The Realistic Personality and the Dreamy Personality

Can you determine your personality type? Are you a more realistic person or are you a dreamer? Are you a person who tends to focus on the practical side? Or do you want to pursue big dreams, even if you will fail to achieve them?

These questions describe the fundamental differences between what is known as realist and dreamer characters. So in this article, we'll talk about the differences between each of these two personality types using eight examples that everyone should take into account.

Who are the realists and who are the dreamers?

It is important first to define what is meant by both the realistic person and the dreamer. Realists are the people who prefer to live in the present moment and are always focused on what is going on in the present. Also, they do not tend to anticipate events, they prefer to be realistic, and that life surprises them in a positive way from time to time. When thinking about their goals, they tend to set goals for the near future and focus attention on what is actually achievable.

On the other hand, dreamers are people who tend to dream big things. They are the ones who prefer to set themselves great goals, and this is what makes them sometimes disappointed. Also, dreamers are those people who also want to change the world, and the dreamer will want to try even if they know that not all of their goals may be achieved. Therefore, they are people who tend to set big and long-term goals.

8 Differences between realists and dreamers:

There are some differences between realistic and dreamy characters, and they include the following aspects:

1. Their different response to fluctuations:

One of the first differences that appear between the realist and the dreamer is how they respond to changes, and volatility refers to the rapid changes that occur in the way things are arranged. In case this balance fluctuates and is quickly disturbed, then the matter will indicate the existence of a volatile situation, and both the realist and the dreamer will respond to this situation in a different way. 

Realists will worry when they notice a volatile situation because fluctuations make predicting the future difficult. So, realistic people would not like this situation because they are people who like to be aware of what is coming, and the ups and downs make it difficult to predict. So, realistic people would like to restore the previous equilibrium as soon as possible.

On the contrary, it will be the dreamers who see the volatile situation as an opportunity, and if the dreamers have a specific goal that they would like to achieve most likely, they may try to transform the volatile state into a balanced one by creating a new normal that fits their goals. This is what makes us clearly see that both dreamers and realists will react to fluctuations in a different way in the end.

2. They put their goals in a different way:

These two personalities will differ in terms of how they define their goals. For example, the dreamer will be the person who sets great goals for the distant future, and these goals may seem unrealistic to some people.

On the other hand, these goals refer to a future vision. For the dreamer, their inability to achieve these goals in the future does not constitute a problem. They would rather be very ambitious, try and fail now and then than live a life with remorse and regret.

However, the realist is the person who will set short-term goals and gradually move towards them. In addition, the realistic person may have a specific model that they use to define those goals.

For example, most realists like to use templates to achieve their goals, such as the SMART goal method. As these goals are measurable and can be realistically achieved, and are based on a specific time, and with clear foundations, the realists put themselves ready to achieve those goals. And after achieving them, the realist will set new goals for the future. Although these goals may not be as big as the goals of the dreamer, the realists think that they will be able to achieve them.

3. How they differ in terms of innovation?

Both the dreamer and the realist will give focus to the innovation process, but they will deal with it completely differently. For example, the realist will continue to follow the usual regime, avoiding risk when it comes to the innovation process. They believe it is the job of the research and development team, but they will work closely with this team to bring about an incremental evolution of some existing products and services, and then to produce an innovative product that is a natural evolution of what represents an existing state that was already there. 

In return, the dreamer will be the one who tries to innovate in turmoil. For example, they might try to create a completely new product or service that changes the way people interact with the world.

Although accomplishing something in this way may take a long time, the dreamer realizes that if their product is successful, it may have the ability to change the way people live their daily lives. Also, dreamers have a big and comprehensive goal for the future, this is because they are not afraid of upsetting the current situation by following this innovative process.

4. How do they differ in terms of leadership?

It is possible for a person to be a leader, whether they are realists or dreamers, but they tend to lead quite differently from each other. So, in many situations, people see dreamers as impractical leaders because they can have a style of leadership that people have never seen before.

And while people who work in a company may have specific expectations for their managers or supervisors, the dreamer will lead them in a new way because it may provide more independency to the people who work under its leadership, and they may ask for the opinions of their employees and for more corrective feedback from them than other leaders do, and although this style of leadership is impractical, the dreamer invests in his points of strengths, no matter how different they are.

