features like “tall,” “broad-shouldered” and “clever” are not enough, you need to use a more nuanced approach.
How can you do this? How can you understand what “role type’ he is?
First, you need to figure out what role types there are. This will be discussed in the next chapter.
Chapter 2: Everyone has a role
Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
Actually, for the stage to function, other people besides the “players” are necessary. Someone has to write the script, someone needs to organize the sale of tickets, and of course there must be an audience to watch the performance. In total, we have four roles performing on the stage. Let us refer to them as the following:
– Scriptwriter;
– Director;
– Actor;
– Spectator.
Why four exactly?
Because they correspond to four types of temperament discovered by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and described by Galen, a Roman physician of Greek origin. The temperament types are well known: phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric, and melancholic. Each temperament behaves differently in society, and each subconsciously seeks to play the role that corresponds with their higher nervous activity type. In other words, the four stage characters are a social expression of temperaments, their manifestation in public life. Or, to put it even simpler, they are the role types.
Your man may not fully correspond to one of these temperaments, but the most important features will certainly coincide with your personality and disposition.
Let us see how these types differ from each other.
Scriptwriter
The Scriptwriter’s temperament type is phlegmatic.
The primary activity of the Scriptwriter is thinking. His approach to life can be described in the words of the Roman philosopher Cicero: “I am speaking of a clever and learned man, for whom to live is to think.”
The Scriptwriter can ponder on various problems from morning to night, and the need to interrupt this fascinating process for the night’s sleep makes him feel uneasy. As it is said in a famous song of a British rock band, “The Show Must Go On!” For the Scriptwriter, “The Show” is an endless stream of his own thoughts.
Waking up in the morning, he lies in bed with his eyes open, and looks at the ceiling. He doesn’t seem to care that the beautiful, intelligent, gentle woman lying next to him has also woken up, and that she would like to hear something like “Good morning, gorgeous! Did you sleep well?” She sighs, yawns, and stretches herself to attract his attention. No reaction! Is he cold-hearted?
Not at all. At this very moment, the turmoil of passions might be raging inside him: discontent, hope, despair, joy… What could cause this? Virtually anything!
For example, he may be worried by a change in the fur seals’ migration route, which he was told about in yesterday’s news. And it doesn’t matter that before the news release, he had no idea where the seals migrated, and whether they migrated at all. Information pops up in his head as soon as he wakes up. He is wondering what the reason was for this change in their lives, and begins looking for a solution. Where? In his own head, of course, using logic, his main tool for exploration of the world. And his emotions depend on how successful the process is!
If the Scriptwriter cannot make out why the seals changed their route, he is discontented. If he has a plausible assumption about the causes, such as Greenland snow melting, an oil spill in the ocean, or the impact of a meteorite, which was also mentioned in the newscast, he becomes more optimistic. If he considers his own solution correct and clever, he is filled with joy!
You may ask yourself why he cares about this. Is he a fool?
By no means, he is not. The Scriptwriter is not worried about the seals; he wants to get to the truth. He might just as well ponder on what tactics and strategy could lead Napoleon to victory in the Battle of Waterloo if he watched a relevant historical film the day before. Or perhaps, what are the chances for the Argentinian national football team to enter the America’s Cup playoffs this year. Or possibly the likelihood of scientists creating of an artificial spleen in an advanced medical lab by the beginning of the next decade…
What he will hardly think about is whether the ceiling that he is looking at requires whitewashing. The reason for this is that he does not actually see the ceiling. His mind’s eye is directed much farther. He analyzes events in the past, present and future, not the quality of the ceiling surface! Household chores are not in his sphere of interest.
However, there are exceptions.
For example, the Scriptwriter deals with household problems professionally, as for example, an interior or furniture designer. That is, he makes something new in the area. He invents and creates!
Another exception: the Scriptwriter perceives a domestic problem as a challenge to his mental abilities. For example, a switch socket he bought does not fit in the recess in a wall. How will he insert it? Is it better to redo the outlet or expand the recess? He can fiddle about with the socket for a few hours, but he will not regret the time spent if he succeeds.
The third possible exception is when he raises a routine task to the level of artwork. For example, instead of repairing a broken chair, he makes a new one, with carved legs and a special shaped seat. This might take him a month, but he will soon proudly ask a guest to sit on this masterpiece, and state, “Feel the difference”, and wait for praises of his talent.
Domestic chores are of interest to him only if he has to strain not only his muscles, but also his brain, and to do what he has never done before.
The Scriptwriter’s creative approach is evident in any sphere. Who else can he work as?
Perhaps an excellent accountant who can find the best and fastest way to make calculations and balance debit and credit? Or an outstanding programmer who can work alone to create a useful application for a smartphone, or in a large team to develop a new operating system? Or a valuable engineer who will surely identify the cause of an assembly line shutdown and come up with an effective means to fix the problem? Or a scientist dreaming of a Nobel Prize – and receiving it one day? Or a Scriptwriter in the literal sense of the word, that is, a person whose thoughts are embodied on a real stage by real actors!
Unfortunately, not all Scriptwriters achieve such impressive results. For some, the pinnacle of achievement is the self-made chair with carved legs.
This means that they directed their thinking in a wrong way. They gave too much thought to things that were irrelevant to them – such as migration of fur seals – and too little to the proper use of their talents. Or that they chose a wrong field of activity – for example, they obtained the position as a head of a programming team, only to cease writing code themselves. They should have taken into account that not everyone is born to be a Steve Jobs.
Before taking on the burden of responsibility for others, the Scriptwriter should ask himself, “Do I have leadership skills? Do I really want to be a boss?”
The Scriptwriter should remember that his advantage is the ability to analyze and create. Before diving into something else like directing a theater, playing on stage, or becoming a regular spectator, he needs to ask himself, “Why? Is it right for me?” An honest answer could be, “I don’t want to be a boss” or, “I don’t like performing on stage”, or, “It is not enough for me to watch other’s plays, I want to write one myself!”
So what’s the problem? Let him write or do other suitable work! He may not be a billionaire like Apple founder Steve Jobs or a movie star like Charlie Chaplin,