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(S)J, (N)P and looking back on decisions

Tamske

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Brief recap: Judgers tend to decide quickly, Perceivers tend to leave options open. More specifically, if a J is presented with a bunch of possibilities, he will take one (or a few) of them to look at and decide between these few, and wouldn't delve too deep into the possibilities he's lost by deciding.
A P tends to look at all of them (or at least a lot more than the J) and doesn't want to decide because there's so much to lose... until the P realizes that non-decision will lose all.

Our J looks back to the past with confidence. He's made the right decision. Only being proven wrong will unsettle him.
The P doesn't want to look back to the past, because there are all the lost possibilities. Instead he looks to the future... where all the possibilities are still there, none of them destroyed by a decision.

I guess this is even more true for SJs and NPs. The Ns tend to see possibilities, the Ss reality.

What do you think?
 

DoctorYikes

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Meh... Maybe. I tend to decide as necessary, though I don't put things off as a -rule-. I just don't know every variable until, y'know, a few seconds before that decision needs to be made. *hah*

You might be on to something with regard to looking back to the past, but at least for me the motive you're ascribing misses the mark. I avoid looking back, for the most part, because it's more often than not a waste of time. People in general loooove to spend a great deal of time on "Who's fault is that?" or "Why did so-and-so do that?" or "What if we had done this?", etc.

I'm pretty dogmatically tied to the 'Who cares, what do we DO about it now?" theme. In other words, the past is immutable (Barring some shocking development in time travel) and blame is usually irrelevant (Outside of a court of law). With regard to learning something from the experience, it's obvious something didn't work out quite right because we're here addressing something. The time spend navel-gazing about why events played out like they did is time that could be better-spent making amendments.

Obviously, you don't want to just blindly avoid looking at every sequence of events -- BUT, for my part, I think too much focus is spent on who did/why did/what has/etc. "Okay, so what do we DO?"

I'm sure I annoy plenty of people with this. I try and do and say a -lot- of things, I'm a busy and active individual. A fair bit of those things are bad ideas. I don't spend enough time acting remorseful for most people. "Why did you break that? Didn't you SEE it? Can't you be more careful about..." "I guess I'm just an idiot. What can we do about it NOW?"

(I'm not a big Trekkie, but I'm reminded of a favorite New ST quote: "If you think morale would be better served if I roamed the halls weeping, I'll take it under advisement.")
 

tinker683

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Sounds about right to this SJ., At least the "S" and the "J" parts anywho. Once I've been proven wrong I'll regret my choice but otherwise I do what I do and keep moving forward. It's fruitless to me to spend time dwelling on what could have been when what's been done has been done.
 

skylights

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sounds pretty good to me. i hate decisions and i hate losing possibilities.

i do like to look back on the past if it was good, though. and the problem with never making decisions is that if you try never to choose so you don't lose anything, you never really have anything... that's an understanding i struggle with all the time, because my intuition (in the conventional sense) sees a hard decision and says RUN
 

sculpting

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Oddly, I tend to take in data and make decisions-but it is a rapidly interative process. I take in data, formulate an answer, then update again a bit later as more data changes the model.

But if you asked at that middle point-I would say I have made a decision.

On another forum the question of "doubt vs Belief" was poised. I have to say I first believe, but i do so in an incredibly critical, questioning way and am always open to new data to remodel my old thoughts.
 

Noon

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I'm the most indecisive person I know. I especially don't like to make binding decisions. If I had a choice between 1 or 2 or 3, I would want to try all 3, just to be sure.

I don't look back to the past with confidence, but with interest. I wonder what kind of butterfly effect would result if I had done something even slightly different.

And I don't know about Ss not seeing possibilities. ISJs clearly see all possibilities for disaster, SPs clearly see all possibilities for impact. They might be concrete, but they're still not yet in reality.

I don't give much weight to the imaginary J/P axis all on its own. ISFJs are behind-the-scenes along with IFPs and INTPs, adding an extra dimension of process focus to their task focus.
 

