This personality trait could determine your future

This personality trait could determine your futureThis personality trait could determine your futureResearch is pointing to conscientiousness as the one-trait-to-rule-them-all in terms of future success, both career-wise and personal.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of CharacterIt would actually be nice if there were some negative things that went along with conscientiousness, Roberts told me. But at this pointits emerging as one of the primary dimensions of successful functioning across the lifespan. It really goes cradle to grave in terms of how people do.What is it? Basically, its being efficient, organized, neat, and systematicConscientiousnessis the state of being thorough, careful, or vigilant it implies a desire to do a task well.Conscientiousness is also one trait of thefive-factor model of personality, and is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being efficient, organized, neat, and systematic.It includes such elements asself-discipline , carefulness, thoroughness,self-organization,deliberation(the tendency to think carefully before acting), andneed for achievement.Yeah, that sounds like a trait we all respect. Whats amazing is just how predictive it is of so many things we all desire.Its pretty crazy reallyFollow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreMoney and job satisfaction? Check.Measured concurrently, emotionally stable and conscientious participantsreported higher incomes and job satisfaction.Finding a job? Check.the personality traits Conscientiousness and Neuroticism have astrong impact on the instantaneous probability of finding a job, where the former has a positive effectand the latter has a negative effect.Long marriage? Check.our findings suggest that conscientiousnessis the trait most broadly associated with marital satisfactionin this sample of long-wed couples.Healthier life? Check.Among adults over age 4 5 (n?=?2,419), Neuroticism and low Agreeableness were associated with metabolic syndrome, whereas high Conscientiousness welches protective.Individuals who scored in the top 10% on Conscientiousness were approximately 40% less likely to have metabolic syndrome. . .Long life? Check.Conscientiousness, which was the best predictor of longevity when measured in childhood, also turned out to bethe best personality predictor of long life when measured in adulthood.And lets not forget good grades and staying out of jail.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Characterconscientiousness was the trait that best predicted workplace success. What intrigues Roberts about conscientiousness is that it predicts so many outcomes that go far beyond the workplace. People high in conscientiousness get better grades in school and college they commit fewer crimes and they stay married longer. They live longer and not just because they smoke and drink less. They have fewer strok es, lower blood pressure, and a lower incidence of Alzheimers disease.Can life really be that simple? Isnt there something conscientiousness doesnt predict that we all respect and desire? Yes.Creativity and independenceSo the question is, to what degree is conscientiousness universally good - and to what degree is our society merely structured to reward it?ur schools love to pay creativity lip service, but those arent the students that get celebrated.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of CharacterTeachers rewarded repressed drones, according to Bowles and Gintis they found that thestudents with the highest GPAs were the ones who scored lowest on measures of creativity and independence, and the highest on measures of punctuality, delay of gratification, predictability, and dependability.Teachers often say they love creative students.They dontJudgments for the favorite student were negatively correlated with creativity judgments for the least favorite stude nt were positively correlated with creativity. Students displaying creative characteristics appear to be unappealing to teachers.The workplace isnt any different.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of CharacterBowles and Gintis then consulted similar scales for office workers, and they found thatsupervisors judged their workforce the way teachers judged their students. They gave low ratings to employees with high levels of creativity and independenceand high ratings to those workers with high levels of tact, punctuality, dependability, and delay of gratification.Are you a creative person? Want to be a CEO? Good luck.Youll need itIn sum, we show that the negative association between expressing creative ideas and leadership potential is robust and underscores an important but previously unidentified bias against selecting effective leaders.I have no doubt that conscientiousness is a valuable trait pretty much anywhere. To be blunt, having your shit together i s a respectable quality.But we should all be concerned that our system may be too extreme in rewarding conscientiousness and punishing creativity.Join over 262,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.This article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong peopleThis personality trait could determine your futureResearch is pointing to conscientiousness as the one-trait-to-rule-them-all in terms of future success, both career-wise and personal.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of CharacterIt would actually be nice if there were some negative things that went along with conscientiousness, Roberts told me. But at this pointits emerging as one of the primary dimensions of successful functioning across the lifespan. It really goes cradle to grave in terms of how people do.What is it? Basically, its being efficient, organized, neat, and systematicConscientiousnessis the state of being thorough, careful, or vigilant it implies a desire to do a task well.Conscientiousness is also one trait of thefive-factor model of personality, and is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being efficient, organized, neat, and systematic.It includes such elements asself-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness,self-organization,deliberation(the tendency to think carefully before acting), andneed for achievement.Yeah, that sounds like a trait we all respect. Whats amazing is just how predictive it is of so many things we all desire.Its pretty crazy reallyMoney and job satisfaction? Check.Measured concurrently, emotionally stable and conscientious participantsreported higher incomes and job satisfaction. Finding a job? Check.the personality traits Conscientiousness and Neuroticism have astrong impact on the instantaneous probability of finding a job, where the former has a positive effectand the latter has a negative effect.Long marriage? Check.our findings suggest that conscientiousnessis the trait most broadly associated with marital satisfactionin this sample of long-wed couples.Healthier life? Check.Among adults over age 45 (n?=?2,419), Neuroticism and low Agreeableness were associated with metabolic syndrome, whereas high Conscientiousness was protective.Individuals who scored in the top 10% on Conscientiousness were approximately 40% less likely to have metabolic syndrome. . .Long life? Check.Conscientiousness, which was the best predictor of longevity when measured in childhood, also turned out to bethe best personality predictor of long life when measured in adulthood.And lets not forget good grades and staying out of jail.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hid den Power of Characterconscientiousness was the trait that best predicted workplace success. What intrigues Roberts about conscientiousness is that it predicts so many outcomes that go far beyond the workplace. People high in conscientiousness get better grades in school and college they commit fewer crimes and they stay married longer. They live longer and not just because they smoke and drink less. They have fewer strokes, lower blood pressure, and a lower incidence of Alzheimers disease.Can life really be that simple? Isnt there something conscientiousness doesnt predict that we all respect and desire? Yes.Creativity and independenceSo the question is, to what degree is conscientiousness universally good - and to what degree is our society merely structured to reward it?Our schools love to pay creativity lip service, but those arent the students that get celebrated.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of CharacterTeachers rewarded repressed drones, acco rding to Bowles and Gintis they found that thestudents with the highest GPAs were the ones who scored lowest on measures of creativity and independence, and the highest on measures of punctuality, delay of gratification, predictability, and dependability.Teachers often say they love creative students.They dontJudgments for the favorite student were negatively correlated with creativity judgments for the least favorite student were positively correlated with creativity. Students displaying creative characteristics appear to be unappealing to teachers.The workplace isnt any different.ViaHow Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of CharacterBowles and Gintis then consulted similar scales for office workers, and they found thatsupervisors judged their workforce the way teachers judged their students. They gave low ratings to employees with high levels of creativity and independenceand high ratings to those workers with high levels of tact, punctuality, dependability, an d delay of gratification.Are you a creative person? Want to be a CEO? Good luck.Youll need itIn sum, we show that the negative association between expressing creative ideas and leadership potential is robust and underscores an important but previously unidentified bias against selecting effective leaders.I have no doubt that conscientiousness is a valuable trait pretty much anywhere. To be blunt, having your shit together is a respectable quality.But we should all be concerned that our system may be too extreme in rewarding conscientiousness and punishing creativity.Join over 262,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertNew Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You HappyNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulThis article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.