Essential Ways to Improve Your Personality

Your personality is a pattern that involves how you feel, think and behave. Everyone has a unique personality, and someone's personality has a major impact on their overall happiness and success in life. The good news is that you can make changes and adjustments to your personality so that you can improve it. Making improvements to your personality is important for personal growth and this is something that everyone should consider as they go through life. There are several simple ways to do this that ensure success.

Learn to Be a Better Listener

The most charming people in the world are charming because when others are talking to them, they feel listened to and accepted. When you are a good listener, you make other people feel important and like they are the only one around. Those who knew Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis often remarked that she made them feel special because when they were talking, she would hang on their every word and look them in the eyes when speaking. The key is to truly hear what people are saying. This means not just hearing their words, but also acknowledging things like body language.

Practice Your Conversation Skills

Being a good conversationalist is key because it allows you to transmit your personality to others. You can improve your conversation skills by reading more because this increases your knowledge and gives you more to talk about. You can also join a local group for something that you are interested in. This gives you the chance to meet more people, learn more about your interest and get practice in talking about it. No one knows everything, but you can continuously learn more and expand your horizons.

Have an Opinion and Express It

Whether you disagree or agree with someone, they actually do want to hear your opinion. There is a balance here, because you do not want to be the know-it-all in the room. The key is to learn when to insert your opinions and how to do it in a way that does not seem forced. For example, if you are discussing a political issue with someone with a different opinion, you should be open to their opinion too. When you inject your opinion, make sure that you do so in a way that is meant to inform and not belittle them. When it comes to touchy subjects, make sure that you take a gentle approach that is meant to stimulate and educate.

Keep your Attitude and Outlook Positive

Negative personalities turn people off, so it is important to become a more positive person. This does not mean that you should abandon being a realist, but if you do have an issue with something, you should present it in such a way that is not complaining. This takes some practice, especially if you tend to be negative. The easiest way to be positive is to be real and to reflect your emotions in a meaningful way. For example, if a topic does bring out your inner complainer, use this to your advantage and ask to get other people's perspectives. This allows you to discuss the topic per your feelings while also learning more about how other's feel.

Have a Good Sense of Humor

Life is constantly throwing you curveballs, making it hard to laugh it off sometimes. However, no one likes to be around someone who cannot take a joke or see the lighter side of things. This does not mean that you have to laugh at everything or constantly make jokes. This means that you know when to use humor to create a diversion for topics that people do not like to discuss. This makes your personality more attractive and people will naturally gravitate toward you since you are able to make them feel better when things do get difficult and gloomy.

Now you have some basic tools that you need to tweak your personality, and you can start with one of these techniques and work on each of them individually. Since many of these play into each other, mastering one at a time is a good idea. This makes the process easier and it ensures that you get the full benefit out of each technique. Once you master these, you should go back and make sure that your progress is sticking. This allows you to grow as a person and be the happiest and best person that you can be. 

- Rosemary Kitchen

Resources

Tracy, B. (2012). Be the Best You: 7 Keys to a Positive Personality. Retrieved on February 10, 2015 from http://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/be-the-best-you-7-keys-to-a-positive-personality/