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How do you develop Ni?

edcoaching

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You'd probably enjoy the discussions on these things that go on at type conferences in the bar at night...

There's a lot of dissent about how the extraverted and introverted forms of the preferences work. I'm in the camp that doesn't think you can divide Ne from Ni quite so neatly. In fact the difference may be more in how we process than in the what.

My Ni for example only functions well when I can think, reflect (yeah, well, my dominant function happens in the internal world...). Brainstorming sessions--I have to ignore what's going on and get my own thoughts going. Just about all of my colleagues prefer ENFP and I have to tell them, "Keep going--I'm thinking and I'll be with you in a minute." They're used to it. I do modeling based on internal vision and external stimuli, so I don't buy into the clear-cut distinctions. I can use my N alone in my office envisioning the best way to design a training workshop. I can use it in a classroom when things aren't going right (if I'm the observer, not the instructor, or if there's a pause so I can get my thoughts together) to come up with a totally new technique in the moment to fix things.

My ENFP colleagues are just the opposite. They want to talk things through to get their Intuition going. One, if she's stuck and can't meet with a colleague, heads to the Mall of America where all the action feeds her Intuition. Our orientation to the external world defines how we use the functions in a huge way, not just the nuanced differences between the E and I forms of the functions...
 

The_Liquid_Laser

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Our orientation to the external world defines how we use the functions in a huge way, not just the nuanced differences between the E and I forms of the functions...

That's basically how I see it. Ne and Ni are both intuition. In a sense they both have the same raw source. The differences between Ne and Ni come from our E/I preferences.
 

redacted

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Yup. Which is why I think of it as a spectrum of introversion to extroversion within a function as opposed to two separate but overlapping functions.
 

htb

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When interpreting events I find that those with Ni, whether sensors or intuitors, pursue an explanation until they have reason to believe otherwise. Those with Ne will either remain unaware of a likely explanation or consider the possibility to be only one of many.

Ne: It could be this, or this, or this, or even this!

Ni: No, it's this and only this.
 

edcoaching

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When interpreting events I find that those with Ni, whether sensors or intuitors, pursue an explanation until they have reason to believe otherwise. Those with Ne will either remain unaware of a likely explanation or consider the possibility to be only one of many.

Ne: It could be this, or this, or this, or even this!

Ni: No, it's this and only this.

What you might be experiencing is the fact that we Ni's don't speak up until we've pursued what we're thinking of to some sort of conclusion, so you don't hear how many other could be's we pondered before choosing one. I can spin in my socks forever if there's no pressure to choose...
 

Haight

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What you might be experiencing is the fact that we Ni's don't speak up until we've pursued what we're thinking of to some sort of conclusion, so you don't hear how many other could be's we pondered before choosing one. I can spin in my socks forever if there's no pressure to choose...
Ding! Ding! Ding!

That's what I say to myself every time I hear the Ni folks are absolutists argument. My thoughts are, "I don't say it until I know that I know, or when I'm very comfortable with the margin for error." Saying something that is wrong has been a fear of mine for as long as I can remember. Therefore, I think, think, think, think, and then maybe I'll say something . . . maybe.
 

Uytuun

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I can spin in my socks forever if there's no pressure to choose...

Yes. But I will choose and not look back much when I have to. Extroverted judging process.

I always feel that for me the outside world (and by that I mean the drudgery of SJ society, harsh reality, not the poetic experience of a trip through the Sahara desert or going out dancing at night - Ni requires a subjetive approach, but is not by default cloistered) is fairly irrelevant. And malleable. Making choices that pertain to it are based around a pragmatic approach that attempts to keep the external world from making it harder on me to get immersed in what Ni spins out. This outside SJ world filled with practical concerns is only a secondary plane of existence.
 

htb

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What you might be experiencing is the fact that we Ni's don't speak up until we've pursued what we're thinking of to some sort of conclusion, so you don't hear how many other could be's we pondered before choosing one. I can spin in my socks forever if there's no pressure to choose...
Interesting. That's not at all my experience. Most of the calculation, I wager, is done in the subconscious, and explanations not drawn from experience or deduction pop into my head. From that point, unless I must know a thing for certain, the likely answer is assigned and I move on.
 

TenebrousReflection

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Those questions could be either Ne or Ni. Intuition in either form will ask lots of questions to get at the underlying ideas and principles. The main difference is between breadth and depth. Ne will ask questions about lots of things (and possibly start linking them together). Ni will tend to focus on one thing at a time, but ask lots of questions about that one thing.

This description sounds more like Ne to me, but it mostly has to do with the first sentence. You took a football and concrete and linked them together. :) Ne has this way of trying to make sense of everything at once, so it can take seemingly unrelated things and link them together. The rest of the paragraph sounds more like Ne, but it could be Ni too. The first sentence is what really jumped out at me.

Thanks,

This would seem to point to Ne having preference since in that context, I think its what I use automatically, but I do think I use Ni in the way you described as well, but its much more conscious when I'm doing it and I think I tend to use it less and reserve its use for the things that have greater importance to me (Ne is always on, and Ni gets used more when I want to explore an idea or possibility in much greater depth (nearly instant vs spending minutes to hours reflectign on something specific)).
 

chris1207

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Intuition in either form will ask lots of questions to get at the underlying ideas and principles. The main difference is between breadth and depth. Ne will ask questions about lots of things (and possibly start linking them together). Ni will tend to focus on one thing at a time, but ask lots of questions about that one thing.

