Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Sudenly it all makes sense....

Last week at work my boss had everyone in our department take a Myers-Briggs personality test. What an eye opening experience!! I am an INFJ type - the most rare of all, with only ~1% of the population being this type. Sudenly I understand why I never quite fit in, LOL! Here is a summary of my personality type from www.personalitypage.com:


As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it. Consequently, INFJs put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions. This is something of a conflict between the inner and outer worlds, and may result in the INFJ not being as organized as other Judging types tend to be. Or we may see some signs of disarray in an otherwise orderly tendency, such as a consistently messy desk.

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive.

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress.

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubborness and tendency to ignore other people's opinions. They believe that they're right. On the other hand, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential. INFJs are rarely at complete peace with themselves - there's always something else they should be doing to improve themselves and the world around them. They believe in constant growth, and don't often take time to revel in their accomplishments. They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. In deference to the Feeling aspect of their personalities, INFJs are in some ways gentle and easy going. Conversely, they have very high expectations of themselves, and frequently of their families. They don't believe in compromising their ideals.

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective. They make loving parents and usually have strong bonds with their offspring. They have high expectations of their children, and push them to be the best that they can be. This can sometimes manifest itself in the INFJ being hard-nosed and stubborn. But generally, children of an INFJ get devoted and sincere parental guidance, combined with deep caring.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition. INFJs can also be found in service-oriented professions. They are not good at dealing with minutia or very detailed tasks. The INFJ will either avoid such things, or else go to the other extreme and become enveloped in the details to the extent that they can no longer see the big picture. An INFJ who has gone the route of becoming meticulous about details may be highly critical of other individuals who are not.

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.


And now for a RAK!! Take the quiz to find out what your type is and leave it in the comments section between now and Monday night at 6pm central and I'll randomly select a person to send a little RAK to! I can't wait to see all the different personality types!

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

ESTP, all the way!! And your pug is a doll! Im looking for a black one now to add to my zoo at home!

Allison said...

ISFJ here.
super interesting test.

and i love your pug babies!!

Lee said...

ESTJ totally RULES MAN!! LOL great quiz, I love doing those!
Cheers,
Lee :)

Isabelle said...

I'm a mastermind (INTJ). That was fun to do. Thanks for the link.

Lori said...

ESFP for me!!

That was cool!!xjrotaph

diana albright said...

INTJ for me.
I guess those kinds of things don't change much... said the same thing when I took the test a few years ago.

You've got an awesome blog!

Anonymous said...

Hey Amber, I join you in that exclusive club of INFJ :)

~Tracy

Bekka said...

ISFP - Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving

I haven't taken one of these in a while -- this was fun!

T said...

I'm INFJ too! Interesting...

staceyfike said...

INTJ.....interesting, and i lmfao when it said the intj's don't like to take the lead but wait in the background for the leader to fail so they can take over.....

Chasity Grace said...

I am ESFJ. Totally perfect for my career path. And i agree that i wear my heart on my sleeve and i have a mothering drive. we were just talking about that!!!

ms mumbles said...

I'm an EFSJ..interesting stuff..tks for sharing !! :)

Debra said...

INFJ too really interesting
thanks for sharing

Marlies said...

I am an ENFP! I was tested 'officially' a few years ago and this confirms it. I love MBTI. It al suddenly makes sense. ;-)

Sarah Rice said...

ENFP here! Its very accurate

Kate said...

INTJ for me!
Thanks - Kate

Brianna said...

I'm ESTP, it made me think! Not sure if it totally described me, but some parts were right on!

Kate said...

INFJ here, cool test.
This is what it said You are:
slightly expressed introvert

moderately expressed intuitive personality

distinctively expressed feeling personality

slightly expressed judging personality

Lilian Schneider said...

Well, it seems I'm a ISFJ girl!
Thanks for this link!

Anonymous said...

ISFJ...like Allison and Lilian!!

I really wanted to answer it as truthfully as I could. I wanted to get an honest answer. And I like how it described me. It was accurate, although I don't think I recognize some of that in me unless I really think about it.

Thanks for linking this up! This was great. (kitleen on SIS)

melissa o. said...

infj here! wow, this was great thanks!

Michele {The Scrap Shoppe} said...

Looks like I'm the first ISTJ to sign up!

Thanks for the test, Amber!!

Angela said...

INFJ - :)

Angela

Amanda said...

Chas and I are the same....lololololololololo!

ESFJ

Thanks...that was fun!

MaryS. said...

INFJ... who knew??

Thanks for the interesting test... :)

Karen said...

ESJF for me! this was interesting. thanks for the link! here's mine: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes3.asp

Karen said...

oops that was ESFJ...it's early, what can I say..........

TheresaK said...

IFSJ.
SUPER interesting...!!
thanks for the quiz!

Personality Types said...

Haha I loved reading this post. It just made me remember that feeling of insight when it first clicks. I am an INTJ but very close to INFJ. When I first found it out, I was blown away and wrote my own Personality Types page.

Later I had almost a bigger epiphany when I found out my Enneagram type.

It's interesting how many of the people who write about this stuff are INFJ's.