The 5 Core Personality Types and Their Effect on an Individual’s Life

Nearly everyone has one of five core personality types, which can be adjusted by introducing traits and behaviors from other personality types.

 

Estimated watch time: 43 mins 

Available credits: none

Overview:

The concept of the five core personality types is a foundation in Eastern medicine. When we better understand our core personality, we better understand our behaviors and how they can affect those around us. In this presentation, Dwight Franklin, DOM, discusses the primary personality types and how they can be influenced throughout childhood and even adulthood.

After watching this presentation, the viewer will learn:

  1. The five core personality types and what behaviors they influence
  2. How different neurotransmitter levels can affect behavior and personality
  3. How a personality type can be adjusted by introducing traits from other types

Presentation Materials:

About the Presenter:

Dwight Franklin, DOM, is a doctor of oriental medicine and the owner of the Franklin Family Wellness Institute. He is a graduate and former professor at Florida College of Integrative Medicine, where he received a Master’s of Science in Oriental Medicine.

Over the course of his career, Dwight has worked alongside medical doctors in developing wellness programs for both adolescent and adult physical and mental health disorders through the practice of Eastern medicine, functional medicine lab testing, high-quality supplementation, food therapy and lifestyle changes.

Transcript:

Welcome to the Community Education Series, hosted by The Recovery Village and Advanced Recovery Systems. That’s about a little bit about us — now, a little bit about Dwight. I will read his bio; it’s really important. So many folks in the room have spent so many years going to school, obtaining degrees and certifications, so it’s very important to recognize the work that’s being done. And then I’ll share briefly how I’m connected to Dwight, how I was introduced to Dwight and some of the significant work that he’s been able to do with me. In the room today, we have Dwight Franklin. He is a doctor of Oriental medicine and owner of Franklin Family Wellness Institute here in Florida. He’s a graduate and a former professor at Florida College of Integrative Medicine, where he received his Master’s of Science in Oriental medicine. Over the course of his career, Dwight has worked alongside medical doctors in developing wellness programs for both children, adolescents and adults with physical and mental health disorders through the practice of Eastern medicine, functional medicine lab testing, high-quality supplementation, food therapy and lifestyle changes.

I met Dwight through a lovely therapist that I had here in Central Florida. I moved from Ohio about a year and a half ago, and I found myself in a situation — a bit of a pickle, if you will. I’m a person in long-term recovery who has a history and past of extensive mental health, abuse and trauma, and all of that led me into somewhat of a challenging situation. I was sitting with a little over 10 years — so, just over a decade — in long-term recovery and found myself in a deep state of depression. I was referred to Dwight from my therapist as someone I may want to reach out to. I know it’s not his presentation today, and hopefully, he’ll come back. He’s done this presentation for us in the past, but was able to — through all of what I just mentioned — kind of redirect me back holistically and kind of get my brain back in balance, if you will, for all the things I was maybe deficient in. Areas I was deficient in, and chemicals in the brain and the body and how all that works together.

I typically respond much better to more of a holistic approach, and Dwight was able to give that to me. It took me in an area and a place in time when I was really in despair. And as a person in long-term recovery, it’s always really important that we’re always aware of just how we feel and where we are from a 360 standpoint. So, Dwight’s very important to me. His teachings and educations have not only helped me, but family and friends that I’ve sent along the way. He does work a lot with adolescents and kiddos as well. I’m very fortunate that — you know, I wish I could have found him when I was younger, but I’m grateful to have him in my life today as a provider for me. He’s talking about a little bit of a different topic today, but if you have additional questions, I always encourage folks to reach out to Dwight for any solutions that he may be able to provide and have there as well. I think I’ll just go ahead and turn it on over to Dwight, so here’s Dwight, and thank you so much for joining us today. Feel free to hang on after if there’s anything else we can do for you guys. We’ll talk to you soon.

Dwight:

I have got to give this disclaimer first ‘cause they made me do this FDA disclaimer. Everything I say has not been evaluated by the FDA. This webinar is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Now that is out of the way, I’m very much looking forward to speaking with you guys today about this topic. I do have a background in Oriental medicine, but in the last few years, I have really shifted my practice to more of a focus on functional medicine. So, we do a lot of functional medicine labs at the office. We do neurotransmitter testing, we do comprehensive stool analysis to see where gut health is. We do food allergy testing, and so on and so on — really, help to reduce inflammation levels in both children and adults to get their brain working better, the system working better.

