7 Psychological Characteristics of a Practical Person

Being practical allows you to achieve many things in life. Today, we'll show you the 7 traits that define this personality trait.

Although this may sound very ironic, practicality is one of the most complex terms to define. In general, we can say that practicality consists of ideas or actions that fit reality and that are effective and functional. Becoming a practical person demands making this your life philosophy.

If there are problems in defining practicality, there are also problems determining what a practical person is. The idea that we’ve given here serves as a basis for gathering a series of characteristics. In the following article, we’ll present seven traits of practical people that define their actions and thoughts.

Seven characteristics of a practical person

How often have you been told to be more practical in your work, when doing something, or even in your relationships?

We associate practicality with functionality and with something that, when applied correctly, works to solve the problems we face. To better understand this trait, we put together seven characteristics of a practical person to help you become more practical.

1. They’re not overly idealistic

If there’s one trait that stands out in a practical person, it’s that they’re not idealistic.

On the contrary, they’ve likely adopted realism or materialism as a philosophy of life. Since the postulates of idealism are above reality (subjectivity over objectivity), they can’t be embraced by those who pretend to develop a practical attitude.

Whoever assumes a practical attitude develops his ideas and actions based on reality. This is their starting point, which allows their thinking and acting to be efficient, functional, and accurate. Everything that doesn’t correspond to the material world is of no interest to them, at least not to the extent they will use it to navigate through life. Experience governs their decisions.

This also means that they can set realistic goals. Practical people set short, medium, and long-term goals that they can achieve, and they avoid being seduced by illusion. They know that getting overly excited about something, especially when the possibility of achieving it is very low, can only lead to frustration.

2. A practical person is self-confident

Practical people generally have high self-esteem. It’s this self-esteem that has enabled them to develop the self-confidence to go for their ideas and opinions.

Typically, self-esteem manifests itself in them in different ways. Let’s look at some examples:

• They’re aware of their vices and virtues.
• They’re proud of their personal achievements.
• Practical people can motivate themselves.
• They’re not dependent on the opinions of others.
• They’re confident that their efforts and know that their hard work will pay off.
• When they don’t get what they want, they can easily bounce back from failure.
• They’re consistent with their ideas and are not easily swayed by the ideas of others.

A practical person is aware of their virtues and defects and uses this knowledge to guide their life. They try to use their virtues to their advantage and work on their defects to don’t slow down their path to success. This makes their self-esteem increase even more, thus enhancing its benefits.

3. They’re organized

We’ve already said that practicality manifests itself in functionality. Thus, it’s efficient, useful, and ensures a positive or harmonious achievement.

This is why organization is one of the traits of a functional person. They assimilate it with their ideas as well as with their actions.

One way this trait manifests itself is through time management. Practical people usually organize their time very well, giving a proportional amount of space to those things they want to do during their day.

Of course, this doesn’t imply that they’re strict with their time. On the contrary, their organization is combined with healthy flexibility. Since they know that reality is subject to change, their agenda must be flexitlbe, too.

Their sense of organization manifests itself in many aspects, from their finances to how they manage their diet.

4. A practical person is not afraid to take risks

Although this may conflict with the previous trait, keep in mind that a practical person always keeps reality in mind. Therefore, they’re not afraid to take risks when reality demands it.

However, this doesn’t imply that they’re taking risks all the time, but rather that they’re not scared to make a quick decision.

Of course, before doing so, they evaluate the pros and cons. This way, they can choose the best decision that fits what they are facing. This decision may even be against their ideals, but they won’t hesitate to choose it if it’s the best fit for the situation.

This makes practical people good leaders or support in times of crisis or emergency.

5. They embrace simplicity in every way

For example, they do this in dress, in communicating, and in their tastes. A practical person has made simplicity a way of life because often, the simplest is the most functional.

By this, however, we don’t mean that they are always disheveled, always silent, or their interests are too trivial. Not at all. They just don’t like to spend too much time on something that, in the end, they consider unimportant.

For example, a practical person will not spend an hour or two in front of their closet deciding what to wear on a night out. They can make these decisions quickly because they are organized, self-confident, non-idealistic, and not afraid to take risks.

They also tend to be simple in their approach. A practical person is usually very pleasant and easy-going. Their emotions do not dominate them, so stress and tension don’t take up much of their life. They’re happy most of the time and avoid taking on extremely complicated things.

6. A practical person is decisive

Even when they have to take risks in their decisions, a practical person will always have a decisive attitude. This attitude allows them to reinforce the decision through actions designed to strengthen it.

In other words, they’re not satisfied with just making a decision; they do everything they can to make it succeed through parallel choices and actions.

This also means that they’re responsible for what they say and do. They don’t make excuses in case a mistake is a final outcome, as their determination also accompanies them in these moments. Therefore, they’re open to admitting their mistake, apologizing, and assuming the consequences of their actions.

7. They set goals and follow them

Finally, a practical person is always setting goals and making decisions to achieve them. Don’t just think of goals as just big projects that lead to success (which they do, of course). However, also remember the small or medium-sized goals that keep a person from staying inactive.

We could mention other traits of practical people, but these summarize the character and actions of all of them very well. Often, practical people didn’t choose to be that way, but the trait has always been a part of their personality. Of course, you can always learn to take on some of these characteristics to make the functional aspect part of your life.