The Rebel Tendency (From The Four Tendencies)

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Four Tendencies" by Gretchen Rubin. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.

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What is the Rebel tendency from Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies like? How do they behave, and what’s the Rebel Personality?

Out of the four tendencies, the Rebel tendency makes up the smallest percentage of people. Rebels are known for only doing what they want to do, and for refusing to do something if there is any kind of expectation put on the task—even if it’s their own.

Keep reading about the Rebel tendency from The Four Tendencies.

Overview of the Rebel Tendency

Rebels are the smallest tendency, with the fewest members. Rebels resist all expectations, internal and external—they do what they want to do. Another way to think of this is the Rebel “motto” that Rubin gives: “It’s so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to.”

They value choice, freedom, and self-expression or identity, and enjoy bucking convention and expectation. Sometimes this resistance to expectations gets them in trouble though, and they make a choice that goes against their own self-interest or desires.

Shortform Example

A Rebel might want to be a writer, so she starts writing, no problem. But then her friends tell her they love her work and they’re sure she’ll go places. “Have you got an agent yet?” “When are you going to publish?” Suddenly there are expectations—more than just her wanting to be a writer, people expect her to do certain things or accomplish certain things.

Best case scenario, she’ll keep writing but resist following all the conventional expectations such as getting an agent, or seeking to publish. Worst case scenario for a Rebel, the external validation and expectations will interfere with her ability to write, and suddenly she’ll find herself incapable of doing something she wants to do simply because other people have expectations, and now she does too.

A simpler example: if a Rebel wakes up and feels like doing his laundry, he’ll do it. If a Rebel wakes up and feels like doing his laundry, but then his wife asks him to do the laundry, he probably won’t. If a Rebel tries to keep a to-do list and wakes up that day to “Do the laundry” written on the list, he probably won’t. In the first scenario, it was a whim, an off-the-cuff want. In the last 2 scenarios, there are expectations, either external in the form of his wife asking, or internal in the form of his own to-do list.

Strengths of Rebels

Because they do what they want, Rebels are free from the pressures other tendencies succumb to in terms of expectations. They enjoy challenges if they can choose how to meet them, and do best when there are no expectations.

People with the Rebel tendency revel in defying expectations: tell a Rebel she’ll never do something, and she’ll work hard to do that very thing to defy your expectation; tell a Rebel she’d be great at something and she should do it, she’ll deliberately avoid doing that thing to avoid fulfilling your expectation.

If it’s something they want to do, they work hard. Rebels with a cause can be incredibly useful—they serve as the voice of dissent and an alternative to the status quo. According to Gretchen Rubin, Rebels teach everyone else that we’re “freer than we think”: we can do what we want to, and the world will still turn.

Because of their natural tendency to buck convention and expectations, people with the Rebel tendency can actually be very good at resisting harmful socially accepted habits, like smoking, drinking, and so on. And some Rebels are actually drawn to and thrive in highly regulated careers or environments, such as the military, the police force, the clergy, and so on—either because they’ve realized too much freedom isn’t good for them, or because they like having so many rules to break and conventions to resist.

Careers that allow for individuality and value pushing the envelope can be a good fit for Rebels. For instance, academia is full of Rebels, particularly with tenure. Once they get tenure, Rebels have a secure job but one where they can, for the most part, do things their own way, on their own schedule, and still publish papers or make work that rebels against the existing research and carves a new path.

Some other positive ways to describe Rebels:

Independent
Think outside the box
Buck social conventions, or march to the beat of their own drum
Spontaneous
Authentic, especially in regards to their desires

Weaknesses of Rebels

Rebels are the most frustrating group to other people. People with the Rebel tendency are perhaps the tendency that other people want to change the most—they expect Rebels to “grow out of it,” “grow up,” or mature beyond their Rebel nature. But that’s just what it is—their nature—and it isn’t a phase they’ll grow out of, it’s the tendency they’ll have to learn to live with (and so will everyone else).

This might make it seem like Rebels will live their lives alone because they frustrate everyone with their tendency, but never fear, Rebels: Rebels are just as likely as any other pairing to end up in partnerships and romantic relationships.

The Rebel Tendency (From The Four Tendencies)