The Yes-but® Test measures your ability to create. Are you capable of giving purpose and direction to your own life? The general idea is that in order to do so one must possess three essential qualities: yes-and (accepting, adding, acting), no-because (setting boundaries, refusing) and yes-but (thinking, reflecting, controlling).
In this test these three qualities are measured separately. Because of that you will receive results for each quality. (yes-and, no because and yes-but) and a total score. The total score is the sum of all three qualities.
The test gives two results.
1) Total score: the sum of all three qualities.
2) Balance: the amount of balance between the qualities.
The results of the total score are straightforward: more points means that you are better at giving purpose and direction to your life. There are 132 points in total. Compare your score with the categories below.
Your ability to give your life direction is very poorly developed. Your life is strongly shaped by outside influences. Chances are life to you is a series of events that you seemingly don't have an influence on. Like the weather, seasons or an earthquake. Sometimes you're lucky, sometime you aren't. Hopefully you have the help of a partner, co-worker or someone else to give your life order; otherwise things do not look good. In a large group you feel at ease in a serving role with a well-defined function. If changes present themselves to your life they put you off balance without exception. The worst thing that could happen to your life is losing a job or marriage. Note the points per category where you might have the most to gain. If they are all equal, it's recommended to work on becoming more assertive first. It's no use trying to help others if you can't help yourself.
Sometimes you have ideas about how your life could be, but when it comes down to actually realising those ideas you lack a number of fundamental skills. When failing you are quick to blame the outside world. You are easily put off balance and you have trouble finishing what you started. In order to create you need diverse qualities such as passion, energy and patience. Those qualities seem contradictory; you need to be tough, open and understanding at the same time. If you want some grip on your own life you need to possess those qualities in equal measure. Take a look at your points per category and figure out which you need most and work on those. If you are lacking in all three equally it's advised to work on being assertive first. "It's no use trying to help others if you can't help yourself" is a valid saying for you as well.
You possess adequate qualities to stand on your own two feet and to decide for yourself how to shape your own life. Still your fundamentals are somewhat shaky and chances are you miss some essential skills to be a strong person in the 'real world'. When people ask you to lead or take responsibility it confuses you. You want to, but you are not sure you really can. That doubt is understandable. Experience has taught you that when the pressure rises you tend to crumble under the weight and lose your grip on the situation. In these cases you feel a need to retreat to your own safe little world. To be able to keep your own space in a larger company you will have to work on a few basic skills. Take a look at your results in each category to see where a margin for improvement lies. Is yes-and your low score? Set your own ambitions and goals. Is no-because underdeveloped? Take chances and be more assertive. Is yes-but a low score for you? Learn to take things slow and take the right choices. Not too fast and not too slow. You decide when you are ready to take decisions. Trust your instincts. If you have all your scores in the same ranges, try to work on saying no more often. It's no use trying to help others if you can't stand up for yourself.
You have a healthy amount of basic skills that allow you to influence the world around you. You are capable of making a clear distinction between things you can and cannot influence. You can lead and handle responsibility. Still resistance and setbacks can quickly put you off balance and chances are that unexpected results put you in a state of anger or panic. Especially if there's a large discrepancy between your scores in different categories (more about this under “balance”). Even though you have the feeling of losing your grip on the world from time to time, you'll quickly calm down, take a deep breath, take a look around and regain composure. Whether that's enough to make you feel happy about the way things are depends on the balance between the three categories. Especially in your case it's advised to carefully study your results and see what you need to work on. If one of the categories scored 7 or more points than any other, that would be a good place to start.
You have strongly developed the skills that allow you to direct and shape your own life. You have a clear insight in your own capabilities and limits. You understand that life sometimes throws things at you that you cannot change. You are capable of knowing when to focus on things you can change. You also have the ingenuity to sometimes flip tricky situations in order to change your life in a positive way. When in company of others you will quickly take a leading role and give people a strong feeling that things will work out right. Whether this makes you happy or not depends on your own ambitions. There are areas where you can greatly improve yourself. But whether or not you want to rise above the crowd is a question you will have to answer for yourself. The better you are at shaping your life, the better you will be at shaping yourself as a person. That isn't always as straightforward as it sounds. Wilful people like you can be threatening to others. They are harder to manipulate or blackmail. They go their own way and don't seem to care about what people think. Chances are you will lose people who don't feel comfortable with that. You might have to choose between losing other people and losing yourself in the process of trying to keep them. It's up to you. In your case most of all it's interesting to look at which categories you scored lowest in. If there is a big discrepancy, you have the potential to quickly and easily rise to the 6th category.
