Are You Conscientious or a Slacker?

EOD_Conscientious

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Extremely frustrated, I waited in a parking lot for one last person that was running late. They were supposed to arrive at 7:30am and the instructions clearly stated the youth group would leave the church at 8:00am sharp.

It was this person’s tardiness that broke my wife’s perfect parent streak. You know what I mean; the mom who waves to her child as they drive away in excitement to a five-day excursion of hiking, singing songs by the bonfire, and getting yelled at by counselors because you’re making everyone in the cabin giggle when you should be sleeping.

Here it was, almost an hour later and we could wait no longer. We said our goodbyes and drove off.

I can remember feeling angry, irritated, and a bit resentful at this person who seemed to lack a conscience by making the whole bus load of people wait. I didn’t know who the person was, yet I had determined he/she was a slacker.

Why was I so upset? And what does this have to do with money? Stick around to the end, we’ll get there.

A lack of conscientiousness

The answer came in a completely unrelated email. PsyBlog released a one-minute personality test that reveals how conscientious you are compared to others. I was certain to score a perfect 40 out of 40 because I’m a very conscientious person: I plan ahead, try to pay attention to the details, and understand my actions can affect others.

The results of that survey would tell me another story.

Are you a conscientious person?

Take the multiple-choice survey yourself: One Minute Conscientious Test

Did you score more than 20? Then you lean towards being a conscientious person.

Conscientious people are careful, vigilant and thorough. They love ‘to-do’ lists and plan out their day. Conscientious people tend to do better in school and find the obligations they make to others are important to themselves.

I thought for sure I’d fall into the 30 percent of respondents who were classified as conscientious.

Nope. Moving on…

Not-so conscientious people

Those who are not gifted with extra conscientiousness are laid-back, less concerned with obligations towards others, and are classified as unorganized.

However, they tend to be more fun and exciting to be around at parties. Do you know a few not-so conscientious people? Of course you do – they could be some of your best friends. Actually, my best friend fits perfectly into this group. He is always late and never finishes tasks on time, yet he makes friends everywhere he goes.

How can this be? How can a non-planner who misses deadlines and doesn’t plan ahead be accepted by the well-organized group in our society? To put it simply: we need each other. A person scoring high on the conscientious scale needs someone with a low score to spice up their life.

Alternatively, free spirits need super-conscientious people in their lives or the iPhone would have never been created and their taxes would never get done.

Again, 30 percent of people scored in the lower range of this survey.

Muddled in the Middle

What if you are in the middle? I scored a 20 – what does that say about me?

My natural tendencies are to work on the things I want to, not the things I should. For instance, I’m writing this article a week after the date I set aside on my calendar.

I also follow the Seth Godin philosophy of “Ship it” instead of trying to get every detail perfect before putting it out there. For example: How many grammatical and punctuation errors can you find in this post? 10 points goes to the first person to point them out in the comments below.

Does this make me a not-so conscientious person? I think my response to this morning’s events prove otherwise.

Contrary to what you might think; Those of use who are in the middle (40 percent of the survey respondents) are not perfectly balanced between the two. In fact, I believe those who are on the extreme ends of this survey have an easier time being true themselves.

In other words, it’s more exciting to be on one end of the teeter-totter or the other instead of the guy standing in the middle. That guy (or gal) is expending a lot of energy just trying to stay balanced.

How does this all tie into personal finance?

It is very likely you are either a conscientious spender or you make more than your share of impulse purchases.

A conscientious spender finds joy in making meal plans, creating grocery lists, and measures their wireless data usage to see if they can save $10 by switching to a smaller plan next month.

A slacker, or “free spirit”, makes impulse purchases, spends money when the situation arises, and hates the “b” word (budget). But boy howdy – they can share some stories!

Maybe you’re a muddler like me. I have forced myself into the middle – moving away from my natural “free spirit” tendencies toward super-conscientious behaviors. Why? I realized the importance of having a plan, spending wisely, and looking towards the future.

In my journey to become a more responsible and conscientious person I fight the old tendencies that could get me into trouble. How do I know they will resurface? Let’s just say I haven’t been a very conscientious eater.

Is it better to be conscientious or a slacker?

If your goal is to be responsible with your spending and have some money later in life then you need to be a conscientious spender more often than a slacker. However, slackers are good for the economy: If we didn’t have slackers then a lot of plastic trinkets would be collecting dust on the Dollar Store’s shelves.

About Steve Stewart

7 Responses to “Are You Conscientious or a Slacker?”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Travis says:

    I scored a 37. 🙂 I’m not surprised….I make plans and stick to them. I get EXTREMELY agitated if someone causes my plans to change, even if it’s shown that a different path is better. Always onward, always on plan. That being said, I still think I’m the guy that can tell a good story, and I definitely have my moments of impulsiveness when it comes to buying things.

    I certainly agree with what you said about conscientious people and “slackers” needing each other. That’s exactly why my wife and I make such a great team. I’m the “make a plan and stick too it” guy, and she’s the “let’s fly by the seat of our pants girl.” I ground her a bit, and she makes me come out of my shell.

    Oh, those plastic trinkets though……. lol

  2. I scored a 26. I’m very detailed and almost hate that I can’t shake my type a personality and just “go with the flow” more often. Then again my places is always tidy and I get shit done. Being late is especially one of my pet peeves. I swear if someone is running late I actually have to sing “let it go” out loud. 🙂

  3. Interesting test and results, I scored a 32 which states I am “more conscientious than at least 70% of people”. Travis, you are nearly off the charts!

    I agree with Tonya’s pet peeve about people being late. It drives me crazy. Being occasionally late for things out of your control is another issue. It is difficult for me to understand why people cannot plan better. To me it conveys the message that the universe evolves around these people and they have no regard for our own time.

  4. I scored 24, so I’m muddling in the middle like you. Like you, I also fight against my “easy going” tendencies – which actually do show a lack of consideration to others. The one thing I try not to do, in my efforts to become more conscientious, is to compare myself to the super-conscientious. I compare myself against my old self, and then I realize I’m coming along.
    OK, you invited us to find grammatical errors, and I found one: Your wrote “Those of use” instead of “us”. (And did you mean “true to themselves” when you wrote “true themselves”?)

  5. I think middle of the road is best. You’re a little more laid back, but you’re still considerate of your and others’ time.

    I used to be incredibly rigid, freaking out when schedules didn’t go off according to plan. Finally, I realized it was silly. So I try to go with the flow a little more now. Granted, I have health problems, so I had to start reevaluating just what “has to get done” means.

    I think it’s made me a better person because I’m not as grumpy when people don’t fit on my timeline. As grumpy being the keyword. It’s a process.

    That said, someone over half an hour late to something as big as leaving for camp? Yeah, that’s just inconsiderate. Especially without a heads up by call/text/email.

  6. I’m pretty conscientious and I came up with a 28. I tend to be responsible with spending but I have my moments of abandon as well. I think being somewhere in the middle of the scale isn’t a bad thing.

  7. Erick Brunet says:

    I scored 15, cause I don’t really plan anything, I just do it. [I thought I would score higher tbh, I think I’m quite conscientious]. My friends are super late so sometimes I just come late too, or wait for them patiently, patience is my strong point.

Leave a Comment...

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.