SQJ Taipei

There are limitations to personality tests and the like (Keirsey, DISC, Myers-Briggs, etc)… but I do find them helpful in general… And I really like that they make me feel normal… or normally abnormal is probably more likely

I first took the Myers Briggs test back in early 1999 and I was impressed with the accuracy when I read the short summary describing people with my result. A couple weeks ago, I took the test again… mostly just for kicks since what the test measures (personality preferences) likely won’t change much over time.

This time the summary report describing my type, INTP, was longer than after the first test and I was fascinated at reading it… often reading words which I’ve heard many times about me… such as: “Jack of all trades, master of none”.

In the interest of learning about SQJ… here’s a link to whole summary report for INTPs .

Here are some of the highlights:

The first paragraph:
If any type personifies the absent-minded professor, it would likely be the INTP. Their inner reflectiveness – introversion – enables them to explore all the imaginative possibilities their iNtuition preference provides. Their objectivity (Thinking) demands the analysis of all that information, and their open-ended and flexible attitude (Perceiving) prompts them to be responsive to whatever new data present themselves.

The quality I wish people knew and understood about me:
Sometimes, once an INTP thinks a project through, he or she may lose interest in it, for in the mind of the INTP that project has been completed – even if that is the only place it exists. Indeed, when INTPs are conceptualizing – and they usually are – it can be difficult to interrupt their high power of concentration.

The quality I am thankful for:
As an INTP grows and matures, even bedtime may seem a stepping-off place for exploration, because it opens the door to dreams, which provide more opportunities for understanding and growth.

The quality I most wish wasn’t true about me:
When INTPs are absorbed in thinking or questioning, they can often appear hard to reach, at best, or even downright rude, to those of a different type.

The quality that makes life hard for me:
The INTP is caught up in the paradoxical goal of always trying to make a coherent whole out of an endlessly proliferating amount of data. Whether it’s an article, drawing, a plan, scheme, thought or theory, the INTP struggles to fit all its pieces together into a complete picture that keeps expanding with the continual discovery of new pieces.

The quality that makes life easy for me:
It is a live-and-let-live life style for most INTPs.

The good news for my kids:
Very patient and accepting of differences in children, INTP parents want their children to grow up enjoying, expressing, living through independent thought.

The bad news (maybe) for my kids:
But sometimes children welcome a parent’s pushing and imposing new ideas. Those who do are out of luck if they have INTP parents, for “pushing” and “imposing” are two words foreign to INTPs.

What to look forward to:
Senior years for INTPs ought to afford time to theorize and dream with much less accountability.