The Four Tendencies

Understanding your own character and those of others improve relationships and happiness of your own and others

We all face two kinds of expectations, outer expectations (those that others place on us, like meeting a work deadline) and inner expectations (those we place on ourselves, like keeping a New Year’s resolution/having good intentions). Depending on the way a person responds to outer and inner expectations, that person falls into one of four distinct types:

Upholder: a person who believes strongly in maintaining a custom or practice,

keeping him/her from failure

Obliger: a person doing things as asked or who has a desire to help or please others

Rebel: a person who rises in opposition and who resists authority, control or convention

Questioner: a person who asks questions, expresses doubt about something

There’s no best or worst Tendency*. With wisdom, experience and self-knowledge from the Four Tendencies, we can use our time more productively, make better decisions, suffer less stress, get healthier, and engage more effectively with other people. The happiest and most successful people are those who have figured out ways to exploit their Tendency to their benefit and, just as important, found ways to counterbalance its limitations.

*The word ‘Tendency’ is a key word in the content of the book and is meant

to reflect a person’s particular characteristic or type of behaviour. In the context

of the book, the word ‘Tendencies’ is meant to describe the four types of personality profiles.