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Personality type as an excuse for bad habits.

G-Virus

Broud Balestinian
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
672
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ENTP
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2
Sometimes it seems to me that personality type might be used as an excuse by the individual to justify their actions. For example, I personally never worked on a required project till the last minute. I am talking about writing 10 page articles six hours before they are due. When I look back at it, I always say to myself that I wish I could change it, but that is how it is and how it is probably always going to be. I should just ask my P’ness to compromise but it probably won’t.

Whatever type we are, we have no excuse revel in our awful habits.

P = No, it is not ok to procrastinate.
J = You need to be more flexible with people . . . Really

T = There is no excuse for lack of Compassion/empathy (very few)
F = You really need to stand up for what you believe even if it might cause conflict.

N = (No complaints here)
S = (No complaints here)

E = You need to learn to keep that trap shut
I = You need to seek us E’s out and talk sometime.

(Dramatization Intended)

There are many more excuses that can be garnered up and attributed to each function, and it gets even messier if you wish to introvert/extrovert the functions. Do you ever notice people justifying their shortcomings by type, or even going the extra step of being proud of them? What shortcomings do you personally know for certain functions and is it excusable? How can one work on these short comings?

PS: The ones that seem to piss me off the most are being hard hearted, and procrastinating. The only reason for that is some one I know actually used his type to justify his lack of compassion/laziness.
 

am_i_evil666

New member
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Apr 3, 2008
Messages
325
aren't there billions of people who have absolutely no idea what MBTI is and still say "that's the way i am and i'm too lazy to change it"?
and i hardly believe that someone would use type as a real excuse for his bad habits, it's more like a cover.....
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
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That's right. Bad habits shouldn't be excused; it would be better if the word "bad" wasn't even used for habits that are choice of the person and do not harm others. What's bad in procrastinating? What's bad in not wanting to change a plan? Nothing, it's just how it is.
 

INTJMom

Well-known member
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...
There are many more excuses that can be garnered up and attributed to each function, and it gets even messier if you wish to introvert/extrovert the functions. Do you ever notice people justifying their shortcomings by type, or even going the extra step of being proud of them? What shortcomings do you personally know for certain functions and is it excusable? How can one work on these short comings?

PS: The ones that seem to piss me off the most are being hard hearted, and procrastinating. The only reason for that is some one I know actually used his type to justify his lack of compassion/laziness.
I agree with you that we should never use our type as an excuse for irresponsible or bad behavior.
On the other hand, I was always too hard on myself and hated myself for certain traits that turned out to be caused by my type.
In my case, I learned to accept myself the way I was, and stopped being so hard on myself.
I think both of those things need to be kept in balance.
 

G-Virus

Broud Balestinian
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aren't there billions of people who have absolutely no idea what MBTI is and still say "that's the way i am and i'm too lazy to change it"?
and i hardly believe that someone would use type as a real excuse for his bad habits, it's more like a cover.....

Point taken, but since this is an esoteric forum focused on personality types, I directed the question with a focus on that.

FDG said:
That's right. Bad habits shouldn't be excused; it would be better if the word "bad" wasn't even used for habits that are choice of the person and do not harm others. What's bad in procrastinating? What's bad in not wanting to change a plan? Nothing, it's just how it is.

Sure, it doesn’t hurt others, but $100 bucks says most P types would wish they were a little more J like. On the other hand, I think the J’s think we are lazy :D

INTJMom said:
I agree with you that we should never use our type as an excuse for irresponsible or bad behavior.
On the other hand, I was always too hard on myself and hated myself for certain traits that turned out to be caused by my type.
In my case, I learned to accept myself the way I was, and stopped being so hard on myself.
I think both of those things need to be kept in balance.

I know what you mean, I am hard on myself too, but I am pretty sure I have a good reason to do it. As always though, I love the wisdom you bring into these convo’s, then again, you’re an INTJ and don’t care what I think :devil: (j/k)
 

edcoaching

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That's right. Bad habits shouldn't be excused; it would be better if the word "bad" wasn't even used for habits that are choice of the person and do not harm others. What's bad in procrastinating? What's bad in not wanting to change a plan? Nothing, it's just how it is.

Nothing, unless it starts interfering with the needs of others. For many people who prefer Judging, the quality of their work actually starts to slip if there's too much time-induced pressure (I"m one of them). As long as the procrastinator (and it's not all Perceiving types...) understands what my last minute is to receive whatever I need to do my part, it can be last minute...

And not wanting to change a plan? Depends on if it's working. Just had a J math teacher continue his plan for teaching fractions even though only 10% of his students mastered the first benchmark. Not much point in sticking to the plan in other words.

I think we could go through the bad side of each habit quite easily in this manner. It isn't about preferences and habits, but about maturity (and hope it doesn't sound like I'm picking on you...just the habits you mentioned which are pretty popular ones!!)
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
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Nothing, unless it starts interfering with the needs of others. For many people who prefer Judging, the quality of their work actually starts to slip if there's too much time-induced pressure (I"m one of them). As long as the procrastinator (and it's not all Perceiving types...) understands what my last minute is to receive whatever I need to do my part, it can be last minute...

