Understanding Yourself

Below you will find some statements dealing with life challenges and change.  Your responses can help you to understand how comfortable you are with change in your life and how you face challenging situations.  Using the following scale, read the statement and select the choice that most describes your response: SD = Strongly Disagree, D = Disagree, U = Undecided, A = Agree, and SA = Strongly Agree. 

 

SD D U A SA
1. Change offers opportunities and challenges
2. No matter how hard I try, I accomplish nothing

3. I have a clear vision for what I hope to do

4. I don't like things to be uncertain or unpredictable
5. Change makes me feel uneasy and uncertain
6. Change is a normal and natural part of life
7. I am creative in the ways I approach problems in my life
8. No matter what I do the tried and true ways are always the best
9. I acknowledge that there are a number of ways to achieve my goals
10. The actions of others limit my success in life
11. In difficult times I wish that the situation would go away or some how be over with
12. I meet challenges head on
13. I recognize my strengths and weaknesses
14. When faced with a difficult decision or situation, I make a plan and follow it
15.I try to shield others from problems and worries
16. My family and I calmly discuss problems until we reach a solution
17. I try to consider the views of others
 
Your Score is
Number of unanswered questions

Look at the explanations below to understand how your score relates to the way you think and respond to change and challenges in your life.

17 – 34:  If you scored in this range, you probably have a difficult time coping with change and challenges.  You often have difficulty thinking of creative ways to solve problems, and often think that many problems are simply out of your hands.  You probably don’t confide in others, and try to work out your problems on your own.  To become more effective at coping with change you might want to build a support network of family and friends and brainstorm different ways to handle problems that arise.

34 – 51:  If you scored in this range, you are probably fairly comfortable with some challenges and change in your life, but you might still feel “stuck” when trying to cope in difficult times.  In part, coping is difficult because you have not developed creative problem-solving skills.  As a result, you usually stick to what has worked in the past and get stuck when those strategies fail.  You may share some information with close friends or family, but you still feel it is your responsibility to handle difficult situations.  You can probably benefit by asking other close friends and families to share different ways that they think about or cope with difficult issues so that you can increase your knowledge about different problem-solving strategies.  You might also try allocating some responsibilities to others so that you create a team approach to coping.

51 – 68:  If you scored in this range, you are either accustomed to change, or you have learned to deal with change well in your life.  You tend to use creative problem solving and feel as if you can do anything you put your mind to.  You also recognize and take advantage of others in your life that can help you to think of creative ways to cope with challenges and change and taking an active role in solving difficult problems.  Spread your skills around, others can learn a great deal from you.