7 Signs You Have a Strong Personality

You can define a strong personality or a resilient individual according to certain attitudes. For example, adapting to and overcoming adversity. Are you one of these people? Read on and find out.

A strong personality is a concept often confused with other similar ones. Thus, there’s a lot of ambiguity in society regarding the definition of personality, character and temperament. In fact, people often use these terms as synonyms.

According to Hall & Lindzey in their book Theories of Personality (1957, p. 262), personality is “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine characteristic behavior and thought.”

In other words, it’s the configuration of the systems responsible for behavior that are developed as a result of a person’s history. Ok, but then, what does it mean to have a strong personality? Read on to find out.

What does it mean to have a strong personality?

Some people outside of psychology theory would say it means having character. There’s a heated debate in regard to the definition of “character” among theorists. However, in the context of personality, you can say it means a person is resilient.

The Japanese culture has a concept known as Kintsugi, the traditional art of repairing broken ceramics with strong glue and gold powder. At the end of the process, the restored pottery is stronger and more valuable than it was to start with. Isn’t Kintsugi is a wonderful example of the beauty of resilience?

Signs of a strong personality

How can you know if someone is resilient or not? Here are some of the key characteristics.

1. Optimism

Being optimistic is the tendency to face difficulties with a good attitude, hope, and perseverance. Overall, it’s an approach that enables you to find solutions, advantages or possibilities when going through difficulties.

If you’re positive and optimistic, it’s easier to accept responsibility for your actions. Plus, it’s easier make good use of time to improve yourself.

2. Tolerance towards frustration

Next, developing tolerance to frustration enables greater emotional stability. It’s important to be tolerant when someone makes a mistake — including you.

Remember that nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. Keeping this in mind will help you be more flexible with others and with yourself.

In fact, some intervention programs highlight the importance of proposing alternative behavior strategies in order to create new actions instead of repeating your mistakes.

3. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a sign of maturity and intelligence. It enables us to learn to regulate our emotional responses. Overall, it’s the ability to recognize and handle our own feelings and those of others, enabling interpersonal behavior.

According to the latest research on the subject, emotional intelligence is related to success. Actually, this ability provides the basis of social and emotional competencies that are important for success in almost any job.

Thus, emotional intelligence can be used in your favor to improve your productivity and psychological well-being.

4. Passion

In his book This has got to change!, Alfredo Culebro, an entrepreneur and businessman specialized in boosting people and businesses capabilities towards success, defines passion as the inexhaustible energy that pushes you to continue, regardless of limits or difficulties. Passion is helpful because it enables you to feel fulfilled and to enjoy our work, even without recognition.

On the other hand, research has found that positive (harmonious) passion has a positive influence. After all, it makes us experience higher levels of positive emotions, concentration and the desire to do a task well. This empowers a person and their ability to face challenges as these arise, independently of external help. Although it’s not an innate ability of humans, we can all develop it.

5. Commitment and motivation

Commitment is an obligation that requires full awareness. It happens when a person believes in what they’re doing and it’s important to them. Thus, this motivates them to maintain a firm behavior. As a result, they don’t stop until they’ve achieved their goals.

In turn, motivation is a feeling that arises from a high level of involvement in achieving a goal. It’s not just about satisfying your basic needs, but also those pertaining to self-fulfillment (like being successful in various areas of your life). The desire to achieve efficiency and quality is also part of this.

Motivation can be self-determined, initiated and regulated by personal choice and leads to the achievement of any goals you set.

This is how motivation becomes the inner motor that connects your mind, will, and interest to achieve goals positively, happily, and hopefully. As a result, those who have a strong personality are always self-motivated.

6. Flexibility, another trait of a strong personality

When you go through difficulties, it’s tough to remained centered, even if you’re highly self-aware. However, accepting the circumstances and being flexible enables you to focus. It helps you work on what you can change, accept what you can’t, and think of change as an opportunity for growth.

According to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), psychological acceptance and flexibility helps you let go of past negative experience to find a way of live fully and focus on what’s important.

7. Learning

Resilience isn’t an ability but a learning process. Generally, humans learn through trial and error. We therefore cannot do what we haven’t learned. However, experiences are a great source of personal knowledge. They help you create strategies when it comes to facing difficult events in life and overcoming them with happiness.

Can you acquire a strong personality?

In conclusion, a strong personality requires a certain biological predisposition. However, you can learn most of the skills you need to have it. As you can see, it’s never too late to become a stronger, more resilient person.