The good luck charms suggests the person is superstitious, and believes much in spirituality and taking an active role in protecting the fortune they amass through work and other endeavors. There are also motivational quotes posted to the wall facing the desk where the individual would work, suggesting this person consistently seeks motivation, affirmation and confirmation of their activities. There are no other family pictures except those of the children and husband, suggesting perhaps this is a closely nit family unit.
Advantages and Disadvantages
There are multiple advantages to observing a person's home or workspace to gain insights into their personality traits. For example, if you plan to get to know someone from a business vantage, it pays to know whether they enjoy networking, socialization and whether they adhere to stringent religious or loosely-based morals. However, there are also disadvantages in making assumptions. For example, the lack of photographs of other family members or friends does not suggest necessarily that this person is a loner or hermit. However, one might assume that, and either thinks of the individual in more negative terms, or push too hard to encourage the person to make new friendships when such actions are not necessary.
Also, assuming an individual is unorganized because there are stacks of paper and books or clothing in corners or other places in the office may cause one to immediately jump to conclusions about the quality of this person's work. For example, this individual is a meticulous writer. However, on looking at her office, one may assume that she was not organized at all, and fail to offer them a working relationship. However, there are many reasons the office may appear cluttered...
The pictures on the wall for example suggest the individual in question has three young children. It could be the working mother is simply too busy right now to organize every detail of her office, because she has to balance her role as a business owner and her role as a parent. Alternately, what seems cluttered to one may be perfect organization for another. One stack of papers may be tax documents, another job orders, another contracts.
It is critical when making judgments based on observation alone the observer consider their own opinions, likes and dislikes, and then put these aside when judging another's identity based on observation alone. There is the saying, "You cannot judge a book by its cover." The very fact the work space itself was organized suggests this person takes their job seriously, and may do a very good job indeed of pleasing customers. People often jump to conclusions about a person based on stereotypical beliefs. Successful business owners for example, are often seen as the kings and queens of organization. Realistically speaking however, many are nothing more than simple people, mothers or fathers, individuals balancing their career aspirations with their desire to run a family. A messy person my be someone that is more capable of multi-tasking, because they know how to set aside unimportant tasks and focus on more critical problems, one that require immediate problem solving.
This exercise clearly highlights how critical it is for one to remain objectives when observing and analyzing a person's identity through a limited base of criteria. Jumping to conclusions too fast may result in lost opportunity or an inability to judge a person's true nature and ability.
Observation Exercise
