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[NT] NTP Insane focus

themarlins

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Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
117
You know those times when you think of the same topic for days, completely focused and trying to block out your surroundings, coming up with all possible solutions from every different possible angle. I'll think of an event from start to finish, why it happened, what the outcome was, how to make it better next time. Or I'll think about how I want to start a new company, how I would advertise it and bring in income, etc. I'll block out everything external and think about the same thing for hours. I need to come to a perfect conclusion without missing any detail.


I'm an extravert but when I get like this I dont want to be around anyone. They just get in the way of what I'm thinking about. I get lost in my head and it doesnt matter if anyone else knows what I'm thinking.

Is this normal with NTP's?
 

Vie

Giggity
Joined
Jun 9, 2010
Messages
792
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
8
I'm very much a J, but I will say that I do get like that a lot. When I find something that needs my attention, I practically obsess about it even while doing other thing...especially events that didn't go the way I planned. Particularly things that didn't go in my favor, I find it really difficult to let go of.

Even when I am going other things (working, hanging out with friends, playing sports) it's constantly on my mind until I find a solution. If there isn't a clear solution, I find one.
No matter how long it takes.
 

lets eat pie

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Jan 10, 2010
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MBTI Type
intp
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5w6
I know I'm in that obsession mode when I start dreaming about it.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
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Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
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BELF
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594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I think INTPs are more prone to get 'internal topic lock.' One topic, burning brightly; and you lock onto it and can't leave it until you figure it out or go as far as you can with it.

ENTPs are more apt to direct that flow outwards and since it's Ne expressed and not Ti expressed, it exposes itself as an intense flitting and bouncing around from one thing to the next.
 

Qre:us

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Nov 21, 2008
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ENTPs are more apt to direct that flow outwards and since it's Ne expressed and not Ti expressed, it exposes itself as an intense flitting and bouncing around from one thing to the next.

This is not true for me at all.

We may lead with Ne, but if it's time for "focus" - i.e., one of the scraps Ne brought in is all of a sudden of mighty interest, then, no....there is no flitting or bouncing around. at all. [this is a common misconception of ENTPs - that, because of Ne, all we do is bounce around, looking for interaction with the "external" - we are very open to perceiving, but when we [FINALLY] make a judgement/a decision....Ne is hella stream-lined]

The flitting and bouncing happens right before the focus - when I'm gauging whether whatever the THING is, is worth my interest [trying to figure out its basic essence]. But....

When something has got my undivided interest and focus, I want to know the "thing" as densely as possible........everything else is tuned out. It reaches levels of "obsession". It's myself and the "thing". I can go for hours on end, with just the idea or project and myself and I quite hate being interrupted by the "outside" during those times.

I actually developed problems with postures because of such stuff - because I wouldn't even remember to move, change my position, etc, and it could be hours and hours, with me just sitting in one spot with my "interest", for days on end.

When I was younger, I would get irrationally angry at such states of interruptions [sometimes destroying stuff because I was so angry at the "distraction"]...but I've learned how to curb my anger now.
 

man

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Sep 16, 2009
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330
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IntP
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=)
I had this when I took adderall.
 

Tallulah

Emerging
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Feb 19, 2008
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6,009
MBTI Type
INTP
I definitely get this way, and when I do, people almost cease to exist for me. I mean, I will still acknowledge them, but they're not getting any sort of undivided attention, which I know can bother some of them. But when I'm in that state, I don't really care.
 

Kaizer

sophiloist
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Aug 20, 2008
Messages
795
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INTp
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Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I attribute this to parenting by Ne, preceded and followed by the effects of Ti.
Also, the draining effect of environmental (Se-esque?) disturbance (a nice side effect/benefit is better developed Se) makes the need for this focus greater, and the need for sustaining it till the end, i.e. the final picture or the almost exhaustive analysis and resulting conclusion, is what helps this endure. also, I think that this might be at least part of the difference between how this is experienced by Es v/s Is, where Is might do it in a manner that's more analogous, metaphorically speaking, to something like a tripping session.
 

themarlins

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Apr 23, 2010
Messages
117
I definitely get this way, and when I do, people almost cease to exist for me. I mean, I will still acknowledge them, but they're not getting any sort of undivided attention, which I know can bother some of them. But when I'm in that state, I don't really care.

Yes, precisely.

Someone could be sitting next to me and I would barely notice them. They would not exist to me or be relevant in any way. 1) They most likely have no clue what I'm thinking about, and 2) even if they did, it wouldn't matter. I must come to my own conclusions.

and I think that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Even if I do decide to acknowledge them when I'm like this, it will be obvious my mind is in a completely different place.

Therefore causing me to seem more spaced out than usual. and I must detach myself from everything around me. Adding to the impersonal label we get. I'll seek solitude in these times. I come across more introverted than I truly am.
 

proximo

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Nov 4, 2009
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584
I gotta agree with Qre:us, pretty much every word of it.

