• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[ENFP] When do you do your best work?

sophiedoph

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
94
MBTI Type
INFJ
Sometime in college I developed a very bad habit of waiting until the night before whatever is due to begin working on it. Since then this habit has persisted. Basically I think I doubt my ability to complete said task, and avoid it like the plague until I am forced to work on it. Since this is usually at night, I begin working on it when I am very tired and no longer have the energy/strength of will to think about how very awful it will turn out/how hard it will be/how I will never be able to do it right. And I finally do it, and usually it turns out pretty well!

I wish so much I could change this and just work on stuff when I need to, but I can't get over the mental block that I will perform poorly and it will never be done to my satisfaction.

Thus I do my best work usually in the middle of the night, before it is due.

Just curious... anyone else have this?
 

disregard

mrs
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
7,826
MBTI Type
INFP
When my mind and body are relaxed, I write best. It's not a certain time of day, but after I take my walk.
 

Jack Flak

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
9,098
MBTI Type
type
Sometimes I get interesting and creative if I've been up for about 22 hours. Don't count on it.
 

Kyrielle

New member
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
1,294
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
If I know that it seriously won't take more than an hour to do, I'll wait to do it before I go to bed. Otherwise, for most artworks (and projects, if you just change it from drawing to writing or what-have-you) it goes like this (assuming I have 10 days to do it):

Day 1-2: Do lots of little drawings involving all the random stuff I can think of related to the topic. Time: As soon as I get the topic or in the morning, since ideas seem to come best to me in the morning.

Day 5-6: Flesh out 2 or 3 of the better ideas in 1/4-1/2 size drawings. Time: After 8PM for 1-2 hours.

Day 7: Pick the best of the bunch and make a final drawing (much like a blue print). Time: Afternoon, 2-3 hours.

Day 9-10: (or sooner/later depending on the materials and drying time) Finish the product, and cross my fingers and hope I didn't get too much tunnel vision towards the end. Time: Usually starting in the late afternoon, working until 1) I get really antsy and tired and absolutely sick of working on it, 2) it's finished.


But a lot of the time getting started on the final part is a process of fighting with myself to do it, because I just hate the "getting started" part of most things. I always make sure I have LOTS of play time while working...except when I get in a groove and am enjoying myself while working, in which case it's no longer work really.

Hmm, and with a lot of stupid little bits of work I don't care at all about, I'll usually wait until the night before and until I begin to realise, "If I don't do this now, I'll not get much sleep, if any."
 

cloakofsnow

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2007
Messages
152
MBTI Type
INFx
Sometime in college I developed a very bad habit of waiting until the night before whatever is due to begin working on it. Since then this habit has persisted. Basically I think I doubt my ability to complete said task, and avoid it like the plague until I am forced to work on it. Since this is usually at night, I begin working on it when I am very tired and no longer have the energy/strength of will to think about how very awful it will turn out/how hard it will be/how I will never be able to do it right. And I finally do it, and usually it turns out pretty well!

I can relate to this a lot. I use to do that all the time back in my university days. But lately I'm surprised that, even though I now no longer have to do homework because I'm no longer in school, I still find myself working best at night. I think it's because I'm generally in the best mood when I'm at night. The worse for me are mornings when I'd feel depressed and completely directionless and everything about my life seems pointless and boring. But the later it gets in the day, the more interested in things I start to feel, and the more I am able to think and be creative. As the hours go by, I even start to have fun ---- and then, of course, it's time to go to bed again so that I can prepare to get up in time to for another pointless morning. :doh:
 

sophiedoph

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
94
MBTI Type
INFJ
I think I work best at night because there are fewer distractions. My mind is more creative than analytical (I'm right brained I think?) and for me to get into the "left brained" mode I need to concentrate purely at the task at hand, with few or no interruptions.

Hard to get during the day. I hate the mornings when I've stayed up all night working, too. I feel sick and nauseous with a fever all day. :(

Happily, this happens very rarely. :)
 

Angry Ayrab

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
600
MBTI Type
ENFP
Where are all the ENFP's at? This is the main ENFP tactic... All throughout 4 years of Biochemistry undergrad I never once did anything earlier than 6-12 hours before it was due. I ended up with a 3.8 GPA. I work really well under pressure but personally I know that if I could ever get the power to work on things early on and not procrastinate that I would be like all those 4.33 GPA kids and the go getters. Will I ever do that, well I have to come to my senses enough to accept that I won't so I just kinda go with the flow. Even for my MCAT, I had all summer to study, but no.... I had to wait till the last week to do all the practice exams... I did well but I know I could have done much much better if I studied.
 

animenagai

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
1,569
MBTI Type
NeFi
Enneagram
4w3
i hate doing things in the last minute. unnecessary pressure.

but i do anyways
 

Apollanaut

Senior Mugwump
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
550
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I do my best work in the late morning (the hour or two before lunch) and in the evenings. For this reason I tend to start work later than most of my colleagues and to finish later. As an Introvert, it also benefits me to have a quiet hour to work when most people have already left.
 

