The Living Rockumentary

Something to keep in mind regarding the "test." These are our "preferred work styles." It's not so much a personality test but measures instead the way we might like to approach work as individuals. All five of us in this band have creative "personalities," fer sure. Max is into visual arts, the other four of us are writers and we're all musicians. The trainer here at Motherwear who gave me and my co-workers this test (and it turns out I am surrounded by scads of methodical women) gave us an example. The task of going grocery shopping. Our interactive would probably zip right along for a while but may notice late in the going that they've omitted a few things and have to return to aisles they've already been to to get them. Chances are, they can do without a shopping list and make good decisions regarding bargains and sales. Our practicals will start at one end and proceed through the store in a logical way, knowing what they need, making substitutions on the spot if something they were looking for is out of stock and know exactly where things are since they've compartmentalized in their minds the layout of the store from previous visits. Our methodicals also start at one end of the store and finish at the other- they have a list made out, coupons organized in the order of the aisles and don't fall too easily for bargains that aren't what they seem. They also hit their budget dead-on. Our creatives also rely on a list made out beforehand but they also pick up many things not on the list because they come up with ideas for dinners based on things that catch their eye in the store and might need additional items to complete a recipe. So they may have to do a lot of skipping around to get what they need. Indeed, they may miss certain aisles altogether, not needing anything in them. But how accurate was this for you? Yes, I often use a list and skip around the store a lot but I also hit my budget and work pretty slowly through the store sometimes and quite fast at other times. Do these examples fit anyone perfectly? Probably not. But if you accept that you're one thing and not the other, you might try to squeeze yourself into the model. Or rebel against it and say you're not that way at all, in which case you may have answered the questions in the test based on an ideal of yourself, which you may even be more often than not. Who knows?

I think it's fun to take these tests but in the end, I don't put much stock in them. Nobody likes to be put into little boxes for one thing and there are no definite predictable reactions regarding anyone's behavior. We're too complex for that. Sure, I can see some of my work behavior falling into the creative category, but I should since I answered the questions myself seeing myself that way. It's like the personalities of people based on their astrological signs. Brian and I are both Sagittarians but despite that, we somehow end up having different working personalities according to another criteria. Is one model right and the other wrong? And what the hell does any of this have to do with a living rockumentary? Bloody hell, I just like to type, I guess. I've wasted enough time on this nonsense already. Where was I? OK, Nag Nag Nag was formed in 1991... This blog thing is dangerous for someone long-winded (type-tireless?) like me.