The Character Code: Developing Character to Enhance Your Life

by Taylor Hartman

Develop your character -- and powerfully improve the quality of your lifeIn The Color Code, Taylor Hartman defined the characteristics of the four basic personality types and assigned a color to each. In this exciting sequel, he builds on his groundbreaking research, showing you how to use your color profile as a guide to cultivating a full and balanced character.The essence of character is the ability to enhance not only our own lives, but the lives of others as well. Here, Dr. Hartman gives you the tools you need to unlock your true potential, including engaging case histories, clearly articulated principles, and step-by-step exercises your innate -- and developed -- strengthsIdentifying your core motivationsCommunicating more effectivelyFocusing your commitmentsDiscovering the importance of character "stretching"Presented with refreshing style and candid professionalism, this revolutionary guide provides tremendous counsel for identifying and embracing an enhanced life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help

178 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tara Lofley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This opened up a can at my house. I took the color code test 10 years ago and was white. 5 years ago I was red. Now I'm yellow. What the? It's like all the sudden everything makes sense.... I fantasize about pulling pranks on people in my spare time. But, I have every red characteristic still, so even if I want to put a bumper sticker on your car that says, "watch out for the idiot behind me", I probably won't.

And Kent? He thought he was white. But he's probably blue. So, now I need to take back everything I ever said about blues being a tinee touch insane cause now he thinks I think he is. :) (I'm more than ok with him being blue. He could be any color and I'd still see gold.)

So, right now it's like the ladder fell down and all the colors have ran together and we're scraping them off ourselves. I think I'll revisit this topic in a few weeks when I'm not taking it too seriously.

I loved the final chapters, especially about service. Just what I needed.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less about personal enlightenment, and more about personal improvement. Thus, more useful than the first book, but not as entertaining.

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 1 out of 5]

HUGE disappointment. Author believes there is such a thing as a "homosexual lifestyle." Ugh...no.

Stick with The Color Code and let that be it.

[Autumn (Triquetra Reviews) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not impressed with much of the anecdotes that the author uses. Seems very patriarchal, and does more harm than good.

I'm especially unimpressed with the story on page 90. Susan has a 15-year-old daughter. The daughter is acting out. Susan "is out of control. She has no personal power and her daughter knows it. In fact, she counts on it. Right now every teenager in America wants Susan to be their mother. Who could pass up such a deal? Free room and board, and no one able to tell them what to do. Susan would be a hot ticket on the "pick-a-parent" parade!"

I find it extremely disturbing that having "free room and board" is something that isn't expected to provide for a 15-year-old child. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a parent's job - to provide for their children? Usually, children act out because of some underlying reason, not because they inherently hate their parents. I think there's more to the story, and demonizing a child is disturbing.

Between this story and the anecdote of the author being at a church event with different booths that kids can spend monopoly money on, and deciding to sell marijuana brownies - AND THEN RECRUIT KIDS TO BE "BROWNIE DEALERS" I am just disturbed and disgusted. These weren't helpful, they were creepy and had no place in this book.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taylor Hartman takes the Color Code to the next level with Color Your Future. He writes about how to become charactered by gaining strength in the other colors from your predominant color and by serving others.
There were lots of great ideas in the book.
- People who value themselves engage in activities they value. People who do what they enjoy value themselves.
- Be accountable in choosing activities that you value and discover the power that comes from loving the life you live and living the life you love.
- Seize the moments life offers. Don't focus too intensely on the future or be too regretful of the past. Valuing ourselves comes only in the present tense.
-Wring the joy out of every moment because tomorrow will be too late. We deceive ourselves into believing that there will always be another time. It is simply not so.
-The less time and energy we spend on those we love, the less capable we are of loving them.
-To live simply and wisely we must know our values and make those values central to our lives. Goals are good but we must not be prisoners of them either.
-Our greatest regrets will be the risks we never took. It is far better to take a risk and be disappointed than to wonder forever what might have been.

[Dionne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on the different personalities.

[David Yarde · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid follow

After reading The People's Code I was left with tons of questions for intentional introspection and this definitely did that and more.

[Brianna Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Character Code

Good principles. I especially appreciated the step by step approach to building character. There were some things I hadn’t thought about that were very helpful.

[K]

Max thinks he went to BYU with Dr Taylor Hartman

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful framework to describe tendencies in people. Each personality tendency has its + and -. Beneficial to have a blend it draw on the positive aspects in certain situations.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Color Your Future by Taylor Hartman is a psychology/self-help book that tells you the different ways in which you can develop your character and define characteristics in your life. It is a follow-up book to Taylor Hartman’s The Color Code which categorizes different personality types into four different colors; Red, Yellow, Blue and White. Hartman then goes on to explain how your color profile can be used to build your character to its full potential. In Color Your Future Hartman gives tools to unlock the true potential of whatever personality you might have.