In return, realists will be more practical leaders, and even though they may not act out of the stereotype very often, they will use a leadership style that has already proven successful, even if this leadership style is not the most comfortable option for them. Realists know that this style of leadership has proven effective. So, they will apply it while leading their team members

It is true that these two are very different personalities, but they both have their own effective leadership styles.

5. How do they use their emotions?

There is another distinction between dreamers and realist and it has to do with their emotions, and since we are not robots, each of us has feelings, but the use of these feelings is completely different between for both the dreamer and the realist

A realist is someone who tries to put all their feelings aside, and even though they are constantly aware of their emotions, they do not influence their actions all the time.

And because realists are people who give preference to logic and reason over everything; they think that emotions will negatively affect the decision-making process. So no matter what situation they are in, the realist does his best not to act on those feelings.

Dreamers, in return, embrace these feelings; they think that these feelings are for a reason, and that ignoring them is wrong, so they use these feelings during the decision-making process because they appreciate it, even though they understand that these feelings may not always lead to the correct answer, they think that suppressing them completely is not right.

6. How they do the planning process?

There are also several differences regarding how dreamers and realists act in the planning process; the realist likes to control as much as possible, so before he takes any step he will meticulously plan every part of any upcoming matter.

The realist will not be comfortable proceeding until he has made a full measure of that plan; This is because he fears that if he does not do this he will lose the ability to control what happens, and in addition to that, realists will not delegate this matter to other people unless they are have to do so; Because they will have to give up a certain level of control.

On the other hand, the dreamer feels comfortable when he delegates the planning process to other people. Moreover, the dreamer believes that specifying the fine details of each part of the plan before moving forward is not necessary, and these people feel more comfortable when letting things happen according to circumstances.

Even though committing to the plan may not be - if it seems appropriate - a wrong thing, dreamers show great agility, flexibility and adaptation, it's okay for them to change the plan if the situation demanded it, and this is one of the things that is considered one of the biggest differences between realistic people and dreamers.

7. How they deal with new ideas?

There are also some important differences in how these two personalities deal with ideas, the realist prefers concrete ideas; and that's because he likes to see clear ideas before moving forward.

Realists are people who prefer numbers and things that can be measured objectively. A realist is likely to embrace the idea if it is presented in this way. This is because they want to know what exactly will happen if they decide to implement this new idea?

But on the other hand, a realist is not someone who is able to deal with abstract ideas easily; for despite his ability to think abstractly, it is not something he would prefer if he was presented with an option.

On the other hand, the dreamer is considered a person who thinks abstractly, so the lack of an objective definition of everything is not a problem for him, but although he knows that this means that some elements of the plan are not ready when proceeding, he has no problem moving forward with abstract and mysterious ideas.

So the dreamer believes that everything will succeed by himself if he moves towards his goals easily, and this is because dreamers also think that innovation requires a certain degree of abstract thinking. So this is what makes the embrace abstract ideas from time to time; because they think it can make a big difference in the world.

It is important to understand that the way realists and dreamers espouse ideas is not necessarily good or bad; they are completely different.

8. How do they view the possibility of new experiments?

These two personalities ultimately differ greatly in how they see new experiences; while the dreamer will embrace change, the realist will likely stick to the current situation

It is certainly possible to convince a realist to try something new, but on the other hand, a realist should have some kind of prediction about the way this new idea will appear, and since a realist likes to keep the situation as it is, he is a person who does not like things to be tainted by a state of uncertainty.

But there will certainly be a certain level of mystery if he is trying something new; so the realist would like to feel that he has done everything necessary to reduce this possibility of mystery before moving on, while the dreamer, in turn is looking forward to the new things

The dreamer person knows that if he tries something new, he has a high probability that it will be better than the old method he used to follow, and of course this new experience may be worse than the old one as well, but the dreaming person will often seize this opportunity rather than ignore it, and dreamers may engage in Lively experimenting with new things, trying different ways of doing things.

The two leadership styles can be effective, and although the dreamer and the realist are different, they do a great job of balancing each other out, and when it comes to experimenting with new ideas, a compromise between the realist and the dreamer is possible.

Finally:

These aspects mentioned above will be some of the ways in which personalities differ when balancing realists against dreamers; so, it is important to understand that one character is not necessarily better than another, This is because they are different from each other, and you will understand yourself better when planning for the future if you are aware of your personality type. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone from time to time; there is nothing wrong with both setting goals and having big dreams.