Okay, folks. I recently discovered

PersonalityJunkie.com

and it is my newest favorite supplier of MBTI ammo. Of all the typology sites I’ve read, this is by far the most robust in terms of the Functionality of each of the preferences. And to me, the Functionality is the most helpful part.

That’s got me thinking even more than usual about personality type, both in myself and in the people around me. I finally concluded that my boss is an INFJ, not an INFP, as I had previously suspected. Now I know exactly why my boss has the particular personality quirks that he does.

But for me, the primary Introverted Thinker, I’ve been doing a lot of introspection. Gosh, isn’t that surprise.

(When people talk about repeating the same mistake over and over again, I think our personality function stack has something to do with it.)

Anyway, as an INTP, I deal primarily with the world through Introverted Thinking, but I interact with the outside world mostly through Extraverted Intuition.

I love my Ne, it’s true. I love making known the hidden connections between things, and exploring seemingly random ideas and possibilities. It’s a lot of fun.

But lately I’ve started to see how Ne takes over my life, and I’m getting frustrated with it.

  • Ti plans out a productive day, and my Ne says “Nah I’m not gonna do that”
  • Ti has thought of all the possibilities and contingencies and plans, and Ne’s like JUST DO IT (and then does it)
  • Ti wants to do things RIGHT while Ne wants to do all the things right now no waiting let’s go
  • Ne convinces Ti to stop doing too much work, because Ne can wing it and pull it off perfectly 98% of the time
  • Ne LOVES browsing the internet–especially Twitter–and Ti is also secretly convinced that without this habit it will have nothing to chew on
  • Ti spends the time articulating a really fine point, and Ne communicates it with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop

(Yes I animate my personality function stack. I find it helpful because my internal mechanisms are Thinking and Sensing, which are dry and make it difficult to have fun. All my fun functions are extraverted.)

Maybe that’s why I like writing more, because it gives my Ti a fighting chance against the sheer force of will that comes with Ne. Although, that’s how I’ve kept this blog up, by Ne going LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU to Ti’s insistence that all posts be perfect.

Even this blog post has been subject to that effect. What I had in mind is not what has come out on the page.

The thing is, I feel like Ne does it wants while Ti protests, and Si and Fe stand around and watch. Which does not a productive and functional personality make.

The answer is probably to strengthen my other cognitive capacities, and work to create room for them to grow and to build confidence in their abilities. But how?

I also feel like it would behoove me to turn my Ne in on myself, for some Ni personal perception.

I don’t know how to do that, though. How do you influence a personality characteristic that is barely even described, let alone studied?

Questions first, answers later.

Because if my Ti has learned anything, it’s that if you can’t articulate the question, you’re going to get a garbage answer.

Even from Ne.