Dear Jeremy,

So my secondary and tertiary colors (red and blue) are really close (28% and 21%, respectively). But somehow I got a TON of the weaknesses of blue, and NONE of the strengths. And it’s really showing up and creating conflict in my life, esp since I’m almost 50% yellow. What does a person do about that?? Can I please have a blue-ectomy?

Tori

Hey, Tori.

Thanks for taking the time to write us about this. It’s a great question/dilemma. I would not recommend going with the Blue-ectomy, though. They’re invasive, expensive, and you may end up losing a lot of heart in the process. 🙂

What we do need to do, however, is find a way of redirecting those Blue limitation tendencies and perhaps working on developing some of the Blue strengths. The good news in this process is that now that this is all in your awareness, you will hopefully know when you are going into negative Blue mode and can make a course-correction before things get ugly. That would be a good place to start: simply recognize and adjust.

Of course, I don’t know you personally, but I do know a lot of people who are Core Yellow with Red Secondary. That type of person tends to be high-energy, extroverted, very communicative, adventuresome, persuasive, action-oriented, etc. Yellow and Red strengths tend to complement each other nicely. Interestingly enough, Yellow and Blue strengths can be even more complementary. However, Red and Blue tendencies (strengths and limitations) can oftentimes clash to create lots of inner turmoil. And, obviously, limitations from any category will create problems, generally speaking.

If you are like most Yellows with Secondary Red, the problem that occurs when you operate out of Blue limitations is that you seem to be terribly incongruent to those around you. It just doesn’t fit that you would be fun, light-hearted, sarcastic, engaging, and driven… and then all of a sudden overly sensitive, guilt-ridden, worrisome, and emotionally needy. When people see that behavior, it seems Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like, or in your case, perhaps like A Tale of Two Toris.

As I mentioned above, it would be great if you can find a way to overcome the Blue limitations and perhaps develop some of the strengths. Notice – we never call them “weaknesses”, by the way. We prefer the term “limitations”, because if you view them as merely obstacles to be overcome, you can use the awareness of those limitations to become much more powerful and effective. If you think about it, you could view them as opportunities for major improvement and growth in your life.

Let’s talk about where to start.

Actually, I would recommend that you take a look at two of Dr. Hartman’s products, if you haven’t already. I would look at the Hartman Character Code Profile, and I would also recommend the book, Playing Life to Win. Both of these tools can really help you in understanding how to change behavior in your life to transform limitations into strengths.

One of the exercises that we have you complete in the Character Code Profile is to identify your top three limitations. What are those top three Blue limitations that really are plaguing you? Next, think about why you engage in those particular behaviors and look for an “antidote” to work on outside of the Blue behavioral category.

For example, you might say that one of your worst Blue limitations is that you are “emotionally intense”. If that were the case, you would need to thing through your motives for being that way. You ask yourself, “Why am I emotionally intense?”. Is it because you feel the need to control other people, or because you are afraid that people aren’t doing things the “right way” – or is it something else entirely?

When you can pinpoint the motive behind the behavior you want to change, the next step is to look for a strength to focus on developing outside of the category in which the limitation falls. In this case – Blue. You have to look for a Red, Yellow, or White strength to work on so that you can cause yourself to stretch enough that you learn to not slip back into old patterns.

If you felt that being emotionally intense comes from the need to control other people, perhaps, you should work on being trusting – a Yellow strength, or accepting – a White strength. Whatever the case might be, you just need to find the antidote to YOUR motive for behaving the way you do, and then work on developing that strength.

That is a very basic overview of the process, of course, but as I mentioned above, a combination of the Hartman Character Code Profile and Dr. Hartman’s book, Playing Life to Win will definitely get you on a very practical road to making some of the changes you currently desire… No Blue-ectomy required. 😉

Very best of living,

Jeremy Daniel
Training Director
Color Code International

Jeremy Daniel (Core Color: Yellow) has been working with the Color Code since 1998 in various capacities from training in the field personally with Dr. Taylor Hartman to designing customized corporate solutions and new training programs for various industries.  To ask about Jeremy’s training or speaking services, please email and inquiry to jeremy@colorcodetraining.com.