Book Review - Personality Plus
Have you ever had one of those arguments with your husband, where you just know that if he does just one more of those things you absolutely hate, well then you may need to start looking at criminal attorneys or spend a lot of time in an orange uniform? Come to think of it, I have no idea what colour South African prison uniforms actually are.
If you are not married, then you can remove the word husband and add co-worker, or friend. We all have conflicts.
At the time that I was reading this book, I was actually going through some marital strife. Let's not pretend that we don't all have those. Then of course, there is the distinct possibility that someone is also having those murderous thoughts about you. Can you imagine?
I actually felt that this behaviour that my husband was displaying was a direct and personal attack against me. It was about then that I read about the Perfect Melancholy Personality in a book by Florence Littauer.
An extract from the book:
Page 106:
"A friend of mine gave me a list she found in her grandmother's dresser:
JEAN hasn't sent me a Christmas card in two years.
SUE did not kiss me good night.
EVELYN came out into her yard and did not say Hi.
It seems that Melancholy personalities really do keep lists of things that people did wrong. When I realized that keeping lists of wrongdoings was simply a personality trait, I began to take things less personally. Then I saw that my Powerful Choleric personality can be a bulldozer and that I can cause hurt and simply forget about it in the process of getting things done.
While this book is not designed to put people into simple boxes, it certainly does help with identifying what makes the people you interact with act the way that they do. It also gives you strategies on how to work with different personalities.
Although this book is not designed as a marriage book, it certainly saved mine and is very helpful in the workspace and any relationship that you want to grow or improve.
I certainly give this book the thumbs up. It is a good and easy read and will help you to deal with your kids as well as your business relationships.