I’ve been thinking lately about how different people go through life. Now, there are technically as many different lifestyles as there are people who have ever lived on this planet, since nobody’s life is exactly the same as anyone else’s.\u00a0 But there are certain commonalities amongst groups of people who share the same geographic region, time period, or personality traits.<\/p>\n
It’s that last aspect I’ve been considering.\u00a0 I’m an amateur psychologist of sorts (an OFFICIAL amateur psychologist; I have a Psych minor and everything), and considering how people think is one of my hobbies.\u00a0 I had a mini revelation lately (and make no claims of originality; I’m sure someone has had these thoughts before), that people fall into three basic types when it comes to their work styles: leaders, followers, and for lack of a better, semi-alliterative term, loners.\u00a0 Let’s take a closer look at each of them:<\/p>\n
Personality Traits:<\/strong> Confident, self assured, able to take control of a situation.\u00a0 Tend to be good with big-picture tasks, focusing on everything that needs to be done and creating plans to finish the tasks required.\u00a0 Ideally, they enjoy helping those who work under them and guiding the processes involved in fulfilling the needed tasks.\u00a0 (There are, as I’m sure you are aware, plenty of ‘leaders’ who simply enjoy bossing other people around, but I’m trying to focus on the positive personality traits they possess.)<\/p>\n Ideal Job If You Are a Leader<\/strong>: Something where you are in control, giving directions to others.\u00a0 There are a range of leadership positions in most companies today, all of which have varying degrees of leadership and involved.\u00a0 Depending on how much responsibility you can tolerate and how much freedom you want, you might be fine with a lower level supervisory job, or you might need to become the head of a major company before you’re satisfied.<\/p>\n How to Get There<\/strong>: There are plenty of ways to get a leadership position.\u00a0 Traditionally, the approach was to start at the bottom rung of a company or other organization and slowly work your way up the corporate ladder until you reached a position with an appropriate level of responsibility.\u00a0 Nowadays, you’d like be best served with a MBA or other education specifically to help you get a boost up to a position of power and responsibility.<\/p>\n If you’re looking to be the head honcho, going the entrepreneur route and starting your own business is probably the best route; although it will take a while to grow it to the level of a Fortune 500 company (if it gets there at all), it’ll probably be more enjoyable for you to build the company up, rather than working for someone else in the hopes that you reach the top someday.<\/p>\n Personality Traits<\/strong>: Ah, followers, perhaps the most diverse (and definitely the largest) group of people in this particular division.\u00a0 Generally distinguished from leaders by their lack of desire to, well, lead, and from loners by their desire to be in a corporation or other group larger than themselves.\u00a0 Given the range of tasks they take on, it’s hard to pin down the traits of the typical follower.<\/p>\n Ideal Job If You Are a Follower:<\/strong> Given the number of people who follow someone else’s leadership in some aspect of their job, it’s hard to pin down particular jobs.\u00a0 Since the most defining aspect of a follower is having someone else making the higher level decisions, any job where you can come in, get an assignment, work on it (doing work you enjoy, of course), turn in your results, and go home would fit; given the sheer range of such jobs that exist, it’s hard to get too much more specific.<\/p>\n How to Get There<\/strong>: In modern society, unless your ideal job involves fast food, you’ll likely need an Associate’s degree or higher to reach your goals.\u00a0 Find an area where you have some talent and interest in working, get a good education, and find a company or other organization where you can put your skills to work and you should end up somewhere you enjoy.<\/p>\n (If I can put in a plug for my own area of education, there’s always a need for intelligent, hardworking people in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical fields (aka the STEM fields); while it’s no guarantee of employment (and certainly not a promise that you’ll enjoy the work), it does offer plenty of opportunity.)<\/p>\nFollowers<\/h2>\n