Who would know you better than you, right? You might be surprised. We live in a world where our varied perception of things seems to make meaning different for everyone, so there’s a chance you don’t know yourself as intimately as you thought.
Take a moment to recall the last time a friend, family member, or even stranger taught you something about yourself that you didn’t know before… We’re going to have another one of those moments in the next few minutes.
Here’s how it works!
You’re going to look one at the mind-boggling horse image below and simply answer one question:
At first glance, how many horses did you see?
Ready? Go.
If you only saw one horse…
You are the epitome of what it means to be a ‘big picture’ type of person. You can step back in any situation life throws your way and see the forest for the trees or, in this case, the horse for the…other horses. In contrast, people who get caught up and bothered by the unnecessary and inconsequential details of their daily lives, you have the unique ability to not only see through it, but realize it’s not worth exhausting your energy over.
Getting caught up in the myriad trivialities that everyday life hands us can result in stress, worry, anxiety, and worse. Because you have this unique (and much-needed) skill, people confide in you and trust that you can help provide a perspective on a situation they seem so hopelessly stuck in.
When it comes to big challenges or tasks that need to get done, you often find yourself in leadership positions. Thanks to your ability to keep things in perspective, you can delegate tasks and keep morale and the main goal in mind.
If you saw four to nine horses…
You have a keen eye, ear, and mind for detail! Whether you’re completing a task for school, work or a hobby, you excel in any setting. Because you care so much for detail and have a passion for something being done the right (not fast) way, getting things done can sometimes take longer. However, it’s never done without hard work and perseverance.
Some people may label you as a perfectionist, but they fail to recognize your craft of perfectly balancing practicality and attention to detail. While your passion for doing things right drives your success, you aren’t willing to sacrifice rigid rules for collective creativity.
If you saw ten to fifteen horses…
Perfectionist must be your middle name. Sometimes, perfectionists can have a bad reputation but it may not be such a bad thing. Your mantra goes something like, if you’re not going to do something right, then don’t do it at all. Funnily enough, although people may critique your perfectionist personality, they have no problem letting you take the lead on tasks because you both know it will exceed expectations in every way.
You constantly strive for flawlessness and when someone sets high standards for you, you automatically raise them a bit more (or a lot). However, there is a downside. When both personal and group goals are not accomplished, you accept and carry that responsibility and sense of failure with you. But don’t let those bring you down. Rather, you should learn from those experiences (i.e., what worked and what didn’t) and grow those perceived past failures into future successes.
If you saw more than fifteen horses…
You have a rare personality trait. Similar to people who saw the one horse, you can see the bigger picture, the forest for the trees. But there’s something about your hyper-perceptive nature that allows you to truly take in all your surroundings. While everyone else looked for the horse heads, you could also see the bodies and partial silhouettes of horses outside of the picture’s focal point.
A Jack or Jill of all trades! You consider the nitty-gritty details, the sometimes-overwhelming big picture, and everything in between, and can seamlessly adapt to either personality depending on the situation. Because of your ability to think outside the box, people from all walks of life feel comfortable coming to you for advice, guidance, or simply a shoulder to lean on because you can shift your mindset into what their circumstance requires.
So, how many horses did you see? Did you know those things about yourself before now? Whatever your answer, we hope you use that unique personality trait to help lift up and empower the people in your life. Perception is a mysterious thing but we can learn a lot from it, that’s for sure.
