Not Meant For Manager

At a young age we are told “you can be whatever you want to be”. To an extent that is true you can hard work and get to where you want to by dedication, sleepless nights, and never giving up. However, some things are not meant to be. When you first meet someone the first question usually is “What do you do for work?” Because that actually tells you a lot about their personality right from the get-go. An example, is you are out on a date and you’re talking to someone who is quite chatty and you ask “what do you do?” They answer with “oh I’m in sales” and suddenly it all clicks. An out going person is in sales, of course.

So, personality and your job or career does say a lot about you especially in 2024 because everyone is encouraged to do what you love. Sure, I understand we all have to work to put food on the table but if you have to work you might as well like what you do.

I have done the personality test and it showed that I am what you call an INFP which means Introverted, intuitive, feeling and prospecting. I am not a big people person, so sales would be a horrible career path for me.

I prefer to rely on my intuition rather than what I am seeing in front of me, which can be linked to me having anxiety because I think about how future outcomes can play out without seeing the facts that are presented in front of me.

A lot of my decisions are based on what I am feeling in the moment and I follow my heart more than my head. I know I like helping people so working in healthcare is what is best for me. If I were following the head I’d probably make a better career choice and choose something that makes more money such as teaching, nursing or Human Resources.

The judging trait versus the prospecting trait, i am prospecting which is more creative. I write on Vocal don’t I? I have a hard time staying focused on one thing at a time; I have a job where I have multiple interruptions and it works well for me because I love working in an “organized chaos” as I call it. I could be working on a document and I get interrupted with a phone call and I know that if I did not have that break now and then, I would come up with excuses to not get the task done at hand. I need write everything I have done throughout the day down because if I don’t I will not remember what I did. This is because of my workflow and how my brain works; where I am more spontaneous rather than orderly. I do my job well and sometimes that can be a huge challenge because there are times where I can’t remember what I was supposed to do, so I write sticky notes, lists and anything I can think of that will help me.

Now, I tell you I work as an administrative assistant in a hospital and you read this and say “oh that makes sense”.

Now, I don’t believe that someone with my personality type would do well in a leadership role because it’s almost like asking you to be a whole different person just to do well in your job. I thought at one point I would not mind being a manager or supervisor but then thinking about it more I realized I would not like a role that was like that in any capacity. I planned my own wedding with little to no delegation because I don’t have it in me to tell people what they should do, I feel better being in a more supportive role and asking “what can I do to help?” Certain personality types are not meant for a manager role. I will say that I am approachable and willing to help out when needed and I feel a lot more comfortable with that than anything else. I did think I would be manager eventually, but I know I would not be happy in that role. Sure, I complain about work but who doesn’t? Not all of us need to be “lady boss” some of us are right where we are supposed to be.