How DISC illuminates our #gotiny style
What? We have a #gotiny style?
Making the huge shift from the American Dream to tiny living is shaped by our DISC style profile.
This week while sitting in on a financial counselling psychology session hosted by the AFCPE® (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education®) I had occasion to refresh my knowledge of the disk profile. If you haven't ever taken the DISC (or haven't taken it lately) you can do so for free on truity.com.
The disc is often used in professional settings to visualize the combination of behavior and approach styles of individuals and to create teams with complimentary style characteristics. One's DISC profile may change over time with development or in different roles. Clearly mine (in the image) explains why I feel most at home charting my own course and have a damn good time podcasting.
In thinking through how the DISC showed up in my life path planning and choice to go tiny, I noticed that my strongest areas in the DISC are those which felt most natural or automatic while the less strong quadrants are areas that required more intention around development.
How I undertook the project planning for leaving our normal life and going tiny was indeed very driven (D on the top left). It started with a 2-year calendar on the wall in the kitchen and sticky notes for key objectives every month for 2 years. Project planning and execution definitely falls in the drive category.
Along the way a lot of my influence (I on the top right) style was necessary to persuade all of my tribe that a tiny pivot would produce the best long-term outcome. This persuading breached the boundaries of my immediate family and friends and now shows up on LinkedIn, my podcast and across my social media channels. I continue to feel so passionate about the whys of being intentional about the size and format of home.
In professionally leveraging my strongest styles I help others plan and execute unconventional living plans while shouting to the world why this makes sense. I could talk about the amazing option of tiny living and execute project plans all day everyday without feeling like it is work.
I am still building fluency in the more reflective area of slowing down to empathize and be present with others through such a huge change. People who choose tiny do so with different styles that may be more reflective, cautious or in support of others. We all have different motivations for the impact we want to make through our tiny living choice, whether that is time/proximity to care for loved ones, reducing our carbon footprint or simplifying our own lives, we still have to acknowledge that change is hard.
So whether you are ready to drive toward your tiny home future or are carefully evaluating whether this solution might help your family, I am here to partner with you each step of the way.
