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[NT] NTs, how do you deal with Reality...

rivercrow

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Let's face it. Our Sensing function usually doesn't get any development until our 30s, at the earliest.

How do you deal with the real world of names, dates, and stubbed toes?
 

Natrushka

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Reality. Really?

I read it here yesterday and it was as though a light went off over my head. I have what I always thought was a very un-NT ability to out fact & figure & statistic my ISTJ husband.

Stubbed toes I deal with by screaming. Loudly. Often. I take it bumping yourself, stubbing your toe and dropping things are not uncommon? </clumsy>
 

Varelse

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Names...I try to talk to the person in a fashion where using their name is unnecessary. Dates...I don't know.

Stubbed toes generally involve me insulting myself/swearing under my breath until it stops hurting.
 

The Ü™

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I'm 22 and I've never dated. I have the NT tendency to worry about incompetence. I try to understand the nature of sociability intellectually, but it still doesn't make sense to me.

How I deal with reality: I try to resist it -- engage in activities such as video games, movies, reading (not necessarily books but online articles and things), and of course, lurking message boards.

As for pain, I think it may be the N who is more sensitive to it, since it's a sensory stimulus that Ns are less comfortable dealing with. I've observed S types, and they seem more tolerant of pain probably due to their more developed sensory adaptability.
 

The Ü™

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Oh, you mean those kinds of dates. I'm not too bad at memorizing them.

Furthermore, I'm not terrible at memorizing names -- especially if it's something avant garde.
 

Varelse

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As for pain, I think it may be the N who is more sensitive to it, since it's a sensory stimulus that Ns are less comfortable dealing with. I've observed S types, and they seem more tolerant of pain probably due to their more developed sensory adaptability.
I'm not usually too sensitive to pain. Sometimes don't notice the three-inch-long cut until it starts dripping blood...and then it still doesn't really hurt.
 

ptgatsby

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Names...I try to talk to the person in a fashion where using their name is unnecessary. Dates...I don't know.

Stubbed toes generally involve me insulting myself/swearing under my breath until it stops hurting.

The names thing is so me. I couldn't remember a name if my life depended on it. It got so bad that I stopped using names entirely - I don't think I've called anyone by their name in years. My GF's new name is "dear". Seriously. In three years of dating, I've probably said her name a dozen times. Pretty much when I'm introducing her. But I avoid doing that because I can never remember who I'm introducing her too. :huh:

Physically, not so clumsy. I have fairly high agility, judging from my youth. My GF, however, is a walking disaster (INTJ).

(Also, this thread should be about Ns in general, not NTs :D Unless you want to know how NTs deal with it compared to NFs... or maybe because Fs are more personal, they are better with names... but I'm a strong N and not as strong T... so I dunno... )
 

Totenkindly

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I'm not usually too sensitive to pain. Sometimes don't notice the three-inch-long cut until it starts dripping blood...and then it still doesn't really hurt.

That happens to me a lot. I will discover long scratches or cuts on myself and not remember where or when I got them... and even scrapes usually are just not that noticeable because I'm thinking more than sensing.

However, chronic pains seem worse to me as I get older (body aches, long extensive periods of pain and soreness, dentist drilling, and whatnot).

My Se son is the opposite: He is extremely sensitive to pain (especially acute pain) and hates it and will take whatever steps he can to avoid it *unless* he's having a lot of fun. That distracts him.

I do not use names very often, even with my kids (I call them "kiddo" or "dear" or "bud" -- although out of all the people I know, I use their names the most). Name use feels so... invasive to me. I feel a little awkward even when people use MY name.
 

The Ü™

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Yeah, I do get those scrapes that I didn't know ever existed.

Certain pains, though, I am much more bothered than others, such as sunburn.

Of course, pain like that also causes stress, and INTJs under stress will likely activate their inferior Se function which dwells on details -- making the pain more obvious.

But I don't know, I guess I just never get the impression that sunburn bothers others as much as me. Other people don't seem to complain about it like I do.

Anyone else here sensitive to loud noises, such as a vacuum cleaner? I always hated the vacuum cleaner. It might be because of my Asperger's Syndrome, but the way Keirsey describes the NT temperament, which almost wholly describes me, there seems to be a strong correlation between the temperament and autistic disorders.
 

raincrow007

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Let's face it. Our Sensing function usually doesn't get any development until our 30s, at the earliest.

How do you deal with the real world of names, dates, and stubbed toes?

I think you're asking about dealing with concrete things in general, and not just names, dates, etc. All that sensorish stuff, right?

Honestly, it's just a matter of two things for me: importance and deadlines. For example, if I'm not up to having my ass chewed by my ENTJ mother about the state of my house, then I'll clean it before she shows up. If I feel like I don't give a rats' ass about her bitching, and am feeling more surly and independent, then I'll leave the place in its perpetual state of mild disarray.

Another example: I can't remember my best friend's birthday [I've guessed wrong for over a decade, simply because of numerical crosswiring in my brain -- three other people I know have birthdays around the same time, so meh, there's no hope]. My best friend [INFJ] completely understands that this is a particular flaw of mine, therefore the pressure is off of me to get the correct date [which lowers importance in my mind]. However, she IS my best friend, so I compromise: I have the entire month of November to randomly ambush her with birthday wishes. It's a method that works for us.

