The Cardinal and Mutable
One of my friends from college is a great example of a Cardinal sign at the extreme and I am a good example of a Mutable sign at the other extreme. He is a Capricorn and I’m a Pisces. I met him on the first day of my calculus class. My first impression of him was “what a jerk.” Throughout the class he was very loud, arrogant, and rude. He made attempts to talk to everyone around him. He continued this during break. After class he bumped into me and asked if I wanted to join him for a game of pool. Now I’m not very good at introducing myself to people, so when someone is trying to be friendly to me, I don’t turn them down. He became one of my best friends.
My friend continued to be loud, arrogant, and rude. I later realized that this is not necessarily a bad thing. It seemed like it actually worked to attract people to him. With girls, he would walk up to them, throw his arm around them, and start talking to them like he knew them all along. It was as if he had no fear of rejection. His confidence was amazing. I, on the other hand, usually did not talk to people unless they talk to me first and I rarely touch even my friends. My Cardinal friend’s method works better for meeting people. People would quickly become his friend and then in turn become my friend.
I am not good at first impressions. Most of my friends said that they didn’t like me at first acquaintance. They thought I didn’t like them because I didn’t talk to them. They didn’t realize that I was just shy. However, once I warm up to people, I talk a lot more, get to know them in depth, and work hard to maintain the friendship. My Cardinal friend lacked in those areas.
My Cardinal friend and I complimented each other very well. He was good at meeting people and first impressions, but was not as good at retention. I was bad at first impressions, but good at retention. Throughout college, my friend would meet the new friends and I would lock them in. That was how I met my first wife.
Our study habits were another difference that I noticed between my friend and myself. I remember cramming for a physics exam with him. Neither of us was ready for the exam. When I studied, I read the book and made sure I understood every formula and how it was derived. I didn’t go over the example problems very much. I was more concerned with the theories. I call this learning by theory. The good thing about learning that way is that you really understand the material. The bad thing about that is that it takes longer. So I was not able to get through all of the material before the test. I ended up not completing the test, but the part that I did do was perfect.
My friend studied by going over all of the sample problems. The logic was that the test would have similar problems. This is what I call learning by example. It is similar to how some people ask you to just show them how to do something and not explain it. The good thing about this method is that you learn what you need to know quickly. The consequence to this is that you do not know the material as thoroughly. This makes you less prepared for variations. When my friend took the test, he completed everything, but got the questions wrong that were slightly different from the sample problems.
We both received the same score on the test. This example illustrates another difference between Cardinal and Mutable signs. Cardinal signs tend to be fast, but sloppy or inaccurate. Mutable signs tend to be slow, but thorough and accurate. Which method is better? That depends on how you look at it. Many commercial businesses put precedence on getting the product to market quickly. Organizations like NASA would probably prefer accuracy.