For this presentation, I’m kind of going back to my roots here and discussing more of Oriental medicine principles, and those principles are really rooted in personality types. Five element theory — you guys may have seen some sort of home decor store along the way, a little plaque that might have fire, earth, metal, water, wood on it. We use those terms a lot in Chinese medicine to describe a lot of different things, but in my practice — working with kids and adults with mental and emotional health issues — I use it to describe their personality type. Five element theory, in general, is an Oriental medicine concept of describing who we are at our core nature and how we relate to our surroundings and others. Each one of us has, at our core, one of these individual personality types.

Now, as we grow older, we start to learn and we start to grow and we start to develop other types of our personality. But when we are we’re young, we really have that main core personality that we’re dealing with ourselves with and the world with. I have a different take on these personality types because we do not live in ancient China. I think a lot of my colleagues have a way of being where they want to use our medicine as if it was back 3,000 years ago in China, and that I don’t always think fits with modern society. As you guys can see on the side of the screen, I do not have fire, earth, metal, water or wood. I have more career choices, if you will. As we go along, I’m going to really explain how these different personalities interact with each other, and hopefully, you guys will be able to take something away for yourself and be able to take something away for whoever you’re working with — your family members, your colleagues, your patients.

Each personality type has various positive and negative characteristics. I’m not a big fan of the word “negative.” I think it’s just things that we have to work on to develop. As we grow older, we develop qualities of other elements/personalities that help us to become better, well-rounded, and that’s really the goal — that we don’t stay in only one of these personality types. That we grow. I know that for myself, people don’t even recognize me today in terms of my personality because I was a very shy kid. You’d have to beg me to talk to somebody one-on-one. I had such a hard time with that, and getting in front of a room and talking to people was incredibly difficult for me. Now, I talk in front of large groups of people, or at least I used to before COVID, but yeah. We used to do that, and that has been very rewarding for me, but I had to learn a lot along the way. I had to step outside my comfort zone a lot along the way to get to where I am today. That’s the goal, to teach people how to develop these other personality types so that they can not just — they’re not going to change who they are at their core. They’re still going to be the same person, but they’re going to develop skills that are going to help them moving forward.

When a person lacks this well-roundedness or they have picked up more of the negatives of each personality, life can be tough, or they might make life tough on others. And we don’t need that. So, patients and patients’ parents I do work with — as Brian said, I work with a lot of kids, I work with a lot of adults. My practice is really geared towards helping children because you know, really, my heart is with kids. Like Brian said, he wished he had found somebody like me back when he was a kid. I wish I had somebody that had learned what I have learned over the years as a kid myself. I struggled a lot as a kid fitting in and not knowing how to fit in, and we all need help. My goal is to get these kids understanding that they can really thrive and they don’t have to suffer the way that many of us did as kids.

People come to my office because maybe they don’t understand themselves. Maybe they’re in a job that doesn’t really fit their personality. Maybe they do not understand their child — that might happen because the child doesn’t fit the idea of the child that they had in mind. I see that a lot with parents that bring their kids to me. I have one parent that comes to mind; he was a baseball star, and his kid just didn’t have that personality type, and he would get so frustrated with his kid for not thriving in athletics, but it just wasn’t who that child was. Another parent was a very fun, loving parent, but her child needed more factual information. It was very much what I’m going to describe later — more the analyst personality type — and they clashed a lot because they didn’t understand each other. She was too chaotic for his personality type, and he was too rigid for her personality type, so we had to work on those things. They’re not growing beyond their core personality. That happens a lot with adults. Fear of the unknown may be a contributor to that, or they might get too comfortable.

A lot of people may be stuck in what we might call dead-end jobs because, as my parents always used to say, it pays the bills. It pays the bills — I heard that a lot growing up. It pays the bills. Well, that’s great, but you know, there might be more out there for you that really could set your life from being okay to both wonderful and great. They are not teaching their child to grow beyond their child’s core personality. That is another big thing that happens in my office, and I think in the modern world, it happens tremendously. Fear of pushback from their kids. I have a lot of parents that are fearful of their kids. They are scared that their kids are going to be mad at them. They don’t want their child to have to get outside their comfort zone, and that does not usually lead to good things. We have to lead the child. We have to help them develop. We have to take care of them — make sure that they’re making the best decisions possible.

