You will probably be one or a combination of two colour personality types at your core, but to lead a truly balanced life, you’ll adopt some of the strategies of each of the others to get through whatever life throws at you.
On my Colour Analysis training courses I include a questionnaire for you to use with your clients (and for you and your family and friends, of course) to determine colour personality type.
One question that I get asked all the time is, “So, if my personality results from the questionnaire are Spring, do I have to wear Spring colours for clothes, hair, make-up, etc?” I could blether on for hours about how this mythological nonsense has attempted to invade the world of colour analysis, but that’s not the point of this article.
The quick answer is a very loud no!
- Your physical season does not have to be the same as your psychological season
- However I think you’ll find that a huge majority of people probably have the same physical and psychological make-up at their core
It’s just that most of us don’t operate at ‘our core’ all the time. Never jump to conclusions or assume anything without checking your individual client’s unique physical and psychological characteristics first.
We all have to wear many hats in our lives and have to assume different approaches to be able to cope with each one. We tend to adopt multiple personalities to make this work on a practical level. You are daughter, mother, sister, wife, friend, work colleague, neighbour, customer, provider of service or product, teacher, student… the list goes on.
One or a combination of two colour personality types
You will probably be one or a combination of two colour personality types at your core but, if you lead a truly balanced life, you’ll adopt some of the strategies of each of the others to get through whatever life throws at you.
For instance, I am definitely a Winter personality but I have deliberately learned Spring personality traits to help me interact with people. After I use these alien-to-me Spring traits, I am exhausted and, to regenerate my energy levels, I have to revert back to type and go for a lie down in a darkened room.
Another example, you might be a physical Summer but:
- organise getting the kids to school as a psychological Autumn
- have coffee with friends as a psychological Spring
- book a holiday online as a psychological Summer
- but you made the decision where the family is going as a psychological Winter
And you did all that in one day! You may change how you feel from day to day, even from hour to hour – just ask a menopausal woman how she felt half an hour ago! What’s more important is that you may have to change your personality traits to be able to deal with the situation in front of you.
The underlying message is that clients will complete the colour personality questionnaire where they are right at that moment, and you need to take into account how they’re feeling when they do. Very few clients will reveal their real self to you on a first appointment, and no-one will do it in a group environment at all (unless they’re a group of extremely close friends). In a group workshop, for instance, the majority of women will choose Spring personality answers because they are the most acceptable in a social situation. But if you know all this up front, you can make allowances in your final diagnosis.
You may have to sift and search, and keep seeing a client over and over again to discover the real person underneath. And that has to be good news for your client who gets more personal attention and advice from you.
