Should You Tailor Your Organization Routine To Your MBTI Type?

You can learn a lot about a person's habits by visiting their home and assessing the tidiness. Some people prioritize aesthetics, some are entirely practical with their organization, and some seem to function in a chaos only they understand. If you are hoping to get a more organized home yourself, you may be wondering if a personality test can help you optimize your organization routine. Interestingly, with the right personality test, some honest answers, and some experimentation, it just might be a great idea.

One of the most popular personality tests, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), is designed to help people better understand themselves. While there are many criticisms of the accuracy of the MBTI and personality tests in general, the MBTI is widely used by large corporations, schools, and government agencies. The test consists of a series of questions aimed at determining where you fit in four areas: introversion-extraversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving. The test reveals which word from each pair you most closely align with, and the first letter of each word is your MBTI personality type (intuition is represented by an "N"). Even if the test was not specifically made to help with organization routines, the insights you gain may help you figure out what is effective for you, and may even change your mindset through belief in the test. So, tailoring your organization plan to your MBTI is worth trying. 

Based on your result, you will find endless information online about everything from suitable careers and relationships to general strengths and weaknesses. As convenient as it would be for a test to give you all of the answers about how to perfect your life, a personality test simply cannot do that. The MBTI test, especially the free online versions, is not completely accurate or reliable. You may not answer truthfully during your test, intentionally or not, which can skew your results. Plus, for the MBTI specifically, even if you answered honestly and were accurately categorized, the test simply was not created to give insight on how you should clean and organize.

On the other hand, you may be able to gain a better understanding of yourself and what organization systems would work for you. Trying to optimize your regime using MBTI results gives you a great starting point for creating an effective cleaning schedule. There is also a psychological phenomenon referred to as a self-fulfilling prophecy that may work in your favor. If a personality test tells you that a certain organization routine will be easy for you, then you will act as though you enjoy it and do it more often with less resistance. 

According to a survey done by 16Personalities, MBTI types have different priorities regarding cleanliness. Participants with a mix of judging and sensing traits were more likely to see a neat home as a top priority, however, perceiving and sensing individuals did not. People labeled extraversion and feeling are thought to be more aware of the opinions of others, and also prioritize cleanliness. 

To tailor your routine, first, think about the things you do every week for a cleaner, more organized home. Then, you can build a routine based on the tasks you need to complete and your MBTI personality type. People with judging traits are thought to prefer structure and may benefit from a regular cleaning schedule. Those who have the perceiving result are thought to enjoy more flexibility, so a list with options to choose from may be more doable. These individuals are more likely to just throw things in a drawer and call it a day, whereas those with judging traits want an exact place for each item. People with extraversion and feeling traits may wait until guests are coming as motivation to start cleaning, while those with thinking traits may like a routine that is logical and efficient. For more organizational tips tied to personality traits, check out our organization expert's best tips for keeping your home organized with a short attention span.