INA

now! in shell form
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
3,195
MBTI Type
intp
I have churned out my best when pulling an all-nighter to write something to meet a deadline (not to study in preparation for the next day . . . zzzz). Something about coffee and the late night/early morning calm -- it gets me to a high and clear state of mind, and the energy is amazing.
 

Tropics

New member
Joined
Aug 26, 2008
Messages
75
MBTI Type
INFP
I always do assignments for school or projects for work at the last minute. I'm too busy doing the stuff I really enjoy to give one thought to that crap until a few hours before deadline. Yeah I'm usually up doing it late at night.
 

Royal Xavier

New member
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
67
MBTI Type
INXP
That happens to me all the time...I get stuck or distracted and end up doing my work at the last minute...but for some reason it usually doesn't affect the quality of my work.
Even as I'm typing right now, I'm supposed to be doing schoolwork, lol.
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
5,903
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
7w8
I work best early in the morning, and early in the evening. I'd say between 7 and 11 eleven AM, and between 17 and 21 PM.
I can't do anything late at night, except dancing at the disco. I don't particularly enjoy working last minute: I definitely prefer going to bed. I like to have regular sleeping habits, otherwise I become cranky.
So I divide tasks in small pieces and do them day-by-day in a continuos stream: this strategy gives me a lot of completely free time (I say "completely" because given that I have already done the work that was due, I do not have the nagging feeling in the back of my mind), and as a plus leaves me quite relaxed.
The results so far have also been good in terms of GPA, working and athletic "accomplishment", even though being accomplished is far from being my primary aim.

Something I absolutely hate is doing an assignment in the way the professor wants me to do it in order to get a good grade. My ISFJ girlfriend is able to work less than me on them (ceteris paribus as far as results go) because she is able to compromise and write what the professor likes. I prefer to gather all the possible informations available in order to support my thesis/case/conclusion, even if this means that I will need more days to complete the project.
 

DigitalMethod

Content. Content?
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
970
MBTI Type
INTJ
Sometime in college I developed a very bad habit of waiting until the night before whatever is due to begin working on it. Since then this habit has persisted. Basically I think I doubt my ability to complete said task, and avoid it like the plague until I am forced to work on it. Since this is usually at night, I begin working on it when I am very tired and no longer have the energy/strength of will to think about how very awful it will turn out/how hard it will be/how I will never be able to do it right. And I finally do it, and usually it turns out pretty well!

I wish so much I could change this and just work on stuff when I need to, but I can't get over the mental block that I will perform poorly and it will never be done to my satisfaction.

Thus I do my best work usually in the middle of the night, before it is due.

Just curious... anyone else have this?

I'm the same way. Like exactly the same. Except I'm a night person so I usually have at least a little energy cropped up from nowhere to be able to do it.

I prefer the night, no distractions.

College papers? Night before or night before that.
Finals? I don't really study, if I do, night before.

God I'm going to lose my INTJ card.
 

Little Linguist

Striving for balance
Joined
Jun 23, 2008
Messages
6,880
MBTI Type
xNFP
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Haven't read the thread, so I am just going to post.

While I was in college, I generally totally forgot an assignment until about 3-7 days before it was due. DOH! :doh: Then, I said, "Awww, I'll do it tomorrow." over and over again until there was one day left. Then I said, "Oh, shit! I need to read 12 books and write a ten page paper today!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Okay, so I cancelled class and sat down and skimmed, then pseudo-read all twelve books plus a few extra articles and a few extra tidbits, then I needed about an hour for my intro. After the hour for the intro it was like BOOOM!!!! I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote non-stop for about 3-4 hours. Then I took two hours for reviewing, proofreading, and one hour for works cited, and VOILÀ!!!! A magestic work of at least 2 (B) material and generally 1- (A-) material in a grand total of 8-12 hours.

Hell, am I good, or am I good?! :p

Of course, this was no proof of my grand knowledge or insight. But it was proof that I instinctively knew exactly what was important, exactly what the professor wanted to hear (that's the key folks, not what you know - what you know the PROFESSOR wants to HEAR), and exactly what farts you should fart when. Yup and it worked almost every time. Muahahahahahhahha!!!! *rubs hands together and cackles with glee*

Trust me folks, education is a JOKE. K? So laugh a little, fart a little, and just be a dumbass.

It's the best way
to get an A.

That's all folks! Ta-Da! :cool:
 
Top