Anyone else return from spring break...only to start planning for summer vacation? With all the warmer weather everywhere, we honestly can't stop daydreaming about sandy beaches, mountain houses, and more.
While some of you might already have plans in the works and others don't even have the word "plan" in their vocab, most of you probably fall somewhere in between. Our personalities say a lot about how we plan and organize our lives, even when it comes to vacation. If you're wanting to better understand these nuances in your decision-making, the Myers-Briggs (MBTI®) assessment can give plenty of insight.
The MBTI guide reveals four aspects of our personality, including a dimension called Judging-Perceiving that is very relevant to how we plan and organize our lives...including our vacations! The theory behind the MBTI suggests that people have an underlying preference for either Judging or Perceiving, though in practice, our behavior can be modified by the situation and our environment.
How Judging Types Plan Vacations
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People with a personality preference for Judging generally want to live in an organized, planned, and structured way. They like to decide things as soon as possible, and may feel unease when things are up in the air. When it comes to planning their summer vacation, they want to get that organized, too – one more thing check off of their list! And of course, planning doesn’t just mean booking flights and accommodations. There are itineraries to put together, outfits to assemble, and so many things to organize!
How Perceiving Types Plan Vacations
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In contrast, people with a Perceiving preference want to live in a more flexible, spontaneous way. They want to keep their options open, and don’t want to be tied down to a decision until it’s necessary. When it comes to vacations, Perceiving people like to lean into their innate spontaneity. If they're forced to commit too early, they may find it difficult to engage with the process of deciding on all the whats and wheres, so they often find ways to put off the decision. They might research all the things that they could do on the vacation, but they likely won’t want to decide exactly what they will do until the last minute. If they do put together an itinerary, it's just a list of things they might possibly do. And while they're on said vacation, they won’t think twice about doing something different if it sounds more interesting.
It's Time To Start Planning
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If we all went on vacation by ourselves, this would all be well and good — we could do exactly what suits us without worrying it! But, life isn’t like that. Most of us have external constraints as to when we can take a holiday, likely needing to book the time away before your co-workers grab the week that you wanted. This probably doesn't faze Judging types, but can be a real pain for Perceiving types.
The reality is, most of us vacation with other people – spouses, partners, children, family, or friends. Unfortunately, not everyone in the party will have the same personality preferences. This can be a recipe for miscommunication, disagreement, and conflict.
Here are some things to watch out for, depending on your personality type, if you want that vacation and the planning to run smoothly.
If you have a Judging personality:
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- If others don’t seem to want to engage with vacation planning as early as you do, don’t assume that they're lazy or disinterested. People with a Perceiving preference won’t see what all the fuss is about if you try to force organization on them for no clear reason, just because you think things should be organized well in advance.
- Have solid reasons for any advance planning, and communicate them to others.
- Try not to lose too much sleep if others in the party seem less prepared than you are. They might be quite relaxed about buying things at the last minute, even though you aren't.
- If your spouse or partner is throwing things into a bag at the last minute and they are content with that, then it should be okay with you, too. You might have already done some hardcore packing prep, but they're not obligated to do the same.
- It’s fine to craft an itinerary of what you can do when on vacation, but try not to account for every minute. Perceiving folks will feel too constrained, and some may purposefully rebel against your program. Think of the itinerary as a list of possibilities.
- Why not use the vacation as an opportunity to see what life might be like when you don’t plan everything? This may surprise you!
If you have a Perceiving personality:
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- Remember that if someone is trying to plan and organize the vacation well in advance, it’s not because they're trying to control or organize you — it just makes them feel more comfortable if their lives are organized.
- Don’t forget your own planning. Even if someone else is doing all the heavy lifting, there will still be things that you need to organize for yourself – like your passport, for example. Don’t leave everything for the last minute.
- If your spouse or partner seems to be getting things ready weeks in advance, don’t criticize them, but also...don’t feel guilty for not prepping in advance either.
- Don't totally dismiss a detailed itinerary that someone in your travel party made. Engage with them to add in flexibility! Make it clear that this way, everyone will enjoy the vacation more.
- Every vacation needs some degree of organization and planning, especially when you go on vacation with your partner and young children. This applies even if both of you have a Perceiving preference. If one of you is always the person who does the planning, resentments can build up. Try to be aware of this, and be prepared to do your share!
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John Hackston is a chartered psychologist and Head of Thought Leadership at The Myers-Briggs Company where he leads the company’s Oxford-based research team. He is a frequent commentator on the effects of personality type on work and life, and has authored numerous studies, published papers in peer-reviewed journals, presented at conferences for organizations such as The British Association for Psychological Type, and has written on various type-related subjects in top outlets such as Harvard Business Review.
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