Type A- and spring scenes

As many of you might also, I feel like I hear reference to “Type A” personalities a lot. It seems to come up frequently in casual conversation.

Example: Dealing with volunteer committee issues, and someone will comment that so- and so (who dropped the ball on something or is generally disorganized) apparently isn’t very “Type A”….

Example: In a work setting, someone will jokingly apologize for correcting a small mistake, saying something like, “Sorry!! I guess I’m a little too Type A sometimes!” etc.

So having never actually studied the actual personality traits, I always just kind of thought that Type A= someone who is very organized, pays close attention to detail, is very particular and careful and thoughtful with their actions. Not lazy at all. Maybe very systems driven. Not someone who flies by the seat of their pants. A person who has all their ducks in a row and whose closet might be organized neatly from light to dark colors. And who owns and uses a label maker. Haha.

I never really knew what exactly “Type B” meant, except that I assumed it was a more relaxed version of Type A. Or maybe more on the messy/ disorganized side. I’m not sure.

Yesterday on a work call with a colleague, somehow the topic of Type A personalities and organization came up. I joked, as I often do, that I am an “organized disorganized” person. I say this because I am REALLY NOT super organized, which I think might surprise some people, and in fact, I think I lean toward being kind of naturally disorganized. (But then again, also very organized, sometimes.)

It’s hard to explain. Basically, I’m usually just organized enough, if that makes sense. I have some systems in place, but many of them only come about after I royally screw something up and realize…. I need a system. Haha. Or I suddenly reach a breaking point and become exasperated and will do a complete overhaul of some persistently disorganized aspect of my life.

🔷 My office is always kind of messy and the inside of my drawers often are as well. (But everything usually looks decent from a distance. LOL. I have a weird obsession with main areas of my house always being very neat, but then I’m super relaxed about other spaces (like my office, and bedroom.))

🔷 I make to-do lists, but I don’t always follow them, exactly.

🔷 Up until about 2 years ago, my Gmail inbox had over 80,000 messages in it… because for a VERY long time, I literally just never deleted anything or organized anything. (Happy to report this reached a breaking point (see above) and I have since fully resolved this problem.)

🔷 I also have a tendency to procrastinate/ wait until the last minute on things. (Example: A swim mom friend reached out once last year on a Thursday morning, asking if I had printed the heat sheets for Saturday’s swim meet yet. I was floored. On Thursday??? I hadn’t even checked the website for the pool address, much less looked for the heat sheet yet. Printing the heat sheets for a Saturday morning meet, for me, would definitely be a Friday night thing. Or honestly, more likely, frantically Saturday morning as we are heading out the door….. “Crap, the heat sheets!!“) 😬.

🔷 I often don’t check the driving route to an event until… probably way too close to when we are leaving for said event.

🔷 I do not really do many things “routinely”. (e.g. I am never the person who sits down at the exact same time every week to neatly write a meal plan. I am more likely the person at the store who left the list at home on the counter, if I even made a list.) I don’t wash my sheets every Tuesday or have a day I always scrub the floors, etc.

I’m not saying these are all great traits, at all! Just being honest, though, that this is mostly how I am. I’m “working on them”. 🙃

On the other hand, I often do identify with many of what I (thought) were Type A traits. I’m pretty driven and motivated, I like to track stuff, I enjoy setting goals and following plans, I do like structure, I have high standards for (some/certain) things, I generally try to do my best, I’m fairly competitive and hard working. I research the heck out of travel destinations, and I plan and make Google docs for them! I keep (multiple) color coded calendars.

My co-worker, as we were chatting about this, said, “You’re Type A-!” Hahaha! I was like, I love that! I think maybe I am! Because I don’t feel like I’m really a true Type B, either.

I then of course had to look up the actual definitions of Type A vs Type B. Here’s what I found on the great internet:

Type A traits:

• competitive
• self-critical
• goal oriented
• time urgent
• impatient
• easily angered
• tends toward hostility (okay, this was starting to sound… negative!)
• aims for high degrees of achievement
• ambitious
• success oriented
• has extremely high standards
• wants things done their way
• hard working
• can be “aggressive”/ not likely to “beat around the bush”
• may push boundaries

Type B traits:

• relaxed
• patient
• easy-going
• unstressed if goals not achieved
• more tolerant
• lower anxiety levels
• fun loving
• friendly
• slow to anger

Okay, well, this kind of left me a bit perplexed. Obviously, I would say on the surface, Type B seems like the place to be. Those traits sound a LOT more positive! But at the same time, I feel like in certain situations, I see definite advantages to being Type A! I want the person operating on me to have REALLY REALLY high, very particular standards. Or the person installing a new gas line to my house. Or someone leading the charge on a big, complicated project…. probably needs to be very hard working and success oriented and ambitious and detailed.

And what do you call a flat-out lazy person who has no real standards of any kind, who just puts forth the bare minimum effort? Or someone who is a total disorganized mess? I’m not sure. Is that Type C or D? (I stopped my research after Type B.)

Anyway, I think I’m going to stick with that I am personality Type A-. lol! That seems like a happy medium, and probably the most accurate description of me across the board, I think.

What are you??

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Spring scenes!

This summer weather week has been so glorious. TOO BAD we all know it won’t last. Temps will be back in the 50s by Sunday, with a high of 40 on Monday. 😭😭

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful that I was not born with any congenital defects or chronic illnesses. ♥