Your Workstyle Has a Magnet
Interests Are Like Magnets: Why What Pulls You In (or Pushes You Away) Matters
One of the most underused insights in personality and behavioral assessments isn’t about stress, communication, or motivation—it’s interests.
Not hobbies. Not skills. Interests are the things you naturally gravitate toward, whether you realize it or not.
I like to explain interests using a simple analogy: a magnet.
A magnet has two sides. One pulls things in. Flip it over, and it pushes things away. Our interests work the same way.
When we score high in a particular interest area, we’re naturally pulled toward it. We lean in, stay engaged, and usually perform better because we spend more time there.
When we score low, the magnet flips. We avoid it, procrastinate, or just struggle to stay positive and focused.
And here’s the key—this isn’t about ability. It’s about energy and attraction.
My Own Magnet
My highest scores land me squarely in the “communicator” space. I’m drawn to anything that involves coaching, persuading, debating, selling, or helping others. Put me in a conversation, a classroom, or a problem-solving session with people—and I’m all in.
On the other end? Scientific interests. If the conversation turns to chemistry, fertilizer, pool chemicals, or anything that sounds like a lab assignment, my brain starts looking for the exit. The magnet flips, and it pushes me away.
But when I’m in my high-interest zone, there’s a different kind of energy. If you bring me a people problem, I go straight into “Super Coach” mode. If you want to argue about the greatest basketball player of all time, I can stay there for hours. (Spoiler: it’s Michael Jordan.)
That’s the upside of the magnetic pull. The downside is getting stuck there and losing track of everything else.
A Different Kind of Magnet
I have a friend whose high interests are technical and outdoor. If you give him a hands-on project and open the door, he’s gone before you finish the sentence. The challenge isn’t getting him started—it’s getting him back.
But on the opposite side, he scores low in administrative work and social service. So if you ask him to lead a workshop or fill out a stack of forms, his magnet flips and pushes him away. Here’s the important part: he’s good at both. He just doesn’t enjoy them. They drain him instead of energizing him.
Fortunately, most of his work aligns with what pulls him in—and he’s smart enough to surround himself with people who thrive where he doesn’t.
What This Means for You
Your interests don’t dictate your talent—but they do shape your energy, focus, and satisfaction. When you understand your magnets, two things happen:
You manage your energy better.
You can lean into what fuels you and prepare for the tasks that drain you.You make smarter decisions about how you work.
You can pair, stack, or balance your magnets, instead of fighting them.
For example, if someone scores low in administrative work but high in outdoor interests, the solution might be simple: take the laptop outside and do the paperwork there. The positive magnet neutralizes the negative one.
The Real Takeaway
The more aware you are of your “magnetic field,” the more control you have over how you work, lead, and live. You can design your day around energy instead of obligation. You can understand why certain tasks feel effortless and others feel impossible. And you can build teams that complement—rather than duplicate—each other’s magnets.
Whether you're leading a boardroom, running a club, or developing a team, performance improves when people are pulled toward their work instead of pushed through it.
And no, I can’t prove stacking magnets works scientifically. That was my lowest score.