I've been looking for an adequate explanation of Ni forever and feeling a little disappointed because I got stuck with it. I thought, "Man, it sure would be great to have Ne and be more open-minded and consider all of the possibilities! That would be the life!" :) Now I realize that Ni has it's merits as well.

This reminds me of a story. I have a friend from college that's an ENFP and we were hanging out one time and he was talking about how much he enjoyed having a space heater. This was in response to a comment I made about how cold his house was. Then I asked him how much does he keep the thing on and he said it was on all the time. Afterward, I introduced the possibility that the electricity used to power the space heater was quite possibly costing him more in the long run than actual heating and asked if he had ever looked into it. He didn't even want to consider the possibility.

That's not to say that Ne can't be deep, it just doesn't want to consider implications. Like Se it prefers to dwell in the present. Interesting stuff really.
 

King sns

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Well, I just read this thread, (after trying to look up how to develop Ni).
Ni seemed like a pretty exciting world a minute ago. Think of all the endless possibilities of things to talk about and think about if I had developed it. Think of the dreams I may have at night. It actually sounds like something that might happen if you take some hardcore drugs.

I know I have it. It fires at odd times.

But now after reading this the thought is giving me a headache.
Asking why and what if about everything! Wowee.

I guess I'll just have to wait till i'm fourty and it naturally develops.
 
S

Sniffles

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Yeah I knew there had to have been a thread like this somewhere, I was too lazy to look for it.
 

King sns

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Yippee skipee!
Any other suggestions?
 

King sns

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Drink shitloads of coffee in the morning?


Eh, already do.

That simply makes me a super hyper ESFP in the morning.
Dancing around the house and driving too fast and such.
:(
 

Virtual ghost

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Seriously why would some one want to develop Ni ?


Especially since people don't know what it is.
 

nightning

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I find it freaky you happened to start a new thread with the EXACT same title...

Anyways, if you really wanted to, Ni can be thought of a self-induced psychosis. Best thing is you're in the driver's seat and not the drug... and it also cost you not a single penny. :D

I don't think it's about how much energy you put in... or even how quickly your thoughts jump from idea to idea, but the way your thoughts jump. Ni by itself grabs onto things without considering whether something "makes sense" or not.

I like to do this when I'm alone. Play with sounds of words.

First thing that came to mind was purple (perhaps because of your :( face). So purple... what's related to purple? Murple... A funny little cloud-like pet alien thing came to mind. Fuzzle-wuzzy (nursery rhymes). Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall. And so on.

It's the freedom for the mind to play with ideas unrestrained that gives Ni it's flexibility. After you get used to this... you can go in and pick up the gems among the pile of rubbish.
 
S

Sniffles

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I find it freaky you happened to start a new thread with the EXACT same title...
I'll tell you, it's one of those Mysteries of the Unknown! :D

[youtube="SNk6CCTWu8M"]Mysteries of the Unknown[/youtube]
 

King sns

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Seriously why would some one want to develop Ni ?


Especially since people don't know what it is.


Well, I personally think that life would be more interesting with it in my life. Being Se Fi Te, i'm a little bit stuck in the moment. Its like being imprisonated when you think about it. Imagine taking a shower, for instance.

I have my own idea about what Ni could do for me.
Mostly more curiosity, and also more foresight, and the ability to understand things better in hindsight. Basically just more balance in my personality. Its one thing that actually could make me a more rounded and interesting person in general. Also, life could be even more interesting.

(woops, forgot to explain the shower thing and it didn't make sense.)

Well, ill be taking a shower, and the conditioner says must leave in for 2 minutes. And i've already done everything else. So the entire 2 minutes is like boring hell. Since you can't talk on the phone in the shower, you can't study in the shower. Youcan't go for a jog in the shower. The most entertaining thing you can do is sing. And i'm terrible at that. So I stare at the tiles, and notice the dirt. Often times taking the scrub brush and cleaning them. And I wish the 2 minutes was over already.

If I had Ni I would have moved past the shower and onto my own world of thoughts about water and heat and steam and such.
 

King sns

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I find it freaky you happened to start a new thread with the EXACT same title...

Anyways, if you really wanted to, Ni can be thought of a self-induced psychosis. Best thing is you're in the driver's seat and not the drug... and it also cost you not a single penny. :D

I don't think it's about how much energy you put in... or even how quickly your thoughts jump from idea to idea, but the way your thoughts jump. Ni by itself grabs onto things without considering whether something "makes sense" or not.

I like to do this when I'm alone. Play with sounds of words.

First thing that came to mind was purple (perhaps because of your :( face). So purple... what's related to purple? Murple... A funny little cloud-like pet alien thing came to mind. Fuzzle-wuzzy (nursery rhymes). Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall. And so on.

It's the freedom for the mind to play with ideas unrestrained that gives Ni it's flexibility. After you get used to this... you can go in and pick up the gems among the pile of rubbish.

That could be fun.

I find it freaky that you did it in a thread about Ni.
And that I resurrected this one at the same time.
Because Ni is supposed to be the "psychic" function
 
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