Adapting to Situations

[VinceBaker]

I noticed something recently about myself, I'm incredibly adaptable. For example, I moved recently and didn't miss a beat. I packed up, moved, and unpacked in one day, hardly changed anything, beside a dramatic change in scenery and set-up.

It happens on a day-to-day basis too. If a friend goes through a dramatic change of any sort (hair cut, change in attitude, plastic surgery) I accept it and move on in minutes.

Is this normal among NTs? I did test INTP once or twice a few months ago, so it might have to do with the P over J. It's just from what I've read, NTs tend to be less adept at this than the other types, but I could be wrong.

[marmandahalf]

I'm incredibly adaptable, too, but my INTP brother sucks at change. *shrug*

[Blank]

I suppose I'm pretty adaptable. I'd go into details, but my I is making me too uncomfortable to discuss it. = \

[jenocyde]

I am extremely adaptable. Within 2 hours of any new event, it feels to me like it's always been that way.

[Rhapsody]

Not an NT, but I wonder if adaptability correlates with weak Si.

Although maybe being T in itself helps because there's less chance of emotional attachment to the previous situation?

[therationaledge]

I moved out of home at 17 to live with a friend, then a different friend, then with an Aunt, then at a shelter, then went to a live-there-vocational school, then with my gf's mom, then got my own apartment and jobs at 18, and none of it phased me. I learned how to fit in anywhere i was, though I was standoffish at first, i soon soaked into the enviroment, and i was never homesick.

[Cimarron]

Not an NT, but I wonder if adaptability correlates with weak Si. Yup, I would think so. (if you like the function theory)

[Sentura]

I am extremely adaptable. Within 2 hours of any new event, it feels to me like it's always been that way.

this.

[93JC]

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/myworldischanging-stephen.jpg?w=600&h=467

[thisGuy]

i move every 4 months...i have no qualms as to whats to come

i have an ESTP bud, possibly ESFP who can't get over his school life and loves reminiscing about it...like all the flippin time

[nocebo]

My family moved around a lot when I was a kid.
So, I feel suffocated if I'm not traveling at least once a year.

I also view dramatic change as a path to finding the truth.
By surrounding yourself with change, you can begin to find the patterns that remain the same no matter what. Patterns that apply despite the environment, the class, the social norms, etc.

I push myself to be adapting constantly because of this.

[Fluffywolf]

Sort off. At least in my own INTP way I can adapt really easy. Like on the fly.

But for some reason there has always been people feeling concerned thinking I have trouble adapting. :D

[Sentura]

Sort off. At least in my own INTP way I can adapt really easy. Like on the fly.

But for some reason there has always been people feeling concerned thinking I have trouble adapting. :D

maybe there's some truth to that then. guess what? i blame Si.

[Fluffywolf]

maybe there's some truth to that then. guess what? i blame Si.

Hehe, my whole reason for the debate the other day about rigidity was to see how you would respond in such a debate towards someone that doesn't seem to understand your opinion. You're impossible to argue with as you don't have the patience to try and explain your point to someone else that doesn't understand what you say but is making an attempt to try and understand you. You don't care about wanting to change other people opinions as much as you would like to think. Or it tires you quickly if other people don't understand you.

Not that I expect you will agree with me. Which is why I made the ruse in the first place. But the very reason INTP's are rigid in their arguements towards you is simply because your style of debate is a very stale one. You make your point and want to be done with it.

Now that's all good and fine, my intention was just to see if that was the reason you view INTPs as you do. And this was the only way for me to test that, because, if I was right, and I believe I was. You wouldn't have submitted to a direct conversation regarding this point. And you will not now.

I didn't intend to say this as my intentions were for me personally. But you're over-rating Si now as a result, and start to be judgemental on about everything I say. So here it is.

By the way, all I'm saying is that we're different, I'm not saying either one is right in our ways and methods, but I hope we can co-exist at least without the unneccesary banter that seems to have arisen.

Have a nice day!

[Sentura]

seems i underestimated you then. excellent work, fluffy. i knew you wouldn't disappoint.

[avolkiteshvara]

I've always thought most TPs would excel in a war-like situation on "front lines". We're just thought of as lazy or flakey in a monotnous humdrum of corporate america.

[Fluffywolf]

seems i underestimated you then. excellent work, fluffy. i knew you wouldn't disappoint.

And as it now seems, that feeling is mutual. :yes:

[Grungemouse]

I used to think I was adaptable; turns out I'm so indifferent to most things I'd sooner just move around it, because I don't want to waste energy huffing and puffing.

For instance, I'm not an easy eater because I like most foods. I simply have a basic standard of what I consider nice food. So, I'm an easy eater because I'm not judgmental over food.

Force me to change an aspect of my life that I actually consider important? No chance.

I guess I'm passively flexible? I'm not sure that counts as adaptable (which to me implies a proactive flexibility).

[medica]

I went to different schools every year between 1987/88 (last year of primary school) and 1992/93 (first year of college). Six different schools in six years. No problem. Yeah, I'm pretty good at adapting to situations.

[Oom]

I've lived in the same house since I was born. I haven't had to change schools. I've lost a few friends, which was devastating. But in the long haul, if it's for the better, I'll abide the change. If it's for the worse, I'll just be a depressed little bastard.:cry:

[ThinkingAboutIt]

Needs parameters as there are too many potential areas to apply this. In most things I am flexible/adaptable, and far more so than those I know or work with. If a situation arises in work (i.e. deadline gets changed/moved up, etc), no problem, will just shift gear. If I chose to move, it would be seen as an opportunity to learn and explore but I'll be moving light and donating a lot to charity. Supposed to meet someone at 6 and they they switch it to 7 or the next day/whatever, no problem. I could become inflexible if someone were taking away something I love or enjoy. Really just depends on what it is, who's asking/telling, and whether I see benefit in it, etc.

