Are you rarely satisfied with the status quo even if the status quo is great?
Are you a hyper-active who gets easily bored?
Do you suffer in routine or mundane work environments because your mind naturally wanders?
Do you need to be constantly involved in challenges or with projects which excite and drive you?
Do you easily experience impatience and frustration with other people because they are not fast enough or energetic enough to keep up with you?
Are you easily distracted?
If your answers to most of these questions is yes, you may have what Shirzad Chamine refers to as a restless saboteur in his Positive Intelligence book (2012). People with a restless personality tend to have high energy and vitality, they are full of curiosity and remain open to new experiences, which increases their probability of doing something innovative. They take great pleasure in learning new things and are often early adopters. When they find themselves getting too comfortable, they question the status quo and their routines; they seek variety and excitement rather than comfort or safety, and they dislike conformity.
Whilst these personality traits make them particularly productive, creative, and capable of great breadth of activity and pursuits, their constant search for greater stimulation may limit their ability to find fulfilment in their current activities. Their fear of missing out may cause a lot of stress, because their minds may be restlessly wanting to be somewhere else, hoping that the next thing will be more interesting than what is in front of them.
When something unpleasant happens, people with a restless saboteur may be reluctant to explore what happened deep enough to learn from their mistakes, their minds may prompt them to quickly move on to try to avoid the pain, depriving them of awareness and a growth opportunity. The restless saboteur may damage their effectiveness by making them easily distracted and having them constantly jump from one thing to another in multitasking.
Because their minds are constantly in overdrive, they may get frustrated, impatient, or judgemental with others, who simply cannot keep up with them, or have their levels of energy, speed, and capability of managing multiple plans and tasks. Their low levels of agreeableness may be perceived by others as craziness or weirdness.
In their private lives, they may find it hard to build deep and lasting relationships, their potential partners may give up as they sense their unwillingness to engage in anything sustainable. People with a restless saboteur may have what the Buddhists call a ‘monkey mind’, moving from one adventure to the next like monkeys jumping from one branch to the next, losing touch with the here and now rather than being grounded and centred in the present.
How strong is the restless in you?
What is the biggest impact of the restless saboteur on your business or career?
Luca Dondi is a certified professional coach, helping people enhance and realise their unexpressed potential, by leveraging business experience and accredited training. Get in touch for a free coaching session.