People are complex. Everyone’s background is different, and every experience we’ve had affects who we are, how we behave, and what we value. Even though no two of us are exactly the same, our personalities can be categorised into five main types, known collectively as OCEAN. OCEAN is an acronym, and it stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Most people have certain personality traits from all of these groups, but we usually score much higher in one or two groups than the rest.
None of these personality types are considered better or worse than another. They each have their benefits depending on what we do with our career. A salesperson, for example, would benefit from being extroverted, while a teacher would benefit from being conscientious i.e. hardworking and serious about their duties.
One common misconception about the OCEAN personality types is that the least desirable and valuable is Neuroticism. Neuroticism suggests high levels of anxiety, emotional instability or even envy, but this doesn’t make it any less valuable. Neurotic people have been proven to perform better on tasks that require great detail and precision under pressure. It might not be the most fashionable personality type, but neuroticism is shaking off its negative image at last.