I’m totally okay with kids making decisions for themselves, as long as those are options of good decisions. I’m not okay with kids being allowed to make really bad decisions for themselves, staying out way too late. You know, eating foods that I know is going to cause brain inflammation. A lot of my parents are coming to me; they go, “I already know what’s going to help that kid.” They just are too fearful of implementing it. I hear a lot of parents in today’s world say, “Well, all his friends do this. All his friends play video games for hours and hours and hours. How can I tell my child not to do that?” You remember 20, 30 years ago when we were growing up and your parents said, “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it?” Of course, you’d say no. Now I’m having parents tell me, “I can’t tell my kid not to jump off a bridge because his friends are doing it too.” And that’s just no way of working with the child. You have to really be able to let them know what’s appropriate and help guide them along the way.

They have picked up negative characteristics of the other personality. Maybe you had a father or a mother that had some of the negative characteristics of somebody’s personality type, and you’ve just learned from what you watched. Or the child — maybe they’ve gotten involved with some friends that have some negative characteristics, and that’s causing them to act out in the same manner. We look at all of this and we come to an understanding of what’s going to be the best activities, the best way of working with each child based on that personality type. I don’t just like to see my kids as just an ADD kid or just an autistic kid or just an anxiety kid or adult. I like to see them as a human being that has many different characteristics, and they need help as a human being — not just for their disorder, not just for their brain health. We need to look at them as a whole person.

My first personality type is the executive. These guys, they’re explorers and born leaders. They need to be hands-on when learning. Very physical, and tend to gravitate towards athletics. They tend to choose careers that are more in sales, sports or anywhere they can be the boss. I’ve watched a lot of movies, and me and my girlfriend — we love the “Cobra Kai” series. I don’t know if you guys have seen that on Netflix, but Daniel LaRusso — he was the karate master, right? As soon as his karate competitions were done, he went into sales. He owned a car lot, and we see that a lot with movies of a sports star becoming more of a salesperson. That’s very common in real life, too. People that have this executive mindset — they want to win, they want to win, so sales and sports are something that they really gravitate towards. They can get frustrated easily, and that can lead to anger issues. I can usually tell what personality type my children are when they come to me by what they’re getting in trouble for at school and at home. If they’re more aggressive or angry, more frustrated, then they’re going to be this executive type more times than not.

Now, do note that this is a little different than what we’re going to describe later with the analyst personality type. The executive type can be physically angry, whereas the analyst personality types are more verbally angry. The analyst wants to debate you all day long, and it wants to tell you where you’re wrong, whereas the executive can be physically aggressive. These kids — as I said before, we do neurotransmitter testing at the office — they tend to have high excitatory neurotransmitters. So, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, possibly glutamates. All of those are very, very important neurotransmitters when it comes to focus and when it comes to learning and memory, but when they are excessive, it can lead to frustration and agitation and anger. These guys might seek out substances of a stimulant nature. I think it’s a common misconception that people go towards drugs or medications that help balance them out in some way, or at least a perceived balancing out. Like, this person’s a very angry person — he would want something that would calm him down. That’s not necessarily the case. Remember, the executives want to win. You might have a person with an executive nature that might want to get on a stimulant because the stimulant’s going to push that focus even further, and they’re going to feel like they’re winning, winning, winning.

Do you guys know the drug of choice, before steroids, for athletics? It was amphetamines. They used to do amphetamines before athletics came to play because it pushed that focus even further. It’s not always that the person’s seeking out a drug or a medication — that it is more of a balancing act. It may be pushing them further into where they’re already having trouble with because they don’t see anything wrong with it.

The entertainer. Outgoing and funny. These kids and adults love to be the center of attention. They’re the life of the party, always seeking sensory stimulation, but they’re often quickly overwhelmed by it. Class clowns as kids. They’re prone to mood swings, and that goes right along with my next comment here — impulsive and occasionally make chaotic decisions. A lot of times, those mood swings go hand-in-hand with bad decision-making. So, they’re quick and impulsive to make a decision that may not be the best for them, but then they have to deal with the aftermath of it, and they’re not always great at dealing with that by themselves.

