Personality. This word is so very common in our vocabulary. Whenever we talk about an individual, we often end up discussing the personality traits of the person and his/her ‘aura’.
To begin with, personality is defined as permanent and relatively stable patterns of thoughts, behaviour and emotions. In simplest of terms, personality of a person is the sum of qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character.
No two people can have the exact same personality. We all are unique and we all differ from one another in some qualities. Certain traits are common to us all, like anger, hunger, happiness, etc. Yet there are some traits that become the single defining feature of our personality or us.
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It’s no surprise that personality plays a vital role in the SSB. In the 5 day long procedure, the personality i.e. the behaviour, the emotions, the thought processes of the candidates are assessed and checked whether they have the ability to mould themselves and to work as per the norms and requirements of the Armed Forces.
At the initial screening stage, the psychological tests all elicit our personality type and traits and it helps the assessors to make an accurate decision about the candidate. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Word Association Test (WAT), the Situation Reaction Test (SRT) and the Self-Description Test (SDT) give a holistic view of a candidate’s personality to the assessor. The basic idea of having the psychological tests in the initial screening stage is to separate those candidates whose mental framework matches with the requirements of the Armed Forces better than those whose do not.
Therefore, In order to succeed in the SSB, one needs to be aware of their personality type and traits and how those can be used as an advantage to excel in the SSB.
Having talked about the relevance and significance of a candidate’s personality in the SSB, I’m mentioning a few ways in which you can get to know yourself better and work on your personality to achieve or dreams!
- First of all, you need to introspect. I’ve mentioned this in quite a few of my articles but believe me that introspection leads to so much insight that’ll help you tremendously in life. Everybody, from time to time, needs to spend time thinking about themselves, their strengths, weaknesses, etc. It’s impossible for a human to know everything about themselves without introspecting. So cultivate this habit. Take out 10 minutes every day and try to bring your thoughts, behaviour and feelings in sync. It’ll help you in a great way to know yourself better and when you know yourself better you know what areas you need to work on.
- Talk to others. There are areas of our lives that we ourselves are unaware of yet it is visible to others. It’s called the Johari Window and it has great implications in Psychology. We all indulge in some behaviours and actions about which we aren’t aware but they are visible to others. To get a holistic understanding of self, one needs information from all sources. So asking others and getting their point of view about oneself can help a person know himself/herself better.
- Understand the requirement that the Armed Forces have out of the candidates. The Officer Like Qualities (OLQs) can be taken as example to understand what the Armed Forces is looking for in the candidates. Be clear that your personality cannot change overnight. You are unique and you cannot be someone else. But you can work with what you have. There are qualities that can be learned and inculcated. Not everything has to or can be inborn.Whenever you’ve read “Do you have it in you?” what exactly came to your mind? The qualities mostly. The Officer Like Qualities to be more precise. These qualities in turn define the personality of an individual. So know your personality type and traits better to excel in the SSB!
Also Read :
- 8 Psychological Tricks To Convince People
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