3-9 Bad Traits as Best Traits

You maybe surprised to learn that some of your worst traits can sometimes be some of your best traits. This means that when you get down on yourself for some of your bad characteristics, it’s a good idea to start reframing your thinking. In this video, we’ll help you get started. Let’s take for our first example having a poor working memory. As we’ve already mentioned, having a poor working memory often indicates that you’re more creative. When something falls out of the slots of your working memory, something else tends to pop in. Do you have to work harder to keep up with people who have that steel trap sort of memory? Sure, but you wouldn’t want to give up the joyful advantages that your creativity gives you. And of course, people with less capable working memories are more likely to see short cuts and to have conceptual breakthroughs. Poor working memory incidentally is often correlated with Attention Deficit Disorder. So if this condition is making your learning tougher for you, it’s important to realize it also gives you advantages. You may argue that a strong working memory not only helps with problem solving, it also helps with getting good grades but research has shown that there’s a counter correlation between school grades and creativity. In other words, sometimes the better your grades, the worse your creativity. For some reason my fellow professors who were usually the best of the best students seem to get annoyed with me when I bring up that little factoid. Maybe that’s also the origin of the old saying, the A students end up working for the C students. But there’s also a correlation between disagreeableness and creativity. It may simply be that disagreeable people are more willing to be brats, to throw aside that compliant deferential behavior of their more agreeable peers. Are you a contrarian? That too can serve as an advantage when everyone’s telling you you just can’t succeed, you’re contrarian nature combined with a little bit of common sense can be just the ticket to prove them wrong. What about being a worrier? Well, as a worrier myself, I’ll be the first to admit that worrying has got some unhealthy aspects to it. But anxiety can allow you to anticipate possibilities by mentally reviewing different scenarios even if they’re negative. And that’s not all bad. Doing a bit of worrying and then reframing your thoughts to calm your brain in the ways we’ve discussed earlier is a great way to go. And how about being a naive dreamer? If you’re naive, it’s a nice idea to partner and work with more practical people. But a little bit of naive dreaming helps keep the world moving forward on a positive note. No one would want to give that up. Based on all of this, what seemingly bad characteristic do you have that might have a good side to them? Join the discussion forum and let other people know and see what intriguing traits other people have.