Robopop

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I'm the most indecisive person I know. I especially don't like to make binding decisions. If I had a choice between 1 or 2 or 3, I would want to try all 3, just to be sure.

I don't look back to the past with confidence, but with interest. I wonder what kind of butterfly effect would result if I had done something effven slightly different.

And I don't know about Ss not seeing possibilities. ISJs clearly see all possibilities for disaster, SPs clearly see all possibilities for impact. They might be concrete, but they're still not yet in reality.

I don't give much weight to the imaginary J/P axis all on its own. ISFJs are behind-the-scenes along with IFPs and INTPs, adding an extra dimension of process focus to their task focus.

This is a good point, SFJs have a more informative, accommodating interaction style while the STPs have an assertive, directive stlye even though they are perceivers. ESTPs can seem more J-ish than the other perceivers because they are very action-based and like to get stuff done promptly, they might seem very decisive, even appearing like a ENTJ(Se+Ti combo mirroring Te). The IFJs might have some P-ish traits as Fe is "softer", more accommodating than Te and they are introverts who lead with Pi so they might place less emphasis on external efficiency/order compared to the other judgers.
 

xisnotx

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I don't regret decisions any more. Why? I don't make too many decisions in the first place. Also, I have enough confidence in myself to know that any decisions that I do make are well thought out. I know that under the circumstances I made the best possible decision I could. Perhaps that decision led me down an undesirable path but when I look back I know I would make the exact same decision. I'd say I experience regret more often when I've put off a decision for too long. But even then, I know I'd choose to not choose, instead to think about it more, if the exact same situation were to arise again.
 

Eric B

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I don't give much weight to the imaginary J/P axis all on its own. ISFJs are behind-the-scenes along with IFPs and INTPs, adding an extra dimension of process focus to their task focus.

This is a good point, SFJs have a more informative, accommodating interaction style while the STPs have an assertive, directive stlye even though they are perceivers. ESTPs can seem more J-ish than the other perceivers because they are very action-based and like to get stuff done promptly, they might seem very decisive, even appearing like a ENTJ(Se+Ti combo mirroring Te). The IFJs might have some P-ish traits as Fe is "softer", more accommodating than Te and they are introverts who lead with Pi so they might place less emphasis on external efficiency/order compared to the other judgers.

The way to sum it up is by what is known as "responsiveness" (or even "agreeableness"). That is the people/task focus factor that was labeled "directing/informing" for the Interaction Styles. There is a parallel factor for the temperament groups; structure vs motive. Both alternate between J/P and T/F.
NFJ's and STP's are directive, but also motive focused, while SFJ's and NTP's are informing, but structure focused. TJ's are directive + structure, and therefore "the most directive" as one source calls it, and FP's are informing + motive, and therefore the most responsive.

So yes, the J is tempered by an F. And a P will be toughened by a T.
 

Southern Kross

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For the most part, I look back on my decisions with confidence.

The things I regret are usually the possibilities I never considered - things that I could have done to squeeze more out of a particular experience. I tend to try and work out stuff one thing at a time (because my brain can only handle one major worry at a time) which is unfortunate because I'm not making the most of things. This gives me even more pause when reflecting on my present circumstances; I wonder "what am I failing to consider?" and "what else could I be exploring?".
 

skylights

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i would like to hire someone to make my decisions for me.

PM me if you would like to make questionable amounts of money for life-changing decisions. :yes:
 

animenagai

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Hmmm maybe this is just an Ne dom thing then :D

I definitely look at my past decisions with a lot of questions. What people need to understand is I actually like the notion of possibilities. I like the infinite potential of what could be. It energises me and I'm very good at looking at these possibilities. When I play a game of any kind I often end a turn/round with "FUCK! I should've done such and such, I'm so bad!". It's not necessarily because I'm horrid, simply that a lot of people don't see what they could've done and don't see the mistakes they've made.
 

Tamske

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i would like to hire someone to make my decisions for me.
PM me if you would like to make questionable amounts of money for life-changing decisions. :yes:
Is it okay if I use my fifth Judging function called Re? (the External Random Generator, also known as dice)
 
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