The 5 factor model constitutes of Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. The Big Five Personality traits are used to understand people’s personalities. Success is more than just what you do but is also about personality and how you act. The factor model is credited to Robert McCrae and Paul Costa who came up with the Five Factor Model. Success rests on your personality traits, and to what extent is also something you need to think about as you read this article.
When considering the different traits think of them as the measurements which can have the highs and the lows. Hence when we see the traits we are thinking of the substances that each trait can have. A personality trait can thus have the high or the low or the balance which is the in between.
Openness to Experience
This looks at how open you are to experiencing new things or different things. To be successful in life you need to have a certain level of openness to experience. What are you open to in life? Do you have an appreciation of different things such as starting a new business, travelling to different places, trying out new ideas in your lifestyle, and seeing how things can go when different routes are taken. People who are open to experience tend to be pioneers in new things and seem to have a thirst for adventure and seeking out how things can be with experiments.On the other hand you can have those who are not open to anything at all and are more closed to experiences.
Conscientiousness
Think of these people as having a certain level of mindfulness, being sensitive to their actions. If we were talking of the universal laws they would be the people that understand better than anyone else that every action has result. They would be mostly aware of what they do and take more responsibility more than others. Having conscientiousness can make one a bit more reserved and measured when making decisions such that you don’t just rush into things but be first calculate “Every action has a reaction”. Whilst on the flip side there would be those with the low levels who can be deemed as insensitive or just plain ignorant.
Extraversion
The talkative and social outgoing people who seem like they could talk to just about anyone. That type of person who when you meet you wonder where they get their confidence from. They have a high level of energy which they gain “super power” from social circumstances as they mingle with the people. Naturally these can have two extremes the one who is high in energy and the one who is low in energy. How this plays out in success is important to understand as having too much of energy can be seen as irritating whilst those with lower energy can be seen as boring. Which one are you?
Agreeableness
Think of that person that does not like to have conflict with anyone who likes to have peace in everything even if you need them to at least express some dis-concern about something that you are not happy with. These are the people that are mostly cooperative with everyone, people who are the early adopters to anything presented not because they are open but because they are trying to keep peace or be liked by everyone. They are easy to get along with because they will not stand out too much in opposition to ideas. When thinking of agreeableness you need to think of a good natured temperament.
Neuroticism
These are the emotional baskets so to speak who are prone to mood swings and can be the sad or depressed bunch who can easily form their club of stress buddies. There can be two high ends to this group with those in the high being the stress club whilst whose in the low end being the more stable emotional ones.
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