Could Your Flaw Become Your Superpower?

Rather than being flaws, traits like worrying, introversion and shyness might just be able to give us the edge – providing we learn to harness them…

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When confidence appears to be everything, it’s easy to believe that if we don’t have it, we should learn to ‘fake it till we make it’. But evidence suggests that embracing what we perceive to be our personality flaws is the real route to success. An anxious disposition, for example, has been linked both to creativity and higher levels of self-awareness, while introverted leaders have been found to be just as successful as extroverted ones. So why are we still trying to ‘fix’ ourselves? ‘There are no good or bad personality types,’ explains Professor Philip Corr, an academic in the psychology field who specialises in personality neuroscience. ‘They each have their positives and negatives. It’s how you manage and cope with them that make the difference. Whether you allow worry to run away with you or whether you can harness it.’ So, give yourself a breather and tap into the emotional toolkit that you already have. ‘It’s always better to get to know your personality type, rather than fight it,’ says David Lurie, a business psychologist. ‘If you’re trying to be someone you’re not, it’s just not going to make you happy.’

THE QUIET REVOLUTION