give him more time for his passions. The web of preference is deep and highly individual.
For me, I am usually identified as an Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging individual in personality tests (or INTJ). Sometimes I am a slight variation, but for the most part this pegs me. This may lead people to wonder why I chose to pursue artistic fields and engage myself in public speaking and performance, the supposed realm of extroverts. The short answer is that I choose to. The long answer is that personality traits contribute to success in a wide variety of fields in ways that are often not understood without undertaking the task for oneself.
How did your personality affect your choice of content area?
Music as a field can attract a wide variety of people to it; success in the field often requires certain behaviors that some are unwilling to undertake. On its surface, music seems highly extroverted. When one is witnessing the final product, usually a performance, images that appeal to an extrovert are usually presented, particularly focused attention on the individual and social connection with an audience.
