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I restrained from stereotyping but i learned something...

  • Writer: Osmarie Pico
    Osmarie Pico
  • Feb 24, 2023
  • 4 min read

Updated: Mar 28, 2024

Indeed, I hate stereotyping because it puts a label on people. But guess what? I actually got to know myself better through my interaction with people I met from my travels. No matter how I don’t want to label people, I realized that a stereotype is a default personality and an image one projects as an initial interface.

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My stereotyping is random categorization. I have no degree in Psychology nor affiliations to any thereof. My degree was in Accounting, and a Master’s in Business Administration; far from behaviors and characters but working in Sales, I started to understand behaviors, personalities, and what makes a person tick. You can agree with me, but my stereotype is purely based on my observation and the people I met on my lockdown travels. These stereotypes are present everywhere, not only in our travels but in our daily life.


I came up with five pretty straightforward categories. I realized that no matter what people do in life, at the end of the day, they tend to react and behave in the same manner in a similar situation, even if it is in a different scenario or setting. I also met these types of personalities in my corporate life.


The first category is the likable personalities

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Magnetic personalities – I call them magnetic personalities because they are the type of people who can magnetize anybody. They are a typical people person. They have the utmost charisma that attracts people. They initiate plans or give ideas, and people naturally follow them without effort or convincing.


Chill vibes – These are the type of people who are calm and happy in general. They are generally optimistic and would always see the glass as half full rather than half empty. They are chill, but at the same time, they know what they want and voice out what they want. They are willing to compromise and go with the flow—the type of people you want to hang out with, in general.


Addicts (not with drugs) - These are the type of people who exert absolute determination to do the same thing over and over until they reach excellence or a certain level of mastery. Simply put, they are so drowned in something that nothing or nobody can stop them until they reach their goal. Somewhat similar to a workaholic but way cooler and in a different context.


The second category is strong personalities

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Dominant – These people need to be in control most, if not all, of the time. They don’t adjust to people; they play with their rules and don’t care about other people’s rules in general. Giving a command is their natural default; they speak with no filter and say whatever is running in their head.


Manipulative – These are the smooth talkers who give ideas to trigger your imagination and plant desires mentally and emotionally. This type makes you feel comfortable and usually uses your emotions to their own advantage. They are so good at smooth-talking that you don’t even know you are being manipulated into something they wanted you to do.


Bullshitter – These are the sweet talker type in the first instance, people who sound clever at first, but after minutes or an hour, you know they are bullshitting. These are the type of people who talks too much, and they never stop talking, but then they are saying the same thing anyway. These are the type of people you wish you had a switch-off mode. I met a lot of these types in the corporate world.


The third category is unpleasant personalities

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Cockiness overload - These are the type of people who thinks they know everything. They have an idea, something to say, or an opinion on anything. They need to be the star, the best in everything, or the center of the universe. These people show up in a new place and behave like a mafia boss in an instant like they own the territory.


Mr/Ms. Annoying – These are the type of people who have the capacity to inflict annoyance just by their mere presence. They complain to get attention and moral support from other people. They are complainers in general and always find negativity in any situation, and their day is incomplete without complaining. The irony, some of them have attention deficiency syndrome.


The fourth category is neutral personalities

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Bystanders – Those physically present people, but you didn’t even notice them or have little interaction with them. Simply because they are not interesting, you don’t find anything interesting to talk about, or they lack character. It can also be the type of people you constantly chat with, but it is all shallow talk, and there is never a connection.


Lost souls are people trying to figure out their lives and floating around to find where the wind will blow them.


The fifth category is the “Exceptionals”


These people are cut from above the rest because they have exceptional talent, unique brilliance, or high-level emotional intelligence. I call them exceptional because they belong to less than 10% of the entire population. They are deep people with vast knowledge and understanding of how the world and humanity function.


Meeting these stereotypes helped me get to know myself better and realize that this default categorization is just an outer layer to protect an inner self vulnerable to judgment and criticism. It also helped me choose my crowd. I always believe that you become your environment; therefore, I ensure that my crowd is a good influence on a better way of living and not leading to a destructive lifestyle.


My greater realization is that it’s always good to understand and empathize with all sorts of stereotypes. Still, filter who you want to get to know better and who you want to spend time with – behaviors, manners, and attitudes are contagious.






 
 
 

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