How your personality affects your time management

Time management is not a particularly difficult concept however, it does mean different things to different people. A good starting point is to be aware of your own approach to managing time. 

DISC personality profiling helps to increase self-awareness by revealing your preferred style of working, communicating, relating and in general, just being. When you understand yourself better, you can use this awareness to make certain adjustments with a view to becoming more productive. 

Discover how different personality styles handle time management:

D personality styles:

High-D’s prefer to begin as soon as possible and they enjoy jumping head first into a task, role or activity. Their preference is to work at a fast pace in an effort to ‘get things done!’ They are demanding of themselves and others and will apply pressure if they feel things are slowing down. There needs to be an awareness for this style that along with the positives of attacking a task a getting it done, quality may suffer and at times errors are not always spotted immediately.

Generally speaking, D-styles are tenacious, they like to multi-task, get results and ultimately gain a sense of achievement. 

I personality styles:

High-I’s also like to jump head first into a task and would prefer to get others involved and enthused whenever possible. They are generally positive, optimistic and energetic when embarking upon tasks and look for as many ways as possible to make the process FUN!

I - Styles need to be aware that their optimism can sometimes lead them to over promise and under deliver. Deadlines can be missed as they are sometimes seen by the I's as a suggestion.

S personality styles: 

High-S’s prefer to work at a slower, steady pace, realising that life is a marathon and not a sprint. They like to work to collectively agreed, realistic deadlines, set the time aside and work as a team to achieve completion. They perform best in a harmonious environment and seek to achieve an ultimate win-win outcome for all.

They want to please others and work for the good of the team which means that S-styles can often take on too much. As a result, they can put themselves under serious pressure and stress and must learn to say a respectful NO from time to time.

C personality styles: 

C-styles prefer to work on a logical plan at a slower pace in order to achieve a high standard of work. They can be very detailed oriented and they want to do things right, even if it takes longer. They will work to agreed deadlines to ensure they are met and will fight their corner if they feel deadlines are unrealistic. They consider themselves to be ‘perfectionists’ and their attention to detail can cause them to be weighed down by double and triple-checking everything. 

Their mantra would be “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well” and they would prefer to slow things down to achieve this. Sometimes this style needs to understand that sometimes ‘good’ is good enough….especially when the clock is ticking.

As you can see from this snapshot of DISC styles, preferences can and will vary between styles. There are no good, bad, right or wrongs once you understand your preference and the preference of others. Be aware that all styles can ‘flex’ (including yours!). In so doing, you may experience some discomfort at times to a greater or lesser extent. 

Before you can effectively manage time, you need to be able to know and manage yourself. By doing so you stand a better chance of avoiding falling into 'time traps’ and missing deadlines. 

Before you can BEWARE, you need to BE AWARE.

If you’d like to learn more about DISC join us for our one-day DISC Certification Workshop held around the UK.