They have problematic and chaotic relationships. These people, as they get older, may be in relationships that are not healthy. They may be in and out of relationships very quickly because, as we all know, new relationships are fun and exciting, which is what they gravitate towards. However, as things move on and we start to get used to each other, it may get bland and dull for the fire and entertainer person. This person really needs to understand that it can’t always be up here. We have to have some balance, right? They have sleep difficulties; they may seek out any substance just for the experience. These people gravitate towards fun, so they’re very likely to try something for the fun of it. But they may not like stimulants, whether it comes from a recreational use or if it comes from a prescribed use, because it heightens focus and awareness, and that turns off all the pretty little colors that they see all the time. They don’t like to be really “on.” They like to kind of have a full view of the world, so they don’t necessarily gravitate towards stimulants very often. High serotonin — that’s what I see, with the neurotransmitter labs, is high serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that makes us happy, but in their case, it may be beyond that. And they might be even getting into a more manic behavior.

The diplomat. This would be, probably, my personality type at my core. Personal relationship-driven, works well with others, great listener, very caring, but they may be more of a people pleaser. Can be very timid, worried and stressed. They may seek out substances that help the person relax or be themselves. Alcohol can usually be that thing for some people in a negative manner. Once again, just what Brian was talking about earlier. As a younger man, is what I dealt with ‘cause I just wanted to relax. This is the personality type that does want to choose something to help them relax and not be so anxiety-filled. Alcohol was something that I struggled with earlier on in my life because it relaxed me. I could be myself, I could be fun and fun-loving, whereas before, I was very much caught up in not knowing what to say to people, worried that I said the wrong thing. It was not a positive way of handling that because the very next day, once the alcohol is gone, guess what you think? “Did I say the wrong thing?” And it was amplified because then I was using alcohol to make that relaxation happen. It’s not a positive way of handling things, and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to help myself and help others with these areas of concern, because it’s very rewarding to be able to help people with these things.

They can take on the qualities of the people they surround themselves with. I hear a lot of parents tell me that they had no trouble with the kids whatsoever when they were younger, then they got to be teenagers. They started hanging out with that entertainer kid. Now, they’re having issues with their behavior. Diplomats want to fit in; they want that more than anything. They’re going to really, really, really do whatever it takes to fit in, and if they’re not led down the right path, they’re going to get ahold of somebody that will help them fit in, but in a negative manner. Low GABA. GABA is a neurotransmitter that helps you to relax. It helps the brain relax. I see that, with these kids and adults — low GABA, by far. And I do want to point out, I’ve learned so much from Dr. Daniel Amen. He’s a really world-renowned psychiatrist. The executive personality type — if you have any sort of ADD issue, it’s probably more of the classical ADD type 1. And I don’t do these diagnoses because I’m not a medical doctor, but I do understand how the brain works, and that really fits that child or adult. The second child, the entertainer —  they are more the ring of fire ADD, typically. Type 6, ring of fire. Then the diplomat — usually, if they have any sort of ADD issue, it’s usually more of the inattentive ADD type 2. They don’t really have a whole lot of hyperactivity. They’re just usually more of an inattentive ADD or they have type 7 anxious ADD, one or the other, Which brings me to my next child, the analyst. This kid does very, very well with structure and routine. They are a perfectionist. They are very, very intelligent and they analyze everything.

Whereas the entertainer made the decisions too quickly, the analyst may take forever to make a decision because they’re just analyzing every sort of option. They do not bend easily in their viewpoint, so it’s really tough if you get into a debate with an analyst kid — I don’t suggest it — or an adult, either. May have obsessive-compulsive behaviors. They do not accept change. I’ve had some analyst kids whose parents have gone through divorces, and they really hold grudges, which is another key area of concern with the analyst. They hold a lot of grudges. Can be very self-righteous. They use terminology such as, “I wouldn’t have had to do this if you didn’t do this.” It’s always somebody else’s fault. I see a lot of low serotonin and high dopamine with these kids and adults. The low serotonin greatly diminishes mood, and high dopamine greatly influences focus. They are very, very focused kids — too focused, overfocused. And that would be the ADD type that these kids would fit into — the overfocused ADD. Generally does not want to use any substances that cause them to lose control, which is good in one way, but they may really benefit from either some medication or some supplementation that can help them to relax, boost the serotonin levels, lower those dopamine levels and to just relax more and to be able to look at the bright side of things more often. These kids can get very negative in their viewpoint.