Yeah, I can be insanely focused and when I am, I don't want to deal with people unless they're of use to whatever I'm focused on. In times like this Ne itself is focused on searching for things that support the object of focus. It's like Ti has taken the general's cap and Ne has become a scout that he sends out. It's now super disciplined and goes directly to what it's been asked by Ti to get, then comes directly back for more orders.
 

INTPness

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Jan 22, 2009
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I can totally relate to what everyone is saying. I actually love these times. It's when I feel the most "alive" or like I'm being myself. And not to brag, but it's also when I'm "at my best" - in these moments, I feel like I can accomplish anything, I see things through to completion (because I desperately want to get to the bottom of whatever I'm doing), etc. It's loads of fun when you get on a new kick and just go to town with it. I'll stay up until 2am on a work night working on *whatever the new thing is*, then I'll go to work and try to "hurry through the day" so that I can get home and start working on my personal project again. And while I'm at work, I can't get it off my mind.

This intense Ti is what allows NTP's to become very knowledgeable and/or competent at something in a VERY short period of time. Something that might take a lot of people 6 months to become good/knowledgeable at, we can become good/knowledgeable in, say, 2 or 3 weeks. And if it's something that most people would take 5 years to grasp, we can grasp it in a matter of months.

And it's crazy when you're in that mode and someone is trying to talk to you about something else. They'll say my name like 4 times and finally I'll go, "Wha? Me? Huh? Do I want dinner? No, I'll eat later when I'm done."

And when I'm in this mode the time FLIES by at warp speed. A whole day will go by in a blur because I'm so focused.
 

proximo

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Nov 4, 2009
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Yeah... I've done that quite a lot in my life, just got intensely hooked on a certain concept to the point where I hunger more for understanding/grasping it than for food, literally... I've been 36 hours without eating once cos I got like this. And yeah, it does have the effect that you learn something incredibly quickly that others usually take longer to master...

Though... when you say that, people think you're boasting. In fact, it's nothing really that amazing. If you think that another person might've devoted say, a couple of hours a week to weekly lessons... well, if I'm eating, drinking, sleeping, living and breathing it in the kind of comprehensive way that only teh internetz can enable, for like 2 weeks... that's gonna be the equivalent to a hella lotta lessons for the other folk. And you move faster too, than lessons, cos you go at your pace and understand more deeply, like having one on one tuition.

It might be amazing in one way that you've had the attention span to do that - specially if like me you're usually not well blessed on that front. But taking that as read... I strongly believe that if anyone else of any other type found motivation/enthusiasm and the dedication to do the same thing, they could. It seems they just usually don't want to, which is bizarre to me cos, like you said INTPness... it's when I feel alive, really me.
 

INTPness

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Yeah, like I said, I didn't say that to "brag". It's just part of being NTP. When we're interested in something, we just inhale and devour it until there's nothing else left to devour. We can't wait 6 months to learn it all - we have to learn it all RIGHT NOW. :D
 

citizen cane

ornery ornithologist
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Apr 30, 2010
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i'm pretty sure numerous instances of negative topic lock is what made me start smoking weed more often. i haven't smoked in just under three months, but that's not because i haven't wanted to. i do have these issues to a minor extent, and i also have ADD (well, it's all ADHD now) which makes for some rather frustrating behavior at times. by that i mean frustrating to both myself and other people.
 

Seymour

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Sep 22, 2009
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sx/so
Not NTP, but I do go on programming or other subject-matter jags. I'll spend a week or two (up to a month or so) being entirely focused on some subject or task. Everything else will fall by the wayside (in fact, other distractions just become irritations) and there's a kind of purity that emerges from being entirely focused on one thing. It almost feels like the dross of daily life gets burns away leaving only the essential.

I like those times, but I almost have a hangover at the other end when it's over and I have to rebalance my life again. All those areas I've been neglecting suddenly return with interest due.
 

lets eat pie

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intp
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5w6
We can't wait 6 months to learn it all - we have to learn it all RIGHT NOW. :D

Also because I never know when something else catches my attention and I'll hurl myself in another direction. Who knows how long I will be this interested in this topic? In between these periods I usually find myself hopping around various topics that interest me, but without the same zeal and focus of those super intense periods. I think it's best to indulge when you're feeling enthusiastic about it-- you feel good doing it AND you learn best at this time so why not make the most of it? :yes:

I even find it easier to remember time this way-- like how I was learning about something that led to the next topic that led to the next, rather than recalling what year it was or what social events happened during that time. I leave those details for friends or family to remind me. :D
 

INTPness

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Also because I never know when something else catches my attention and I'll hurl myself in another direction. Who knows how long I will be this interested in this topic? In between these periods I usually find myself hopping around various topics that interest me, but without the same zeal and focus of those super intense periods. I think it's best to indulge when you're feeling enthusiastic about it-- you feel good doing it AND you learn best at this time so why not make the most of it? :yes:

I even find it easier to remember time this way-- like how I was learning about something that led to the next topic that led to the next, rather than recalling what year it was or what social events happened during that time. I leave those details for friends or family to remind me. :D

Yep!
 
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