And not wanting to change a plan? Depends on if it's working. Just had a J math teacher continue his plan for teaching fractions even though only 10% of his students mastered the first benchmark. Not much point in sticking to the plan in other words.

I think we could go through the bad side of each habit quite easily in this manner. It isn't about preferences and habits, but about maturity (and hope it doesn't sound like I'm picking on you...just the habits you mentioned which are pretty popular ones!!)

Yeah I agree, that's why I added - as long as it doesn't harm others -

Sure, it doesn’t hurt others, but $100 bucks says most P types would wish they were a little more J like. On the other hand, I think the J’s think we are lazy

Well maybe, but it's not like being lazy has necessarily a negative impact on the world. Doing too many things can result in excessive stress, premature death, polluting the environment more, excessive consumption of resources, materialism. This said, I'm one of those that naturally tends to be not-lazy, but hey - it's just the way people are wired.
 

G-Virus

Broud Balestinian
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and hope it doesn't sound like I'm picking on you...just the habits you mentioned which are pretty popular ones!!

Lol, don't worry I have thick skin . . . is that your Fi on active duty? :D And you had a wonderful response, as did everyone else.

FDG, I envy you. Wanna trade that J'ness for my p'ness?
 

SillySapienne

`~~Philosoflying~~`
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I never excuse my bad habits, rather, I *explain* them. :)

I am all about accountability and when I fuck up, or do something fucked up, more likely than not, I'll fess up, explain why, and apologize for it.
 

FDG

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FDG, I envy you. Wanna trade that J'ness for my p'ness?

Are you really sure that you want to always feel like you have to do something? And not being able to sleep past 8 AM? eheh
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
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Actually, overall it's been a good thing to use it as an excuse for my bad habits. I used to beat myself up over the traits I had that are really just part of who I am. Having this knowledge of type has helped me to relax and forgive myself more, which has been better for my stress levels I think.

I mean, I could skip the type stuff and like am_i_evil said, I could just say it's how I am, but this way I can have camaraderie in my bad habits. :D
 

G-Virus

Broud Balestinian
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Are you really sure that you want to always feel like you have to do something? And not being able to sleep past 8 AM? eheh

Man if I was like that . . . I can already see the achievements and success . . .
 

edcoaching

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Actually, overall it's been a good thing to use it as an excuse for my bad habits. I used to beat myself up over the traits I had that are really just part of who I am. Having this knowledge of type has helped me to relax and forgive myself more, which has been better for my stress levels I think.

I mean, I could skip the type stuff and like am_i_evil said, I could just say it's how I am, but this way I can have camaraderie in my bad habits. :D

That's actually a really good point about type. Then when it counts, like some habit that's actually making life not go the way you want it to go, you can look up what's worked for others of your type and give it a try...

On J-P for example, just about all the time management books were written by J's and are totally useless to a lot of P's other than as new ways to induce stress. P's need things that work for P's
 

edcoaching

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Go on, you just stole my undivided attention.

*smells potential benifit*

Biggest one is planning backward. Most time stuff assumes you want to get things done as soon as possible. Not motivating for the last-minute crowd, even kills their creativity. So...

So (and obviously this is for bigger tasks) you chunk out what has to be done. How long do you think it'll take? Then fit the chunks backward into your calendar. If it's due Monday do you want to do any of it over the weekend? Do you need input from anyone else that you'd better get by Friday? What else is in the way? Opening of the next Bond movie? Family get-together? Leave time for those and fit the stuff in so you can find the real "last minute" when you have to start.

False deadlines with teeth in them...one of my Perceiving colleagues was working on a book with me. We figured out the different chapter themes and how fast I wanted the material (I'm the writer but he provides tons of content...) and then he held breakfast roundtables to discuss each chapter a few days before my deadlines for receiving his stuff.

Write really important stuff into your calendar. Some of my P friends even block out "Play with kids" or it doesn't happen...

Keep stuff out where you can see it so you don't forget about it.

Do switch among projects to keep energy up...
 

Orangey

Blah
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Jun 26, 2008
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Biggest one is planning backward. Most time stuff assumes you want to get things done as soon as possible. Not motivating for the last-minute crowd, even kills their creativity. So...

So (and obviously this is for bigger tasks) you chunk out what has to be done. How long do you think it'll take? Then fit the chunks backward into your calendar. If it's due Monday do you want to do any of it over the weekend? Do you need input from anyone else that you'd better get by Friday? What else is in the way? Opening of the next Bond movie? Family get-together? Leave time for those and fit the stuff in so you can find the real "last minute" when you have to start.

False deadlines with teeth in them...one of my Perceiving colleagues was working on a book with me. We figured out the different chapter themes and how fast I wanted the material (I'm the writer but he provides tons of content...) and then he held breakfast roundtables to discuss each chapter a few days before my deadlines for receiving his stuff.

Write really important stuff into your calendar. Some of my P friends even block out "Play with kids" or it doesn't happen...

Keep stuff out where you can see it so you don't forget about it.

Do switch among projects to keep energy up...

:D This was exhausting just reading it. Good advice, though.
 
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