One mom came to me and she actually cried when I explained these different personality types to her because she said it was like — and she was a very sweet, sweet woman — but she said that it was like a dark cloud would come into their house when her child woke up every morning, because he would just take the fun out of every situation. Everything got really, really rigid when he was interacting with the family, and everybody was on edge. So, I always joke around that these kids are my eight-year-olds going on 80. They get into that very cantankerous type of mood sometimes. We have to really help them to relax that rigid personality.

The philosopher. This is also a very strong part of my personality. Imaginative, dreamers. They tend to be the artist, they seek knowledge, they are universally connected. They want to save the world, but they have trouble with day-to-day tasks. These are people that want to save the world but have a hard time just getting through the day for themselves. Big ideas, big dreams, big goals, but they may have very little follow-through. They may have a career choice that they just think is amazing — it’s going to help so many people — but they get really sidetracked when they find out that there’s paperwork involved.

They want to be the big dreamer, they want to be the big idea person, but there’s a lot of things that we have to do from day to day to make those big ideas a reality. They may like to be alone, which kinda seems counterproductive to also feeling universally connected with the world. But a lot of times, they do not like the way the world works, so they separate themselves from it. They may struggle with keeping track of time. They may have low energy and low motivation, more ADD than ADHD. This kid would fall in more to type 5 ADD — the limbic ADD. More emotional. May have depressive-type symptoms, may be more inclined to use something like hallucinogens or marijuana because they love to be in that very relaxed state. Or they may like to, as they might say, expand their mind, whether that’s true or not. Low neurotransmitters across the board. I see low serotonin, low GABA, low dopamine, low norepinephrine, low epinephrine with these kids all the time, and adults as well. They need help in all of those areas to boost their energy, to boost their focus, to boost their mood and to keep themselves relaxed and happy.

There is a method to the madness of helping anyone to really become a more well-rounded person. I hear my entertainer kids or my entertainer adults that I work with say, “I want to meditate, but I can’t quiet my mind long enough. I need excitement.” That’s because you are not using things in a very strategic manner. You’re not working in a very strategic manner to get your personality more well-rounded. I’m going to go over how that actually works. Know the personality type you’re working with. Use activities and behaviors that fit that personality. This builds trust, creates security, creates understanding. Building your patient’s trust, building your trust with your kids, friends or for yourself — you want to do things that you like to do that fit your personality. Examples might be the executive type likes to be moving and active. Go for a walk, play a sport, hike, set goals for yourself, do the things that make you feel good. Entertainer types like to have fun. Singing, going dancing, allow yourself or your child to be silly occasionally. Sometimes, things are too stuffy in the house and the kid needs to be allowed to be fun and a kid.

Diplomats types like community. Eat dinner with friends and family, keep communication open with others, make time for people. You may be in a relationship where you are with a significant other that is very much a diplomat type. They need to be around others. They need to be able to talk with their friends and family, but you may be more of an introvert. Well, we have to make concessions at times so that people get what they need to feel secure in their life. Analyst types like facts. Create a structured environment, plan out activities and tasks, talk in factual, logical terms. “Because I said so” is not something that’s going to go over very well with an analyst kid. They need to know why they’re doing something, or why they’re being asked to do something. But once you tell them why they’re doing something and you’re very logical in your viewpoint, then that’s enough. You don’t need to have a big debate with an eight-year-old. That’s enough, but they do need to know why. Philosopher types like to dream, read a story, draw, paint, write in a journal or write a story, yoga, meditation. These are all things philosopher types like. Joining a nonprofit group. All of these things are very much a philosopher personality type.

Once you get that understanding, now it’s time to encourage that personality type. Here, we’re going to use behaviors and activities that encourage the core personality. Now, what we’re going to do is we’re going to use the personality type that comes — if you guys look at the right side of your screen — that comes before that personality that person has. So, in case of the executive type, we’re going to use traits from the philosopher personality type of seeing the bigger picture and having big goals and dreams. But understand this — you’re not trying to make them more of a philosopher. You’re just trying to use those traits to help them become more well-rounded. We’re not going to be maybe thinking about how we’re going to save the world as a philosopher would. We’re not going to be maybe writing a novel like a philosopher would. Maybe we’re just looking at how we take smaller ideas and make them into bigger goals, whatever those goals may be for that person. If that person’s having trouble in school and they’re getting C’s, let’s work. What do we need to do to get that to a B or an A, and what would that do for you? How would that make you feel to have that better grade in school?

