Of the big five personality traits, conscientiousness is the one that describes me most accurately. I am known to be reliable, careful, very organized and most of all, dependable. I was not aware of these until I noticed that I was usually chosen to complete high profile tasks at work. One day at a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor, he pointed out that I could not take vacation at a specific time because of some sensitive tasks that was schedule to run during that time. He then explained that I am viewed as a well-organized, reliable and dependable individual. After this experience, I took a step back and look at myself from the perspective of my family and people around me and sure enough, he was right. Every attribute described with the conscientiousness personality trait fully describes me. This is visible by the way I keep things organized in the house, in the vehicle, on my desk at work to the way I approach simple/small insignificant tasks. Planning, being-organized, punctual and persevering are my strengths and are visible day in day out. The upside to conscientiousness is that these qualities positively correlate with work success across a broad spectrum of occupation (Curtis & Manning, 1943, p. 308). Due to the careful nature of conscientious people, it is believed that they live longer than less conscientious people because they tend to take better care of themselves and engage in fewer risky behaviors (Robbins, 2001). These qualities are visible with their eating habits, driving behavior, smoking/drinking etc. Numerous studies have shown that the conscientiousness personality trait has a direct effect on performance (Simmons, 2010).
Overall, conscientious is a good thing but to much of something can be a weakness. It appears that conscientious people may have difficulty adapting to changing contexts. This can be a result of the well-organized