Take the ultimate character test

Whatever your wellness goal, you’ll get there faster if you tap into your natural strengths—those characteristics that make you feel like your best self. Your first step? Zero in on what they are.

The VIA Institute on Character has identified 24 positive traits shared by people everywhere. Take a look at the whole group below and pick out the five that describe you best. Then choose one to lean on while you go after a goal this week. So if love of learning is big for you, you might try a new recipe. Or if kindness is one of your top traits, you could focus on posting at least three encouraging comments on Connect.

• Teamwork

• Perseverance

• Zest (approaching life with excitement)

• Curiosity

• Honesty

• Appreciation of beauty

• Social intelligence (knowing what makes others tick)

• Humour

• Love

• Humility

• Spirituality

• Prudence (being careful about choices)

• Love of learning

• Forgiveness

• Fairness

• Judgment (making rational and logical choices)

• Hope

• Creativity

• Self-regulation

• Bravery

• Perspective (seeing the bigger picture)

• Kindness

• Leadership

• Gratitude

For nearly two decades, the VIA Institute on Character has been helping people change their lives by knowing their own strengths. The 24 character strengths shown above each fall under one of six broad virtue categories—wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Everyone shares all 24 traits, but to different degrees, making each one of us truly unique. In fact, VIA reports that “the number of potential character strengths profiles is exponentially greater than the number of people living on our planet!”