There is an obsession with using psychological evaluations to learn about yourself.

While we playfully use online quizzes to determine what Hogwarts house we would belong to, superhero we would be or movie that describes our life, a part of us completes these for some inner desire to learn something we hope to find. Perhaps the key to understanding why we love piling clothes beside our bed instead of putting them away. Who knows?

The Myers-Briggs and Gallup Strengths Finder test are handy tools, but can lock you into a mode of thinking about who you are. Then you behave in a way that confirms the results.

For instance, the first time I took the Myers-Briggs test, I scored high on the extrovert scale. Taking it again recently (alongside my students), the scale tipped into the Introvert side. One day I’m an ENTJ and the other day I’m an INFJ. My wife thinks the descriptor for INTJ suits me perfectly.

Just before doing this post, I’m back to being an extrovert (ENFJ).

How I behaved after taking the test for the first time was to act more extroverted and assume a leadership role. I was trying to fit the description to which a test told me how I should be. I almost fell for that trap after seeing the INFJ result, but realized my life circumstance determined how I answered the questions that time around.

The test could not tell me who I was as a person. That is still for me to figure out.

No test can tell you who you are as a person. Other people can only give you hints about who you are (some people are remarkably accurate and poignant), but if you follow too blindly, you will forget yourself.

Don’t act to confirm an observation.

Instead, keep remembering who you are and let the observation change.