Truity's Personality and Careers Blog

Conscientiousness is one of the five personality traits described in theBig Five modelof personality psychology. It's used to describe a person's tendency to be organized and goal-oriented.

Someone with a high degree of conscientiousness is self-disciplined, efficient, orderly and methodical. They place a lot of importance on getting stuff done - and getting it done properly. They turn up on time, meet deadlines and follow the rules.

It's hardly the most tantalizing trait in the pack.

Yet research suggests that your conscientiousness score is the single biggest predictor of success. It influences everything from grades at school to your chances of becoming addicted to drugs.

Conscientiousness, unplugged

According to the Big Five theory, there are five basic traits or dimensions that serve as the building blocks of personality. The five traits are specified by the helpful anagram OCEAN:

O - Openness to experience (your level of curiosity)

C - Conscientiousness (your level of work ethic)

E - Extraversion (your level of sociability)

A - Agreeableness (your level of kindness)

N - Neuroticism (your level of anxiety or shame).

Each of the Big Five dimensions can be broken down into six sub-traits. Here, we are concerned with conscientiousness which is made up of:

• Self-efficacy (your ability to accomplish tasks)
• Orderliness (your ability to organize)
• Dutifulness (your sense of duty and obligation)
• Achievement-striving (your commitment to achieving excellence)
• Self-discipline (your level of willpower)
• Cautiousness (your ability to think through possibilities before acting)

People scoring high on these individual sub-traits, and on conscientiousness in general, may be described as hard working, organized and tenacious. They persevere amid setbacks. They have grit. And because they possess these qualities, we can predict that they will accomplish their personal and professional goals.

Why conscientiousness is a big deal

All personality theories are founded on the framework that no one personality trait is better than any other. Yet there's a staggering amount of research linking conscientiousness with success:

• In 2009, a study entitled "Personality and Career Success: Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations" found that people scoring a high degree of conscientiousness on the Big Five test earned considerably higher incomes and reported greater job satisfaction.
• A National Institute of Mental Health Study found that conscientious men earned significantly higher salaries than their low-C counterparts.
• 2006年的一项研究发表在《应用Psychology linked conscientiousness with entrepreneurship, finding that successful entrepreneurs scored far higher on conscientiousness than managers.
• Research from the University of Sheffield in the UK is one of the many studies that link conscientiousness with high educational attainment. Simply put, conscientious kids do well at school.
• Other studiesassociate conscientiousness with long life, as conscientious people are far less likely to smoke, drink to excess, abuse drugs, drive too fast or break the law. They are also drawn to other conscientious people, which puts them in long-lasting stable relationships and healthy work situations.
• Conscientiousness even determines your chances of becoming an influential presence on Twitter, according to a University of Cambridge study.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about conscientiousness is its ability to cut across situational variables. Arriving on time, being on top of deadlines, making plans and sticking to them - these skills help you regardless of your life stage or work situation.

What if you rate low for conscientiousness?

In the words of biological anthropologistHelen Fisher, we are not puppets on a string of DNA. Your behaviors, and even your personality profile, can change and evolve over time. For example, most jobs will demand that you act in an organized and goal-oriented manner. Through repeated practice, these skills can become learned and instinctive.

Initially, you may feel like you are acting out of character. But most people can flex the conscientiousness muscle by taking incremental steps, such as keeping a tidy desk, sticking to a daily work plan or making an effort to be punctual. As the evidence suggests, your career, your relationships and your health will thank you for it.