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[ISTJ] Ask an ISTJ.

T

The Iron Giant

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My father is ISFJ and he tells me that his mind is the opposite of mine: his mind is hyper-focused, and he get's focused on one subject and he can't come off it no matter what he seems to do. Is this the case with you?

I can be very focused that way. Just kind of toss myself into something and drown in it. I try to be aware of when I'm overdoing it.
 
T

The Iron Giant

Guest
Are you ISTJs really high achievers like a lot of INTJs are?

While I'm sure anyone can be a high achiever, I think ISTJs are more commonly viewed as very hard workers. I would think Te doms would be the higher achievers, ExTJs, over either INTJs or ISTJs. Extraversion makes a big difference, I think.
 

The Great One

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I can be very focused that way. Just kind of toss myself into something and drown in it. I try to be aware of when I'm overdoing it.

But can you easily get off of the subjects? My father said that he just can't.
 
T

The Iron Giant

Guest
But can you easily get off of the subjects? My father said that he just can't.

If it's something I'm very interested in, it can take a great deal of effort. I don't believe in "can't." I'll get stuck but when I realize it I will stop.
 

The Great One

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If it's something I'm very interested in, it can take a great deal of effort. I don't believe in "can't." I'll get stuck but when I realize it I will stop.

But how do you stop it, and get off of the subject? My father can't do this for the life of him.
 

Mitsuko Souma

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sp
[MENTION=15167]Stephen[/MENTION]

You mentioned that your Ne has led you down some dark corridors at times. I think that may relate to me where I have tried different ways of finding a "me" I am happy with in the past as one knows. I don't know if you have resolved your Ne issue but if you have; do you have any advice in how to do so?
 
T

The Iron Giant

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[MENTION=15167]Stephen[/MENTION]

You mentioned that your Ne has led you down some dark corridors at times. I think that may relate to me where I have tried different ways of finding a "me" I am happy with in the past as one knows. I don't know if you have resolved your Ne issue but if you have; do you have any advice in how to do so?

I don't think Ne can ever be a strong point for an Si-dom. The best advice I can give for any irrational type is to apply some hardcore critical thinking skills to the perceptions they receive from their inferior function. It's simply not going to feed reliable data, so we need to have a skeptical eye and lots of post-processing.
 
T

The Iron Giant

Guest
But how do you stop it, and get off of the subject? My father can't do this for the life of him.

I can't give any advice short of saying that he has to want to stop. If he's saying he can't, I don't believe him.
 

Mitsuko Souma

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I don't think Ne can ever be a strong point for an Si-dom. The best advice I can give for any irrational type is to apply some hardcore critical thinking skills to the perceptions they receive from their inferior function. It's simply not going to feed reliable data, so we need to have a skeptical eye and lots of post-processing.
Sorry but I am confused a bit. If its yourself you're talking about then Ne would be your inferior function and would be advice for yourself. For me Ne would be my secondary function and so if I would apply it to me; I would get apply the critical thinking to my inferior which is Fe?
 
T

The Iron Giant

Guest
Sorry but I am confused a bit. If its yourself you're talking about then Ne would be your inferior function and would be advice for yourself. For me Ne would be my secondary function and so if I would apply it to me; I would get apply the critical thinking to my inferior which is Fe?

I specified irrationals to make it clearer that this doesn't apply to you as an INTP, since we're talking about Si-doms. Your inferior function, as you pointed out, would be a judging function, as you're a rational type.

If I were giving you advice on how to handle your inferior function, I would say that you need to try to keep in mind that your consideration of your impact on others is going to probably be pretty darn weak. In other words, it's going to be hard for you to consider what your actions will do to others. My experience with IxTPs has been that this issue manifests in terms of scale: they seem to act without considering the feelings of others, and then in the aftermath, they have a hard time predicting how people feel about them.
 
T

The Iron Giant

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Well, what could I do to help him?

I think it's great that you want to help, but I think this is something he has to do the legwork on, whether that's by studying personality theory and understanding what his limitations are and adapting to them... or by going into therapy and becoming more aware of his drives in other ways.
 

Mitsuko Souma

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I specified irrationals to make it clearer that this doesn't apply to you as an INTP, since we're talking about Si-doms. Your inferior function, as you pointed out, would be a judging function, as you're a rational type.

If I were giving you advice on how to handle your inferior function, I would say that you need to try to keep in mind that your consideration of your impact on others is going to probably be pretty darn weak. In other words, it's going to be hard for you to consider what your actions will do to others. My experience with IxTPs has been that this issue manifests in terms of scale: they seem to act without considering the feelings of others, and then in the aftermath, they have a hard time predicting how people feel about them.
A perfect description of me but want I really want is advice how to handle my secondary Ne. I am aware that I have to work on my inferior as well since I tend to get on odd ends with most of the people I know in life that are feelers. As you pointed out though; you don't believe that an Si dom's strong point isn't Ne so does that mean you don't have much to say about how I can utilize my Ne effectively?
 

The Great One

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I think it's great that you want to help, but I think this is something he has to do the legwork on, whether that's by studying personality theory and understanding what his limitations are and adapting to them... or by going into therapy and becoming more aware of his drives in other ways.

Yeah, I guess you are right.
 

RaptorWizard

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Do any of you ISTJs ever go into abstract topics normally associated with Ns such as philosophy and metaphysics?
 
T

The Iron Giant

Guest
Do any of you ISTJs ever go into abstract topics normally associated with Ns such as philosophy and metaphysics?

I studied philosophy in school, and enjoyed it a great deal. I don't have any knowledge of metaphysics, but I'm sure there are plenty of sensing types, including ISTJs, in the field. Te in particular is excellent for anything that requires exhaustive knowledge of objective fact.

I think I know where this question comes from. The N=abstract theory idea does not bear out in my experience. Perhaps intuitives and sensing types have different approaches to such topics... a great thread I saw not long ago on another forum discussed this difference in approach among members on that site (it specifically pointed out the OP's observation that the site's sensors look more deeply into the cognitive functions used in JCF theory, while the intuitives seem to take a more broad approach and enjoy the dichotomies in MBTI). I liked this idea because it suited the origins of those theories very well, too: Jung being an ISTP, and Isabel Briggs-Myers being INFP, Keirsey an... INTP I think?
 

Such Irony

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What do you think of poetry?
 
T

The Iron Giant

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What do you think of poetry?

I enjoy poetry a lot. I have a book of poetry I wrote throughout my teen years, nearly all of it is horrendous. I've recently started writing a little again, and it's improved. I'm a big fan of e e cummings. When I was a mod at PersonalityCafe, I wrote limericks for my permabans.
 

Lady_X

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Do any of you ISTJs ever go into abstract topics normally associated with Ns such as philosophy and metaphysics?

When I met my ex husband he was in philosophy and metaphysics classes. He actually majored in philosophy.

edit: oh...should add that he is an istj
 

Patches

Klingon Warrior Princess
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Aug 4, 2010
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What do you think of poetry?

I'm pretty different from Stephen in that regard. I typically hate poetry. Especially back in the day when I had English courses which required us to analyze classic poetry, and find the 'hidden meanings' and such. I rarely read poetry and I never write it.
 
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