In Color Your Future Taylor Hartman starts by re-introducing his color code and describes each of the four color profiles before helping you decipher which profile you would belong under. After this he explains the six most important steps in character development and in using his color code to define parts of your personality for the better. In the beginning Hartman gives ways in which we can value the characteristics we already have. Then, we are told how to change and shape our personalities based on our given color profile and what we can do to grow. Lastly, Hartman explains the things we can do once we make these changes and develop our personality more.

Personally, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book, I liked the idea that the author had, to try and help the readers develop a better and more balanced character, however, I didn’t like the way that it was written. I expected the book to be a more factual, studied based book when in reality it is more personal tips that Taylor Hartman gives to help you and how to start you on your path of development. I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a self-help book on how to grow in this area, I think it would be very helpful to them. Though, I would not recommend this book to someone looking for a psychology based book on how the brain develops these traits, like I was.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plan on reading again - tons of great value

[Theo Coffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing how to plan your future is very important if wanting to be successful. The book "Color You Future" by Taylor Hartman is an excellent book to read if wanting to know how to plan your future. Along the read of this book I learned a few things I never would have thought of. Taylor Hartman explains how certain parts of your future (when looking at it from a literal point of view) can be color coded and explained in such a way where you can tell where you're going by your personality. Your personal traits and personality plays a big role in where you're going. Also, the way the book is written can be a little hard to comprehend at times but is easy to understand what the author is explaining. I recommend this book to anyone who is into reading books that help them understand themselves better. This book will help you come in contact with parts of your brain that you have never seen. I would put this book under the self-help category because it has many traits along the line of helping yourself succeed. But overall 4/5

[Amanda Akins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in this set. The first (which I am looking for) enables a person, so I understand, to gain insight into your personality. This is done, by this author, using colors. They use four main colors, red, white, yellow and blue and after answering a set of questions, place you into one main color catergory and also allows you to see what other colors you are influenced by.
In Color Your Future, Taylor Hartman shows us how to enhance your character. How to be the best you that you can be and how also to recognize individuality in others and how to draw from their character what you would like to see in yourself.
I look forward to finishing this book.

['becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read everything leading up to the test (a lot of it was rather repetitive). The test asks for you, a spouse, two friends, and a work colleague to evaluate your characteristics. I could have managed me and the two friends, but I think my husband had enough of the color code in the first book, and would see this as me trying to find more to feel guilty about (or beat myself up over). And I don't have any work colleagues besides him. :) It would be interesting to go through the process and know where I stand, but at this point it's not worth what it would take to get me there.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read after the COLOR CODE. Same authors.

The point is that you now recognize your weaknesses and strengths, learn to strengthen your strengths, diminish your weaknesses, and find mentors for the qualities you wish to obtain.

He gives many examples to make his points which I found helpful. This author has many truths in how to become a truly charactered person and I find it very supportive in my own personal life progress.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started this one, but found myself skimming through this color coded personality type book from beginning to end. Some of the anecdotes were interesting, but some were just standard fare and pretty boring. It is written in a simple fashion and is easy to understand--the writing came across as arrogant at times though. Just another way to label the many different facets of people's personalities into neat little boxes that I didn't particularly care for. Not all that interesting to me.

[Christi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one as much as his first book. I enjoyed taking the Character test and seeing how certain strengths go with my colors, and weaknesses as well. But once I understood that I should attempt to become "Charactered" by gaining strengths that typically go with other colors, I felt that the book was simply redundant. I may also have just been tired of learning about this as I read it immediately after doing the first book.

[Nicko · Rating 3 out of 5]

If one were to try to take The Color Code very seriously, I suppose there could be some disappointment. However, if you read it with interest...with the intent to add to your knowledge base (rather than to develop your knowledge base), I think you'll find the book to be fun, insightful, & helpful. I had fun reading it & assessing my personality.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it wasn't as much of an epiphany on paper as The Color Code, it was still pretty good. This guy really knows his stuff and he wants to use his experience to help people improve themselves. It contains excellent advice on how to live a charactered life.

[Grace Kellerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Color your future was great and very inspiring.

[Kelly Terracio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Tells a lot about the person you are and gives ideas to become the person you want to be.

[Patengl england · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very interesting to see how this applied in my life.

[Dixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy his books and use his ideas to make my interaction with others less bossy.

[Crystal Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hardly worth your time

[gina al ilmi]

cool way to see and shape our own future..

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

everyone needs to read this

[Wyvonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT READ

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part 2 to the Color Code book; moving past self awareness and on to developing a "charactered" life

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a Blue, decent book but I an not really into thinking people belong to one box.