[ENTP] Strengthening Ti in ENTP

[Johnfloyd6675]

I'm 19 and have manic depression, as do many extraverted intuitives, and spent almost a year cycling continually between dehydrated-from-the-crying depression and rob-a-bank mania. You can imagine how little of value got done in that time; it's thrown off my college education (though I plan to go back in the fall) and disturbed my relationship with my parents. It's my reading that many ENTPs become dependent or overconfident with their Ne and allow it to drag them into some tight spots. The cure, I'm told, is bolstering the auxiliary function in ENTP, Thinking, to sculpt my Ne- which is on permanent hypomanic overdrive, even for an ENTP- into a superior perceptual system undistorted by intuitive skimming over the details and hoping it all works out.

Now, no one's saying my Ti is in some way deficient, but it's obviously no match for my manic Ne, and that is a serious problem. How can I sharpen my Ti, and how should I apply it to my Ne?

 

[INTPness]

I'm 19 and have manic depression, as do many extraverted intuitives, and spent almost a year cycling continually between dehydrated-from-the-crying depression and rob-a-bank mania. You can imagine how little of value got done in that time; it's thrown off my college education (though I plan to go back in the fall) and disturbed my relationship with my parents. It's my reading that many ENTPs become dependent or overconfident with their Ne and allow it to drag them into some tight spots. The cure, I'm told, is bolstering the auxiliary function in ENTP, Thinking, to sculpt my Ne- which is on permanent hypomanic overdrive, even for an ENTP- into a superior perceptual system undistorted by intuitive skimming over the details and hoping it all works out.

Now, no one's saying my Ti is in some way deficient, but it's obviously no match for my manic Ne, and that is a serious problem. How can I sharpen my Ti, and how should I apply it to my Ne?

I would suspect that Ne will always be your "default mode". That will always be a somewhat more comfortable and natural place for you than Ti. For me, as an INTP, it's the opposite. I love using Ne, but it's just not as smooth or as easy for me as Ti. In the right company it's very smooth. But, around a group of mostly sensors, it's not always easy for me to use. I could stay in Ti all day long, but I have times where I need an Ne release. I try to take advantage of those times and put it to use! I find a useful outlet for it - hopefully something that is going to help Ti along - help the plans of Ti move forward if you will.

I have business plans and ideas that I've hashed out over and over again - on paper, in my head, through research, etc, etc. If I stay in Ti, those plans don't move forward - they just stay in my head or on paper. So, when I get a burst of Ne, I try to use it in the same arena. Let's say that I want to go talk to an acquaintance at his place of business in order for him to show me his equipment and the operations of his business so that I can learn more about my own plans. I may not get a big Ne urge for another week. I'll stay in Ti mode for that week. But then one day I'll get this Ne urge. I want to get out of the house and be an extrovert. Instead of going and doing something that is unrelated to my goals, I will use the Ne opportunity and go see this guy at his business. I'll be goofing around, asking questions, being kind of funny and outgoing (yeehaw, look at me, I'm a big charming, extrovert for all of about 45 minutes).

The point is that I try to recognize when my body (or brain) naturally wants to operate in Ti or Ne. I can tell the difference. When it's Ne, I know that it may not last for a long time, so I better go make use of it while I can.

Perhaps the ENTP can learn to do this same thing, but in reverse. When you have a desire to operate in Ti - when it sounds like fun and when you want to do it, make use of that time and go at it with full effort. Dive in! Ne will be back soon enough and you shouldn't get frustrated with that. That's who you are. Let it be what it is. Just allow the Ti bursts to be effective ones and to coincide with what whatever projects that Ne is currently working on.

 

[sculpting]

John, my guess would be that it is as important to build Si as is Ti. So when you learn Ti lessons-through debate and stuff?-I dunno-you can then record them as Si maps for what worked and what did not work and then use them in the future.

My ENTPs who are not so successful late in life? They seem to have lots of Ti-but no realistic base associated with it-like they cant figure out which plans will be a success.

 

[Katsuni]

John, my guess would be that it is as important to build Si as is Ti. So when you learn Ti lessons-through debate and stuff?-I dunno-you can then record them as Si maps for what worked and what did not work and then use them in the future.

My ENTPs who are not so successful late in life? They seem to have lots of Ti-but no realistic base associated with it-like they cant figure out which plans will be a success.

The problem there is seeing too many paths open; we can see a near infinite number of roads, and trying to measure each one takes too long, and by then the moment of action has passed. Most people can only see 1 path at a time, sometimes 2-3 if they're lucky. It's the overabundance of information that leads to the confusion.

 

[sculpting]

The problem there is seeing too many paths open; we can see a near infinite number of roads, and trying to measure each one takes too long, and by then the moment of action has passed. Most people can only see 1 path at a time, sometimes 2-3 if they're lucky. It's the overabundance of information that leads to the confusion.

Ah, yes totally, My Ne does the same thing. Endless possibilities.

May I ask an entp question?

For me as an enfp, I find Si is where I store lessons learned.
FiSi lessons are very hard to learn-typically painful-but once learned are difficult to ignore.

TeSi lessons are actually easy to learn-I just watch others, and are very easy to change or ignore if I choose to.

Does the same sound true for TiSi and FeSi?

 

[VitaB]

I actually posted a very similar question here not too long ago.
Instead of being manic, it's ADD that's my issue. I think the two are connected, I mean, I actually think that ADD might be a huge part of the reason for me being an ENTp.
Either way, I have worked on this a lot since then and one of the things that has been helping me a lot is chess playing while people and outside stimuli are around me. So I have been focusing on the game while trying to completely shut off my Ne whenever it is trying to take over. This has actually been training my Ti really well.
Also, I just started being alone more often, and instead of losing myself I have been just using this alone time for Ti activities. I have been researching specific things I want to know about in great lengths (so reading articles all the way through and not just the titles or summaries and trying not to jump between topics until I'm done), solving detail oriented puzzles (this is a lot of fun), keeping a schedule and a calender, etc. I have literaly been excersising my Ti, forcing the Ne to take a break.
Of course there is a limit to this, and eventually I crave some excitement and company. So I obviously still leave plenty of time for some fun group discussions and the occasional partying.
These new things I have been doing have developed some great ideas not only in my head, but now also in practice. I finally decided on a college major (we shared a similar problem :/), my long over-due library fees are paid, and most amazingly- that huge feeling of "my life is going nowhere, I'm going to die from a crack over-dose at the age of 26" has finally lifted off my shoulders.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[Asterion]

Learn to be more disciplined, concentrate, pay attention to your internal senses (perhaps through meditation). Learning what makes you feel good gives you an advantage in life too. You'll always feel good just after you've achieved something and made a difference. Then all you need is energy, everything requires energy. Contributing your energy to the world is always a great thing.

 

[VitaB]

Learn to be more disciplined, concentrate, pay attention to your internal senses (perhaps through meditation). Learning what makes you feel good gives you an advantage in life too. You'll always feel good just after you've achieved something and made a difference. Then all you need is energy, everything requires energy. Contributing your energy to the world is always a great thing.

I second that. You need energy and focus.
Meditation helps a lot.


Addarol helpped me, too, but I don't know if all entp's need that.