, , , ,

Taking Gretchen Ruben’s Four Tendencies Test

Source: http://www.gretchenrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/GR-FourTendencies-Upholder2.pdf
As I mentioned in my post last weekin asking the question, “who do you envy?”, I was listening to a Rich Roll podcast with Gretchen Ruben, author of The Happiness Project (podcast link here). She spoke with Rich about her latest project and book regarding the “Four Tendencies”.
The Four Tendencies help identify how people respond to expectations – both outer and inner (extrinsic vs. intrinsic). She wanted to understand why people were able to sustain motivation or stick to goals. In effect, she created another personality test to help people connect and navigate relationships.
The Four Tendencies:
  • Upholder:“I do what others expect of me—and what I expect from myself.”
  • Questioner:“I do what I think is best, according to my judgment. If it doesn’t make sense, I won’t do it.”
  • Obliger:“I do what I have to do. I don’t want to let others down, but I may let myself down.”
  • Rebel:“I do what I want, in my own way. If you try to make me do something—even if I try to make myself do something—I’m less likely to do it.”

I took the test – I’m an Upholder. This makes a lot of sense as I have a strong ability to not only make self-commitments, but I carry them out. This applies to external (outer) expectations as well (e.g. family, boss, customers).


You can take the test here. What’s your tendency? Agree or disagree?
/by
, , , ,

Who Do You Envy?

I recently listened to the Rich Roll podcast featuring Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (link to podcast).
Early in the interview she posed a question that really piqued my interest – “Who do you envy?”
The question proposed by Gretchen points to what the person who is envied is, does, or has over the person envying. Oftentimes, we ask questions about regrets or what we want only for folks (myself included) to say we have no regrets or we don’t really want anything more than what we have (beyond the usual dreams). Personally, I can say there are a fair number of things I want. However, the thought of who I envy really draws out a deeper perspective. I ask why.
Thinking about this, I envy:
  • Elon Musk, James Dyson, JK Rowling, David Beckham, Jack Ma. I envy them for their remarkable success. Success that was achieved by overcoming incredible failures and adversity. They stayed true to their beliefs and emerged victorious.
  • My older brother and my best bud for raising beautiful families with their equally amazing spouses.

This is the immediate list that comes to mind. However, I’m sure there are many more.


Who do you envy? Why?
/by