What am I like?

Well, there's been no movement on these for a few days, so I'm assuming I've had all the responses I'm going to get.

And here are the pertinent results:

Johari Window
created on 19.2.2006, 15 respondents.

Open1 (known to self and others) calm, helpful (20%), intelligent (33%), patient, self-conscious, trustworthy (20%)	Blind Spot (known only to others) accepting (20%), caring (26%), complex (46%), confident (33%), independent (33%), logical (26%), observant (46%), reflective (26%), self-assertive (20%), witty (26%)
Hidden1 (known only to self)	Unknown (known to nobody) adaptable, brave, dignified, kind, mature, modest, nervous, powerful, relaxed, religious, responsive, sentimental, shy, silly, spontaneous, sympathetic, tense, warm, wise

full data

Open: I'm pleased to see that the 6 traits I chose for myself are all evident (to some degree) to those around me. This apparently means I have no secrets from my friends and colleagues. And no depth or mystery. I can live with that. Of course, there are very few negative traits in the Johari selection, so it could also be that I'm better at sharing my ups than my downs. I was gratified that a full third of you agree that I'm intelligent, but far more pleased that you think I'm trustworthy and helpful, as these are the two attributes I care about the most.

Hidden: nothing. Nuff said.

Blind: There are a few traits I would have chosen (if not limited to six) that appear - independent and logical come to mind - but far more that surprised the hell out of me. Observant?! That's one I would never have thought applied to me. Sure, I see things around me and comment on them, but I don't think I notice significantly more than others; I just mention them more. Complex?! I always thought of myself as fairly simple. Like an onion, I'm layers of simplicity. Maybe that looks complex from the outside. I'm also not so sure about witty.

Unknown: Again, a few traits no-one else chose that would have made it into my 'Hidden' if I'd been able to exceed six choices. I like to think I've hidden them too well for you all to notice. Of course, you were all constrained by the same limitation on choice that I was, so it's difficult to guess how many of these would have made it through with free choice.

Nohari Window
created on 19.2.2006, 7 respondents.

Open1 (known to self and others) withdrawn, blasé (42%), passive, dispassionate (57%)	Blind Spot (known only to others) aloof (57%), cynical (42%), distant (71%), self-satisfied (28%), smug (28%)
Hidden1 (known only to self) lethargic, unhappy	Unknown (known to nobody) incompetent, cowardly, violent, stupid, simple, irresponsible, vulgar, hostile, unhelpful, needy, unimaginative, inane, brash, cruel, ignorant, irrational, childish, imperceptive, chaotic, weak, embarrassed, vacuous, unethical, insensitive, rash, dull, predictable, callous, inattentive, unreliable, cold, foolish, humourless

full data.

Given less than half the respondents of the Johari variant, I'm hard-pressed to glean anything of meaning from my Nohari Window. I'll give it a quick go, though.

I got a powerful sense of the confusion that can result from semantic differences. Given a choice between withdrawn, aloof and distant, I chose withdrawn, since I feel that is an accurate description for the way I react when confronted with an uncomfortable or threatening situation: I withdraw. Most of you chose to call me distant or aloof (in 2 cases, both!) or even smug, and I can absolutely see how I might seem that way from your perspective when I withdraw. Again, blasé was my choice to describe my laissez-faire attitude to the world, which seems to come across as cynical to you all, except that I'm quite idealistic and sentimental, in my own opinion of course.

If I had my choice, I'd operate Olympic Ski Jump style rules, and throw out the least accurate assessments in each category. A few of the choices were a little strange - panicky, kitty? - but Anon really went to town with a complete selection that made very little sense at all, not only to me but also to those who know me best. Either Anon really doesn't know me very well - a fair possibility - or just had fun making some particularly unsavoury choices. Sorry, Anon; waaay off base.

Overall, then, I've learned that I'm not that deluded in my self-image but need to be more aware of the way that my withdrawal can seem dismissive to others and take greater care to reassure you when I do so, and maybe display a little more of the affection and excitement and awe that I constantly feel.

Fun exercise.

¹The observant among you will notice some small changes to the window headers. The 'Arena' and 'Facade' descriptors didn't give a very clear indication of the purpose of their windows, and caused some confusion about interpretation of the results. On reading this, I've found better headers for these windows ('Open' and 'Hidden') and some interesting information about the exercise itself.