You belong to a special group of people. Only a small amount of people score over 100 points on this test (about 12%). You more than adequately possess the skills that are needed to give purpose and direction to your life. What you do coincides with who you are. You can take on different roles without too much trouble, whether it be quiet and retreated or dominant and assertive. In both situations you feel you are 'just being yourself'. People see you as a creative and wilful person. You feel at ease in the company of others but do not need them to form your own identity. You have created the kind of life for yourself where your need to create can be fully realised. Chances are you are an entrepreneur, artist, director, scientist, or athlete. Because you don't think in terms of labels, chances are you have been involved in multiple professions, or indeed still are. People get tired just by looking at you. You do not quickly tire out yourself, however. After all you are capable of slowing down and recharging. Whether you feel satisfied with this classification is up to you. By looking at the amount of points you scored in each category you might see that one of them leaves room for improvement. As you know: the difference between 'good' and 'great' can be enormous.
Thus far less than 1% of participants of this test scored over 110 points. That says something. You have all the qualities of class 6 (see above) so strongly that everyone you meet will immediately sense your strong personality. You will naturally attract people and create enthusiasm wherever you may go. You can't not do it. It's such a large part of who you are that you can't imagine that other people aren't the same. Large undertakings, complex projects and new challenges are the things that drive you. You always let passion and enthusiasm lead you. In some ways this makes you kind of lonely, but you have long since accepted that. You know that loneliness is just a label. You don't feel a need to fill your life with meaningless people just to change that.
De combined result of this test is the most important result. However, the difference in results between the three categories may contain significant information about yourself. If you have similar scores in all categories it may indicate a balance between the three positions. To measure this balance you subtract the lowest score from the highest. This number determines the misbalance, for example:
Yes-and (22), not-because (25), yes-but (24)
Misbalance is 3 points
Yes-and (30), not-because (34), yes-but (35)
Misbalance is 5 points.
Yes-and (21), not-because (26), yes-but (16)
Misbalance is 10 points.
When you have successfully determined your misbalance, you can find out what that means below.
In general one could say: the more balance the better. On the other hand: when there is a great difference between the three positions, you might have a lot to gain there. Remember, though: the more points per category, the better. Never try to restore balance by losing focus on one position in order to improve the others. Instead create balance by focusing and improving whilst maintaining the others.
The three positions are in very close harmony. A discrepancy of less than 5 points is very unique. Most people have one quality considerably lower than the others. When all three positions are in harmony there is no specific one to focus on. If you want to score better on the Yes-but® test, spend an equal amount of time on improving each position to retain harmony.
You have a great amount of equilibrium between the three positions. One or two positions could however be strengthened by creating more balance. Notably the position with the lowest score is interesting for you to study. If it is yes-and, look at what part of yes-and is most interesting for you - accepting, passion or determination. Is no-because your weakest score, try working on setting your boundaries and realise that that is what keeps you from doing what you really want to. If yes-but is least developed for you, take more time making tough decisions. Learn to reflect and express critical thought.
The three positions have wildly differing scores. You possess one or two of the qualities in inadequate amounts compared to the other(s). Judge by the scores which of the positions you have developed least. If the yes-and score is least developed, it means your ability to accept reality (try and do this, it will give you peace of mind) is underdeveloped. You may also try and focus more on your own passion and determination. In that case learn to take something you love and stick with it. If your no-because score is lower, you may be relatively unable to stand to up for yourself. Realise that being nice might get you nowhere (except with the wrong people). If your yes-but score is weaker than the others you are someone who jumps into things without reflecting and taking time to consider things critically. Give doubt a larger role in your life. The result of that means you will have a better grip on the world around you.
Everything that goes for the category described above (misbalance), goes for you as well. But in a much stronger and therefore worrying amount. On average 8% of people score a 16 point or more discrepancy. It means that you have one very underdeveloped ability in comparison to the others. It will very likely lead to a strong sense of imbalance in your life. Because haven't developed one of the qualities chances are that when you need that quality, you will have to fall back on one of the two others.
If you find it hard to say no, chances are you try to solve the problems this creates by saying yes-and. Basically: if you get saddled up with a lot of work that you do not really want to do (because you can't say no), chances are you will try to solve that problem by saying yes-and to that problem (by doing it really well). In the long run this no-because discrepancy will create an inescapable problem (the two most common characteristics in people with a burn out are being overly perfectionistic and ambitious and the inability to say no: a strong yes-and and a weak no-because). If you cannot say no, saying yes-and is often a trap in itself. And to make matters even more complicated: you cannot solve this by saying yes-and, but by gaining better control of no-because. You must learn to not-do.
When the yes-but position is underdeveloped in relation to the other two positions, chances are that you have compensated the lack of being critical (yes-but) by throwing yourself enthusiastically into new large and time consuming projects (yes-and) that you have to quit halfway through (no-because) because you simply didn't take the time to stop and think about what you really want.
The possibly most tragic disproportion is a relatively weak yes-and. You might know what you do not want (no-because), and you know when to doubt (yes-but). But what you actually do want... So for you too: less doubt (yes-but), and being less assertive (no-because) is not the answer. The solution lies in strengthening your ability to say yes-and.