Entertainer types — encourage with executive traits of moving and staying active. This doesn’t necessarily require a structure of a sport, like an executive type would. This may require just being more active, going hiking, something like that. I had a friend who’s very much an entertainer personality type, and the activity that she does to keep her mind better centered is she goes hiking all the time. She loves it. But that keeping moving, keeping active helps her mind stay calmer. Diplomat type — encourage the entertainer traits of having fun. So, spending time with friends and family, but it may not require the same type of loud fun that an entertainer does. Maybe it’s just going for coffee with some friends, having dinner with friends, something along those lines. Analyst type — encouraged with the diplomat traits of listening, caring and supporting. Many times, an analyst type’s intellect can make it very difficult to have a give-and-take conversation, but try anyway. A lot of times, my kiddos who are analyst types, their parents aren’t really into the things that they’re into. They may be talking more computer lingo, or they may be talking about something more technical. As a parent, try to show involvement. Try to show that you do value what your kids are into, even if it’s not your first choice. That’s going to make them feel better, and they’re going to open up further if you show that interest in what they’re doing.

Philosopher type — encourage with the analyst traits of structure. Scheduling times to work on those big dreams. I had a business coach one time who was very, very successful, and she probably fit into this more philosopher type at her core nature, but she had learned a lot along her way. She always would say that, “You don’t always feel like it.” There’s many times when she was trying to be successful that she didn’t feel like doing this or doing that, and a lot of philosopher types will use those excuses of, “I don’t really feel like it today.” Well, there may not ever be a perfect time to work on something that’s really valuable, especially if it’s a big goal or a big dream. You may have to push through sometimes and just make it happen. And one of those ways of doing that is by setting time frames. By putting things in a schedule of, “Here’s when I’m going to do this, here’s when I’m going to do this, here’s when I’m going to do this.” But I wouldn’t structure it so much that they feel structured to death because that might lose some artistic quality that they may have for themselves. But things do need to be scheduled out so that they know when things need to be done and they stick to it.

Coaching with the personality types. Coaching — actually, once they have got that understanding of themselves, they have really learned a lot about who they are and they have started to work on the things that they may be deficient in — now, they’re really going to be able to be coached along the way, even further, to better that personality and to make it whole. Coaching the executive with the analyst personality type to learn to put work or school tasks in the schedule. Once again, here we go. With the analyst type, make sure things are scheduled. Coach the entertainer with the philosopher personality. Joining a nonprofit for kids, laughter meditation — I throw this in for fun, but goat yoga. I don’t know if you guys have ever heard of that or not, but I hear that a lot from my entertainer kids and adults — that just doing basic yogas doesn’t really fit for them. Something like goat yoga is fun or laughter meditation. It’s fun and really fits that philosopher personality type and that entertainer personality really, really well. And working with kids. So, nonprofits that deal with kids. Kids are fun, kids have that fun-loving personality, typically. That might be a great choice for them.

Coach the diplomat with the executive personality type. If you guys know — I’m so sorry, I didn’t say this in the past, but we’re going two back here. With the one before, we’re going one back — now we’re going two back. That’s how we’re training in the coaching. Coach the diplomat with the executive personality type. Talk to your child or yourself about the ability to say no — that’s a common problem with diplomat kids is they don’t feel like they can say no, and adults have this issue too. They could find themselves in unfortunate circumstances by just not having the ability to say no. Executives have no problem saying no; they have no problem whatsoever telling somebody no. That is a great learning tool for them. Coaching the analyst with the entertainer personality. Buy something for yourself that’s not in the budget. Have fun. Allow yourself to have some fun, take a vacation somewhere new. You and your child — have a playdate with a new family, but you guys can get the gist here. We’re just trying new things. That analyst is so rigid in their mindset that sometimes, they can shut down and only do what they consider in their comfort zone. Taking time to do some things outside of that comfort zone is very, very helpful.

