Three Groups of People

Love them or hate them, we get labeled all the time.  Which group are you in?  Short or Tall?  Skinny or Fat?  Republican or Democrat?  Smart or Athletic?  Not all these distinctions are fair, nor are they all mutually exclusive of one another.  Think about being pigeon holed as the dumb jock.  Sure you can be smart and athletic, but quite often if your athletic, your intelligence is overlooked - hence the dumb jock label.  Not to belittle this process of classification, because I'm about to do the same thing right here!

Over the past few weeks I've come the realization that you can categorize people into three distinct groups.  Yes distinct is a strong word, because you will surely find yourself in different scenarios when you will find yourself classified in in one of the "other" two groups, but most of us will have the propensity to settle into one of these roles on a general basis.

So, what are the three types of people?

First are Actors.  Not actors in the sense of the big screen, rather Actors as I am classifying them are the people that live out loud; they and their actions are out there for us all to see.  They are making unprompted moves.  These are typically the people who make things happen, for better or worse.  Sometimes their actions or ideas are ground breaking; other times they are just the people leading your social group.  You have to have actors to drive the action, come up with new ideas, and keep a fresh perspective.  They are essential to moving forward and the growth of a group.

Second we have Reactors.  There are tons of these people out there, and to be honest there needs to be.  After an Actor makes a move, then what happens?  Well of course a Reactor swoops in and does something in response.  Does what, you may ask?  It could be a number of things.  Maybe it's a critique of the actions of the actor or maybe it's an improvement on that new idea.
How many times have you been sitting around discussing an idea and there are 100 improvements that build on that first notion?  Reactors are of the utmost importance to the improvement of products and or situations and to the streamlining of processes.   Put simply, they make the group better.

Any group, be it a company or even a social group, is best served with a combination of Actors and Reactors, and to be totally honest the best Actors tend to project themselves into the role of Reactors pretty well although they are more comfortable Acting.

The third and final group is the viewers.  They may care about what's going on or they may not.  Seeing what the Actors and Reactors are up to is enough for them and they just aren't getting involved. To just sit back and watch is plenty enough action for them, and on some occasions the choice to stop viewing altogether is their course of action.

So what type of person are you?  I'm a huge believer in the idea that we live live in shades of gray.  Because of this, I wouldn't be surprised if you read this and said, "what BS; I'm all 3!".  To some extent that is true, but ask yourself two questions:
(1) Which of the three is your true nature?
and probably of more importance
(2) Which of the three would you like to be?
Think about those questions as you approach your day.

You may ask how I see myself?  That's only fair, right?  I don't mind answering my own question!  Personally I feel that I'm inclined to Act.  Others may see me differently, but I feel pretty confident in my categorization as an Actor for both my natural inclinations as well as my desired nature.  If you don't agree, feel free to React to this post!  haha!