Quiz love; enhance your self-knowledge and self-awareness
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As a teen and young adult I loved the quizzes in magazines.
You might be familiar with the type of quizzes I loved. They had titles like, ‘Are you a good friend?’, ‘How much does your boyfriend love you?’, ‘How to know if you trust your instincts’ and so on.
I must admit that as an adult, I am still partial to a quiz - they are such fun! And I am not alone. Many of us love a quick quiz.
But I got to wondering, WHY do we love quizzes so much?
Is it the distraction factor?
The entertainment value?
Perhaps the insight they provide?
Or the simplicity they offer? After all, usually there are only 4 or 5 options for each question, narrowing our choice - unlike life itself, where we can feel overwhelmed by choice.
Or is it something else altogether?
Personally I think it's a little of all of these. And of course it depends upon the quiz!
A quiz can provide a small momentary insight into knowing yourself better that can help you feel a little wiser than before.
Or, depending upon the quiz, it can just be a happy distraction whilst you are waiting for something else.
There are clearly more light-hearted "quizzes" that are purely fluff without any real insight offered. You probably know the sort. They have titles like; ‘What colour front door really represents you?’ or ‘What is your party style?’. These are generally fun, short quizzes, maybe even a little funny and fulfil the need for distraction and entertainment.
But there is more to quizzes and why we find ourselves drawn to them. Quizzes, particularly reputable, scientifically based ones, can be illuminating. Through completing them we gain understanding; of ourselves and how we relate to others.
And that is valuable.
When are going through a time of significant change, or are feeling unclear about our current or future path, we naturally seek clarity. We wish for someone to tell us what we need to know or do, we seek answers, and often desire a roadmap or explanation for what we are experiencing. This is when the enhanced self-knowledge that comes from a quiz can benefit us, and contribute to improved confidence in both our career and life.
“If we don’t understand ourselves we will never truly understand anything.”
Self-knowledge is more important than ever
With the global changes we have been experiencing over the past months, it is well understood that the way we engage with work and the way work engages with us will be substantially changed in the not too distant future.
Research is already showing that one of the shifts we will see is the rise of the knowledge worker, and an increasing number of contract roles. That is, where work will be offered and provided via contract. This may be a choice made by the organisation, or by the individual. What is clear; will we engage (by choice or necessity) for a set period of time, rather than being employed permanently.
With the shifts already occurring, and more coming, many people are re-evaluating what is important in their lives, and being quite intentional about what they re-engage with and how they wish to live their life.
What does this mean for us in terms of career opportunities and direction?
Put simply, we need to be very clear about our own talents and skills. We need to know what we bring to a work context in terms of strengths, skills, talents, aptitude, values and other factors.
In addition, this self-knowledge and awareness will give us greater confidence to put ourselves forward for the roles aligned with our strengths, talents, values and interests. As well as improved confidence in our performance, and the value we provide to the organisation.
Additional self-knowledge benefits now
We are approaching corporate Australia’s performance or mid-year review time. Performance review time is when we are tasked with summarising and reviewing all of the work we undertook, delivered and achieved over the previous 12 months. Aligned with our financial year, the majority of performance reviews involve aspects of self-assessment, and consideration of what we have done (Tasks and Goals), how we have done it (Values and Behaviours) and what we have achieved (Outcomes and KPI’s).
Many performance review processes are divided into two parts. The first section dedicated to the review of the previous year, and the second section looking ahead to the coming financial year and determining your key deliverables for the next 12 months. As part of this, a development or learning plan is often included.
As an experienced HR professional, I can attest that accurate self-knowledge and self-awareness assists with most performance review tasks. And one of the most fun and quick ways to enhance our self-awareness is to utilise a reputable quiz or two.
Self-awareness, self-knowledge and career and life confidence
Readily available, research based quizzes provide you with valuable feedback regarding your strengths, preferences and/or tendencies – to name a few. The questions and answers are based on research, meaning you genuinely learn something about yourself when completing such a quiz.
When working with clients who desire to improve their self-knowledge and self-awareness, completing a research based quiz or two can be a great way to kick-start their understanding before together we dive deeper into setting goals and actions.
Below are some links to research based quizzes I enjoy, use and find valuable.
Useful Quizzes
Signature Strengths
Firstly, I frequently recommend discovering your strengths. The Signature Strengths quiz is fantastic for this, and I have been referring people to this since it was first made available online. Knowing your strengths, that is, the areas where you are naturally strong, helps you identify career options that will utilise your strengths. Note, strengths are different from your talents. Talents are what you do naturally, and your character strengths are your driving force. Strengths are your positive personality traits; aligned to your values, they generally represent how you like to work. Therefore, identifying your top 5 strengths, known as your signature strengths also helps you feel most like your authentic self, which is valuable in your career and life. Knowing your strengths can also help support you during times of transition. Personally, completing the signature strengths quiz confirmed for me what I already suspected, but also felt like a permission slip to step into owning my signature strengths and embracing them more overtly in my career and life. You can ready more about why knowing your strengths is valuable here.
Tendency
Next you might like to understand your tendency, for which Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tendencies quiz is specifically created. Knowing how we respond to expectations, both inner (our own) and outer (others) is powerful and impactful for getting work completed, habit formation and a myriad of other situations. Added to that, understanding others tendencies helps us better engage with them and enhance our collective effectiveness. All of which are valuable in our career and life.
Love Language
Understanding our own Love Language, and that of those around us (colleagues, friends, partner, family) can improve our understanding of ourselves and of those we interact with on a regular basis. Both at work and in our personal lives, confidence is enhanced by quality relationships. Additionally, knowing our own and others Love Language can ensure appreciation is expressed in a way that is meaningful to the recipient. Whilst the benefits of this in our personal life might be quite clear, the benefits in our career are no less valuable. As a leader, knowing you can genuinely acknowledge a team member who has gone above and beyond, in a way that will make them feel genuinely seen, appreciated and valued adds to your leadership skill and reputation.
Why do we love quizzes?
Generally, the insights we are offered through completing the quiz and receiving the results, help know ourselves a little better.
In a world where change is a constant (more so now than ever) and we are busy juggling multiple responsibilities, tasks and chores, completing a quiz is a fun and effective way to improve our self-awareness and self-knowledge. Perhaps taking a few minutes to complete one can also be a little bit of ‘me-time’ in an otherwise busy day.
The results are often a little glimpse into our soul, which helps us reconnect with our inner hopes, dreams and feelings. Which in turn reminds us of who we are, what we love and what gives our life meaning. With a gentle reminder of these things, we experience greater clarity and hopefully, renewed confidence in ourselves.
Or, at least, we reconnect with our inner teenager who loved completing quizzes … and perhaps still (not so secretly!) does.
More help - no quiz required
Whilst I love quizzes, I love to support people gain clarity and improve their confidence even more. And I'd love to help you too.
Book in for your complimentary consult and we can chat about how we can work together. No quiz necessary! But no need to be disappointed - I do have a fabulous pre-coaching questionnaire to help you clarify what you are seeking. 😊
