Power of Personality: The Ugly!

I love this quote from one of my favorite self-improvement gurus, Brian Tracy. It’s true; nothing is more toxic to living the life you desire than a bad attitude. Now, no one is happy and positive ALL the time and if they are, no one wants to spend any time with them. That said, trying to maintain a positive outlook on life is one of the keys to happiness and success. What about when your personality or character flaws get in the way of that positive outlook? It’s bound to happen but knowing what those character flaws are allows you to keep them in check.

Yesterday was all “puppies and lollipops” as I listed off some of my positive personality traits. It sure felt good to dig deep and focus on the positive. Today will be more “porcupines and liverwurst” as I expose a handful of my less desirable qualities. I actually went through these with my husband Jon last night to make sure I wasn’t just being hard on myself but NO, it appears I am a real piece of work J

Louise’s Not So Kick Ass Personality Traits

1.       Impatient: I could very well be the most impatient person ever, ESPECIALLY when it comes to weight loss. If things aren’t progressing at the speed I envision (which generally is the speed of light) then I get impatient and give up. It is really quite childish! I don’t kick and scream….often…but I throw all progress out the window and move onto something else. I don’t think I am really impatient with other people, although my husband might disagree, but with myself I am terrible.

2.       Impulsive: Another “Im” word….hmmmm wonder if there is a meaning to that? I am a very impulsive person. I make decisions quickly and often without thinking things through. Now this is not always a bad thing, I certainly don’t suffer from analysis paralysis and no one can accuse me of sitting on the fence. But I know my impulsivity makes my husband uneasy and it affects more than just me. How it affects my ability to lose weight is that I change my mind too frequently. I hear about some new can’t fail weight loss pill, gadget, program and I am on it baby. I am a nutritionist and I should know better but keep in mind, I am a fat nutritionist!

3.       Judgmental: As Jon once said to me “Judgment. Your biggest fear and greatest strength!” Now I am not talking about judging people on how they look or dress although I am human and sometimes that creeps in. Usually while at Wal-Mart! I tend to be more judgmental with regards to peoples actions or inactions. If they are not what I think is “right” then it is hard for me not to judge. I guess you could say I am not a “live and let live” sort of gal. For example, every month Jon and I donate a good amount of money to charity. If I know someone has the means to do the same and don’t, I judge them. The problem, and I realize this now, is that I don’t know the whole story. Perhaps they volunteer their time which is a currency far more valuable than money. It is like I am judging people based on my values instead of looking at their own. On the flip side, I am very much afraid of being judged. Part of the reason I am doing this blog is to get over that fear. No one judges me more harshly than I judge myself. I resolve in 2013 to be gentler in my judgment of myself and others….even you Jon. J

4.       Procrastinator: I think I will come back to this one…….

5.       Hedonistic: The definition of hedonistic is: Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses. YUP! That’s me. I like all things good; good food, good nookie, good books, good movies, good drinks. The list goes on and on. My hedonism and procrastination kind of play off each other. I can always find something I would RATHER do than the things I necessarily SHOULD do. The exception to this is at work, I tend to tackle things head on there. The good, the bad and the ugly. But in the other areas of my life, I almost always pick pleasure over the mundane. Floors need vacuuming? Sure but my bed looks so warm and cozy. Time to go for a walk? Well DUH but I am really into this movie. Are those veggies about to go bad in the fridge? Yep but I would prefer pizza. This sort of self-indulgent lifestyle is obviously going to have to change to get this fat off especially considering it is a big reason why I am so overweight. The way I am going to do that is change my definition of self-indulgent to include things like exercise and eating well. We already got rid of cable so I am half way there!!

6.        Arrogant: This is one of Jon’s additions to my list and I was surprised, until I heard his reasoning. I guess I am a bit of a know it all? I really didn’t see it until he, rather easily, started rhyming off examples. I guess I am particularly bad when it comes to nutritional/weight loss advice. I know where this stems from. I was going to be the next big thing in the weight loss world. I was going to get myself healthy on a diet I devised, write a book, help millions and of course, be on Oprah. So I have spent the last 15 years formulating this miracle plan in my mind and it would be the ONLY plan that would work for me. It didn’t stop me from spending thousands of dollars on other diets but I would just call that research. If I could figure out why those didn’t work, I could improve my master plan. If I am completely honest, my master plan was just a conglomeration of many other plans mashed together. Nothing new, nothing ground breaking. If someone tried to give me advice, I would be polite and listen but in my mind I was all like “Do you know who you are talking to???!!!” Arrogant indeed. Stubborn for sure. I am no longer a slave to my master plan. I am open to all possibilities, even those I didn’t come up with myself.

Well, that sucked but a worthy exercise all the same. Now that I am painfully aware of my character flaws, I can stomp on them when they start to drag me down. I will re-read this post whenever I start to fall back into bad habits or if I forget. Although as I found out last night, my husband is only so keen to remind me.