Many times when someone mentions character and personality in one sentence, we tend to do a double-check within our minds, well maybe just me. But the two words have incessantly been used interchangeably that we even no longer care which is which.
In my personal development class the other day, we discussed the two terms and it is shocking, okay not a lot, how different they are.
So, what differentiates character from personality?
I scavenged the internet for a definition of character and Macmillan dictionary defines it as "Qualities making up someone's personality". Now leaves you wondering what personality, which is made up of the character is, right?
To better understand or differentiate the two, use the analogy of a tree. The stem and the leaves (what we see above the ground) is the personality and the roots (what we even don't think about) is the character.
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| Character vs personality tree analogy |
The personality of a person is depicted by their visible features. The first noticeable, visible attributes you point out about someone you have just met. The old sneakers they are wearing, when they talk your ear off even when you are not on a name basis yet, their non-stop smiling...
These then lead you to make conclusions about their character, the roots that we can't dig up the ground to see. You conclude that because they talk too much then the person is talkative, a character, them wearing old sneakers maybe they are into vintage fashion. It is what we see, personality, that reveals to us what we don't see, character.
Although, the two go hand in hand, you can not have poor roots and expect to have healthy leaves. Your root system should be strong enough to support your stem system, personality. Many times we focus a lot on our personality and forget what truly matters because, without deep roots, your personality won't stand the winds.
Someone said that character is like pregnancy, you can hide it but not for long, it will always come to light.
Ooh, by the way, we are discussing Stephen R. Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in my class, you should definitely check it out if you haven't.