[pippi]

I'm not sure how this applies to adaptability but Ni doesn't need an anchor, it is the most fluid of all the functions, there is nothing solid or tangible about it. So I would expect Ni users to naturally adapt or shift their perspective. Obviously others can be flexible to change as well, but they use different functions and their approach is different. Keeping all your possibilities open (something P's do) and instantly accepting change aren't exactly the same thing.

[Aderack]

I noticed something recently about myself, I'm incredibly adaptable. For example, I moved recently and didn't miss a beat.
You think that's something; yesterday I got up and took a walk.

Yeah, I know!

[VinceBaker]

Keeping all your possibilities open (something P's do) and instantly accepting change aren't exactly the same thing.

Hmm... Never thought of it that way. I need to update my vocabulary.

Anyway, the move is over now, I'm stuck home with the family for the summer. Not too fun. I love them and all, but they irritate me all the same.

I guess it'll all be over soon, next summer I get to go to Ireland, then work my way to Italy. After that I guess it's college, then its just downhill from there.

[juggernaut]

I don't mind change, but as I get older it gets trickier to figure out how to fit certain routines into new situations. I know myself extremely well by now so adapting generally means finding what I need to be comfortable in a new environment. Once I do that, I'm golden.

[BlahBlahNounBlah]

I love change. :happy:

[Aderack]

It's useful when I don't want to draw any more out of the bank.

I can't very well take a walk every day, can I?

[Wolf]

I never knew other INTJs were like this. I find that I only stay somewhere for practicality, efficiency, and economic reasons (ex: I don't want to change jobs during a downturn), but I could adapt to very nearly any environment effortlessly. My coworkers were really bothered for their entire 17 days in a very foreign country, but I was fine. I am like liquid water - very adaptable and accepting.

My uncle, a prime example of an INTP, cannot let go of his childhood home that he moved back into after his parents died...well over 5 years ago. This is probably related to book and game collecting, which he also does. I've noticed that they seem to handle change in their physical environment very poorly based on the ones I know and have known...

For contrast, I'm an INTJ, and while I'm somewhat picky (in a gut reaction way) about my environment, I have almost no connection to it. I derive enjoyment from it, adapt to it, and discard it effortlessly. If I move very far, I just sell the stuff I have and buy new stuff, since the physical items themselves have little-to-no personal significance to me...

I talked with my uncle last weekend about international travel and realized that he had incredible trouble with it in comparison. He was envious of my adaptability. Maybe we're the ultimate chameleons; they are good chameleons in their home environment, while we're chameleons in different environments. I'm regularly mistaken for a local in other states and even in different countries...

My guess is that it's an Se/Si thing.

[Aderack]

The following is also the case for other INTPs I have known well.

Everything in my environment is sort of an extension of my neural net. It's like I can't contain all my thoughts within my head, and so I use the world around me as an enormous sub-verbal notepad or buffer. If I put down a can on a desk, it's in some weird and undefinable way a metaphor for some thought -- a sort of physical node. And although it quickly will become invisible to me, absorbed into the forest of my thought -- which through the aforementioned process encompasses all my surroundings -- if that can is moved, some part of me will flip out and short circuit, as if a thought had been erased. Even if I don't specifically know what's changed. I will be rattled until I figure out what's wrong, and why.

It's very very difficult to up and transport this mass of tentacles, once they've grown out. Inevitably many will get torn loose, leaving scars. Once I land somewhere, it then takes a long time for a new set to grow and anchor me and settle me and allow me to think properly again.

[Blank]

I would say that if I find something to be really important to me, I'll want to hang onto it for as long as possible...or at least until Ti beats my sentimentality into a bloody pulp and forces me to discard stuff for economical purposes.

[sunset5678]

Lol...not me. There are lots of things I can adapt to, but if my instincts tell
me a situation isn't working, it nags and nags at my gut until i take matters
into my own hands and do something to change it. Sometimes when I get an
idea that I think will work I actually catch myself doing things without realizing
it like having a few light snacks but only actually eating one full meal in twenty four hours or a little more or I catch myself thinking of what a fictional
character from a book would have done that was good at thinking and followi-
ng things through for some inspiration while I go on realism in the 'outer world'
and I think about challenging things I have been doing for something else to
put that mental energy into then i talk to a friend about something unrelated
or go on a walk and when my head's had a chance to clear, something clicks,
I figure out how to go about doing it.

[cloud]

I noticed something recently about myself, I'm incredibly adaptable. For example, I moved recently and didn't miss a beat. I packed up, moved, and unpacked in one day, hardly changed anything, beside a dramatic change in scenery and set-up.

It happens on a day-to-day basis too. If a friend goes through a dramatic change of any sort (hair cut, change in attitude, plastic surgery) I accept it and move on in minutes.

Is this normal among NTs? I did test INTP once or twice a few months ago, so it might have to do with the P over J. It's just from what I've read, NTs tend to be less adept at this than the other types, but I could be wrong.
Try switching jobs 100 times a year. And then do this for 5 years. A friend of mine did this to understand the world economy. (I will follow his example very soon)

Try to go to a new foreign country with no money and you know nothing about the language and survive there for 2-3 years.
Try to hitchike your way across a contient on a backpack with no money.
These are all good adaptation challenges.