The Sustainable Personality

A significant portion of our recent research and practice has explored The Sustainable Personality, which we characterize as tangible and relatively stable representations of sustainability at the individual level. A critical feature of this perspective is a universal human ability to intentionally increase (with effort) one's own sustainability across cognitive, emotional, social, and physical contexts.

Below are some excerpts from our 2014 paper on The Sustainable Personality that are essential to the Fast Change approach to intentional self-development.

Pappas, E., Pappas, J., & Sweeney, D. (2014). Walking the Walk: Conceptual Foundations of the Sustainable Personality. Journal of Cleaner Production, 86(1), 323-334.

The authors’ focus in this article is the embodiment of “Individual Sustainability,” which is referred to as the Sustainable Personality and which is defined as follows:

A Sustainable Personality is characterized by attitudes and behaviors that tend to create harmony, interconnections, and relatively high levels of self-awareness in values, thoughts, and actions as well as cultivate continued individual growth in physical, emotional, social, philosophical, and intellectual abilities. A Sustainable Personality also includes a well-developed and demonstrated value system that acknowledges the importance and interconnectedness of all global geo-biological and social systems, and

our appropriate place within them.

Sustainable Personality refers to tangible and relatively stable representations of sustainability at the individual level. Based on systems theory, it is action-oriented, and therefore, manifest in characteristic behaviors (or patterns of behavior) that serve to promote sustainability across multiple contexts. Only after one understands the complex nature of sustainability within one’s self can s/he effectively apply this knowledge on larger scales to positively impact community and global sustainability. In other words, we cannot be expected to truly understand or influence sustainability on a global scale until we understand it within ourselves. For this reason, learning about sustainability should start with learning about one’s self. Developing and maintaining a sustainable personality are dependent upon one’s ability to change intentionally. Such growth may be difficult for some, and successful intentional self-development may be hindered by personal, career, family, and psychological issues, as well as by dysfunctional relationships with other people, time, and technology. Some psychologists, like Maslow (1968) and Rogers (1980), as well as engineers, like Adams (2001) and Petroski (1992), suggested that barriers to growth are related to a variety of personal limitations or insecurities. It is quite clear that little meaningful and lasting societal change will take place until individuals understand and address the nature of sustainability on this deeply personal level.

This four context version of Sustainable Personality is based on the original five context version published in the paper cited above.

Social Sustainability—the ability to demonstrate one’s self as an active and productive member of a variety of communities (family, local, regional, professional, societal, global) in which we all live. A socially sustainable lifestyle emphasizes the understanding of an individual’s role in these collective efforts and includes communicating effectively, participating selflessly, and putting the needs and desires of the community before one’s own when appropriate. An empathetic understanding of social justice and the equitable treatment of others, despite personal, political, economic, or religious considerations, is central to maintaining social sustainability.

For our purposes, Social Sustainability addresses how you relate to others. This includes the follow contexts:

• Citizenship / Teamwork—how you demonstrate your values in the various communities in which you live and work…and how well you work with others.

• Culture—how you contribute positively to the culture to which you ascribe

• Conformity—understanding the pitfalls of conformity and the times in which it is beneficial to communities

• Cooperation—how you work with others to advance collective efforts

• Equity / Fairness—your demonstration of values concerning the status of other human beings

Cognitive Sustainability—the ability to educate one’s self across a wide variety of intellectual and philosophical disciplines and to recognize the influence, interconnectedness, and the power of knowledge, wisdom, and empathy. This includes developing a creative approach to understanding how knowledge is developed, adapted, applied, manipulated, transferred, synthesized, analyzed, and evaluated…as well as reflecting upon the nature of life and existence, and adopting life-affirming values and beliefs is central to sustaining one’s relationship with one’s self and others. One’s flexible approach to cognitive sustainability is a lifelong and progressive endeavor, and for many individuals is the central developmental factor across all Sustainable Personality contexts.

Cognitive Sustainability addresses how one thinks and how one changes. Good thinking is central to the following contexts:

• Creativity / Originality—reflection and thinking independently and outside of accepted norms represent the most important thinking skills

• Honesty / Integrity / Authenticity—effective thinking and other cognitive processes exist well only when subjected to life-affirming values and openness to experience

• Intellectual Openness—being willing to entertain others’ ideas is an important connection between Cognitive and Social Sustainability

• Intellectual Complexity—more than simple intellectual fun, ideas and concepts are most effective when colliding, growing, and continually changing

• Love of Learning—certainly a foundational concept of all cognitive processes and life on the planet, one that, at its best, results in wisdom

Emotional Sustainability—the ability to self-regulate one’s own emotions, that is, to know one’s self very well emotionally and psychologically, which can lead to intentional and regulated emotional responses to events, people, and life situations on a day-to-day basis. This meta-emotional state includes the empathetic consideration of others in personal and professional relationships, tempering one’s ego and unenlightened self-interests, and understanding collective human action. Emotional Intelligence is an oft-used term, thanks to Daniel Goleman (2005), to refer to some of what we describe here as emotional sustainability.

Perhaps the most complex and demanding of the Sustainable Personality identity, Emotional Sustainability demands you change the way you feel, and includes the following emotional and psychological contexts:

• Emotional Stability—a the center of emotional skills, being able to control one’s emotions to some extent provides for a higher standard of individual well-being and close relationships

• Emotional / Social / Personal Intelligence—emotional intelligence cuts across Social Sustainability contexts and demands a good deal of intentionality on the part of the individual

• Locus of Control—this skill…putting you in control of your own fate…is the result of consistent reflection and experimentation

• Self-control / Self-regulation—two names for the same concept, and as with Locus of Control, represents the highest standard of living for the individual

• Self-discipline—for our purposes, a skill at the center of intentional self-development

• Self-esteem—confidence, security, and the willingness to take risks are the result of building self-esteem

Physical Sustainability—the ability to maintain or improve one’s health by means of physical exercise, the measured consumption of nutritious food (while reducing the consumption of foods that compromise health), the control of stress, a balanced relationship between time and technology, and an intentional approach to preventing, as well as remediating, sickness and disease.

Without physical health, a balanced personality is increasingly difficult, for physical discomfort undermines the other Sustainable Personality contexts contributing to well-being.

• Activity Level—adds to physical well-being, and has been demonstrated to increase performance in Social, Cognitive, and Emotional contexts

• Liveliness / Vitality / Enthusiasm—general physical well-being integrates with the other three contexts in Sustainable Personality

• Anxiety—physical balance and general well-being have been shown to quite successfully contribute to undermining stress and other emotional problems

• Diet / Exercise —foundational activities that affect well-being across other contexts

• Attitudes towards Healing—a expansive view of medicine and healing, not confined to Western medicine

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References

Adams, J.L. (2001). Conceptual Blockbusting. New York: Perseus Books.

Goleman, D. (2002). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a Psychology of Being. New York: Van Nostrand Company.

Pappas, E., Pappas, J., & Sweeney, D. (2014). Walking the Walk: Conceptual Foundations of the Sustainable Personality. Journal of Cleaner Production, 86(1), 323-334.

Petroski, H. (1992). To Engineer is Human. New York: Vintage Books.

Rogers, C. (1980). A Way of Being. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.

© 2019 Eric Pappas, Jesse Pappas