Coaching the philosopher with the diplomat personality. Philosophers, they can really be in their heads a lot. They can really distance themselves from other people, so they’re using that diplomat personality of intermingling with others, meeting people. I see this with kids a lot where they want to stay in their room when there’s house guests over. It doesn’t hurt your kid to get outside the room and say hello and communicate with other people. Even if their natural personality is more of an introvert, they’re going to have to work on that if they’re going to succeed in life. Developing your child or your patient’s personality, or yourself — use behaviors that develop that core personality. Now, we’re going one over, so one beyond that core personality. Executives — what’s the one over? That would be the entertainer. So, treat the spouse, children or employees to a fun outing. And I’m only going to use one example here, guys, because we’re going to be here all night if I go over every possible example. Develop the entertainer with the diplomat personalities. Entertainers are very fun-loving, but sometimes, they forget to let other people talk. They like to be big, big energy, so that diplomat personality type of learning how to communicate better is very, very helpful.

Practice listening to others without butting in. Develop the diplomat with the analyst personality type. They have a real problem with being feelers and not thinkers about maybe what’s best for them, and that can get them into having relationships that’s maybe only one-sided, if you will. They’ll make a list. Analysts are big in lists. Make a list of your relationships along with the positives and negatives of each — that can really help a diplomat to really understand if relationships are more one-sided than not. A lot of patients struggle with that. Develop the analyst with the philosopher personality type. Analysts are very factual and many times lack faith in things. They may avoid taking risks in life because they are more factual-based, but there’s a lot of success stories out there of people who had more faith than facts and they acted on it and they did very, very well for themselves. But find something bigger than yourself to rely on when things get tough. That may be religion, it may be spirituality, it may be meditation, deep breathing — it can be any of those things. But they need that philosopher viewpoint of letting go of some of the facts from time to time and just being.

And then finally, comprehending that personality type. Now, you have really expanded that personality, you have really done well for yourself, it’s time to really kind of fit in the last gap here. It’s comprehending the executive with the diplomat personality. Executive types, they like to be in charge, right? But they may take a “it’s my way or the highway” approach, and that may not be very effective because everybody needs a different approach. We all have different personalities and we need different approaches. Coach K from Duke — he’s the Duke’s basketball coach — he always said, “You got to know who to yell at and who to put your arm around.” And an understanding of that does very, very well for that executive because they might just want to yell, yell, yell, but that doesn’t get the job done. Many times, it can really push people away. Comprehending the entertainer with the analyst personality. That entertainer likes to live by the seat of their pants, but adding in just a little bit of that analyst personality can go a long way. Schedule some activities that center your big energy. Scheduling those times to do that yoga, do that meditation, map your day out — that can really make a fire/entertainer personality feel more secure.

Understand how your big energy can interfere with the routine of those around you. I used to have a friend that, every time she’d come into town, all her friends would be thrown — their whole routine would be thrown off because she was such a big, big energy. Just having better understanding of that. Comprehending the diplomat with the philosopher personality. The diplomat, very people-oriented — the philosopher, very, very more spiritual-oriented. Understanding that worrying about the past, present or future can create problems with the bigger picture. We know people like this, and we may be one of those people. I can definitely have this problem myself — where we worry so much that we might even ruin certain situations. There are people that worry so much about losing a relationship that it ruins the relationship. So, just being observant of that. Comprehending the analysts with the executive personality. Analysts are very, once again, factual-driven. But executives, they know the facts but they’re going to work through them. They’re going to say things like, “It’s going to work because I’m going to make it work,” where an analyst might shut down immediately just based on the facts of the information. Set goals for yourself that are a step above what you would normally believe possible. Understand that your rigid mindset may be inhibiting that success that you could be having.

And finally, comprehending the philosopher with the entertainer personality. The philosopher, they do exactly that — they’ve got a lot of philosophy in their head about how the world works. They love talking about very, very deep conversations, but sometimes, if you’re at a dinner party, you may just need to talk about things that are a lot more lighthearted. Keeping things more lighthearted is a very, very helpful tool for a philosopher to learn.

That’s just a few give-and-takes of things that might be helpful for each of these personality types — things to learn along the way. This isn’t a sprint. This is a marathon, guys. A person does not have to get perfect at these things right away. It comes in time, but they’d need to be always working towards it. Here is my contact information. If you guys — for yourselves or anyone you know — need any help whatsoever, I am available. There’s my phone number and email. Please give me a call.

Thank you for watching this video. We hope you enjoyed the presentation.

Medical Disclaimer

The Recovery Village aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers.