Have you ever done a personality test? No, I don’t mean like in the back of Cosmo (showing my age!) or a Buzzfeed quiz to see which Friend you are (don’t lie – you know you’re not Phoebe). I’m talking about something that might reveal something more about you – like a rebel tendency.

I mean a personality profile, which uses psychological testing to look at your traits and behaviours. The answers you give allow the tester to score you on a range of different categories to see how you respond in a variety of situations. These are usually work-related.

I have. I’ve done i3 Profiling, Motivational Maps, DiSC, Tony Robbins’ version of DiSC and even one inspired by Disney execs, which was a lot of fun. And there are lots more that I’ve not got round to taking yet, such as Myers Briggs and Wealth Dynamics. I may or may not bother!

But the one that has resonated most with me (sorry) is Gretchen Rubin’s the Four Tendencies. My results from all the tests show broadly the same traits, but this one made things a lot clearer.

Now, a note of caution before we go any further: these tests are really helpful to explore your leadership style or working preferences, looking at team dynamics or if you’re considering a career change. It’s not about your character.

They don’t mean that you can’t still be funny and likeable, even if you are Ross. They’re just one way of looking at what makes you tick, and no personality type is better than another. Trust me, I’m a Rebel, and that can be a challenge.

What is The Four Tendencies Assessment?

The Four Tendencies is a fairly straightforward test to do, and I’m only going to explain it broadly here. Go and try it for yourself – it’s free! I also bought the book to really help me understand my rebel tendency, but you don’t have to.

So, this test looks at how you respond to expectations – i.e., how likely you are to take action on something. These can be things others would like you to do, or things that you know you should be doing. This can be personal, professional, big or small.

Rubin defines four different types of people:

• Upholders: Are good at meeting internal and external expectations
• Obligers: People-pleasers: meet the expectations of others but not their own
• Questioners: Often meet their own expectations, but rarely external expectations
• Rebels: Struggle to meet either internal or external expectations

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I came out with the rebel tendency. I think this phrase from the book sums it up best: “You can’t make me, and neither can I.” FML.

Traits of the Rebel Tendency

So why wasn’t I surprised to find out that I’m a rebel, in Rubin’s terms at least? Well, I had what was considered a Bohemian upbringing – autonomy was encouraged from a young age. We were encouraged to do more of what we loved, which took us both to careers in the arts.

Drawing on what he’d learned in social psychology, my dad did a lot of positive reinforcement with me and my brother, telling us we could achieve whatever we wanted. On the flip side, he always said: “If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it.” That one scored me a few unplanned days off school.

It’s fair to say I had a fairly strongly defined sense of self by the time I got to senior school. I gave in to peer pressure less often than others, I had a strong sense of wrong and right, and a stubborn streak that meant the more you asked me to do something, the less likely I was to do it.

This tallies with Rubin’s description of the rebel, and also with findings from other profile tests I’ve done:

• Values freedom, choice and self-expression
• Dislikes control
• Changes jobs a lot
• Can be accused of procrastinating
• Will be motivated by a cause

What Does This Mean for Me as a Business Owner?

Look, I’m a marketer – I’m well aware of the ‘so what?’ principle. Why should you care that I’m a rebel? What difference does that make to you? Well, there are a couple of reasons why I’m sharing this. OK, three.

Firstly, I think it explains a bit about my personality. I have channelled my enthusiasm for certain things to accomplish goals I’m really proud of: I moved to a foreign country; I batch created three months’ worth of content in a fortnight; I exercised every day for a month to celebrate my 40th birthday, just to show that I could.

On the other hand, while my business has been going 10 years, it could be doing better. I’ve had a lot of business coaching where I’ve got great advice that I didn’t implement. I resisted starting a newsletter until November last year. Even accountability buddies don’t work for me.

But, I’m loyal, committed, passionate about what matters to me, and I ALWAYS deliver for my clients. Which brings me on to point two of why you might care – because if you’re an obliger or an upholder, we probably won’t work well together. Here are some other reasons why we might not be a good fit.

What if You Think You’re a Rebel Tendency too?

And this brings us on to my third point, which, if wasn’t such a rebel, I might have made my first point to make it all about you. Oops.

If any of this sounds familiar, or you took the quiz and now you’re realising that your rebel tendency is why you’ve never finished War and Peace (I never even bothered to start it, but I did give up on Dr Zhivago), don’t panic!

There are ways to motivate yourself to meet expectations. I liked the concept of ‘future you’ from the book. Maybe you CBA to do a task today, but future you will be grateful. I’m using this as a way to encourage myself to do lots of things I keep putting off.

Funnily enough, a sort-of-but-not-really coach I’m working with, Louise Miller, used this tactic on me not so long back when I was procrastinating: “What are the benefits if you do it? What are the consequences if you don’t? What will it mean for Future Gudrun?” I wrote it on a post-it and stuck it to my desk.

If you find a cause you can get behind, then you’ll meet and exceed all expectations. Be kind to yourself – having a rebel tendency doesn’t mean you don’t ever do anything. I’m guessing you manage to brush your teeth at least twice a day?

And if you’re a rebel business owner, I hope I’ve inspired you to see that you can and will meet those expectations that really matter. It might take us a bit longer, but we get there in the end.

When I feel inspired to create content (like this post) I make sure I do it as soon as I can. If I put it off, it won’t happen. So for 2025, I promised to lean more into my weird, quirky side (blame that Bohemian upbringing!)

And I’m hoping to meet and work with more people who have a rebel tendency too. I think we can achieve great things together. Eventually.