More on dates and suchlike: I'm never late with bills, etc. because early on I saw the complete idiocy of such behavior -- in other words, it's a deadline AND it's important to me that those bastards don't get another goddamn dime outta me. If I'm touring/gigging/etc. and have to remember flight times/venues/performance times, I usually wait until the last minute beforehand and have entrusted the details to an SJ who reminds me of the specifics so that there's very little time for the information to fall out of my head before the deadline passes.

The names thing isn't my forte either, but I usually have no trouble remembering a person's face, which cues up previous conversational details [which are easier for me to remember]. I'll then ask questions using the info in my mental "database" to carry me through the name bit: "Hey -- how's your laborador?", "Did you enjoy that trip to Europe?", "Is your daughter finished with college?", etc. Most people don't even realize that I've got no clue what their name is after a few exchanges like that [and it's always easy to get the information from someone else if it becomes important to do so]. Honestly, I think [like Jen mentions] that using a person's name is somehow too forward anyway. ;)

Physicalities: again a matter of importance and/or deadline. If I don't have anywhere to go, and feel like being in pjs for three days straight, then by god, that's what I'll do. If there's a dinner party I've got to go to, well then I'll drag my sorry ass to the shower so that I don't smell like a barnyard.

blahblahblahblah. Enough of this -- coffee has become more important than writing more of this post...

*wanders off*
 

Nighthawk

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It was hammered into me very painfully at a 4-year military school. I have an almost fear-like reaction when I forget to do something that is required. Very effective brainwashing that gave me a moderately strong artificial J ... which kicks in when I need it (and even when I don't).
 

htb

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I never forget faces; and don't have too much trouble with names. Numbers are easy -- I have all my personal numeric sequences memorized to the point where I can recite my debit card number backwards.

My scheduling nature carries me along in meeting obligations. Calendars tend to go relatively unused, but dates remain in the back of my mind.

My coordination is average, which, I suppose, means that my sense of rhythm places me above the average player of Dance Dance Revolution.

My fine arts undergraduate degree was a powerful experience -- and series of lessons -- in the weight and substance of things. Though neither carpentry nor sculpture became less difficult for me, I left school with a far greater perception of and appreciation for physical textures and details (both palpable and aural); and also with the patience necessary to complete a creative project, which has been applied to most of my long-term projects since. I dislike procrastination, and have an increasing distrust of velleity.
 

curmudgeon

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I am terrible with names, and I get frustrated when books and movies introduce too many characters at once. I remember faces vividly, though.

I am moderately bad with dates unless a date has special meaning for me, and even then ... Sometimes I cannot remember the year I got married and my partner's year of birth.

I have an easier time remembering things like this if I internalize patterns, such as the sounds of the words or the sight of letters flying by in my head.

As for pain, I have an extremely high pain tolerance.
 

reason

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Let's face it. Our Sensing function usually doesn't get any development until our 30s, at the earliest.
Perhaps I really am an SJ.

My "sensing function" was practically the only thing I did develop until about 18.
 

substitute

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I have to focus very hard, and have lots of motivation. If it's 'on the way' to some abstract high, I can push through. One of the most stressful things for me to do, way beyond any of the traumas of my life, has been serving at the altar in church - so much attention to detail, physical cues, all the cues are sensory, have to keep your mind on the job, in the here and now the whole time. I feel absolutely exhausted afterwards and tend to want to just go home and stare into space for an hour or more.

The other thing that stresses me out like nothing else is doing handy stuff (DIY in England), putting up shelves, things involving drills and hammers and that kind of thing. It's like each second is a constant effort of will to keep myself here, in the present, to focus my eyes on the objects in front of me and willing my hands to 'feel'. Very exhausting.

The only thing that keeps me going through these tasks is if I think about the alternative being to have to admit that there's something I can't do! Finding something difficult or tiring I can handle - not being able to do it at all, nope, can't do that one.

I think that stuff is SP stuff, not SJ. My Si is my inferior, and I have developed it somewhat and used it as a path through to Feeling. It annoys and niggles at me sometimes by sorta 'telling' me to find some sort of anchor, not to wander off too far, creating a sense of unease at the speed at which my Ne takes me off to different places and experiences, like a whip pulling me backwards when all I want is to march onwards and upwards and keep the roll going. But on the whole I'm sorta at peace with it. But my Se is virtually paralysed.
 

Zergling

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I wouldn't expect names, dates, times, etc. to be the big differents between "N's" and "S's", since they just involve remembering single details (though apparently that expectation is wrong for a lot of people.) The problems I seem to have come with figuring out things with lots of directions that I haven't seen the pattern for yet, (Which is a problem with remembering a lot of unrelated details at the same time), and noticing a lot of details around me.


I've really noticed the first one when learning new skills in school, labs, computer games, etc. When doing different lab techniques in various labs, I often don't know at first why many of the steps are done, which can cause things to take long, and/or cause a lot of goofs, because of steps being left out, out of order, or slightly wrong, it usually takes 3 or so times to really get whatever I'm learning working right (It helps if I know why certain things are done, which adds an extra way of remembering them). I also noticed with driving that it seemed to take me longer than most people to be able to watch my speed, mirrors, control the car, see signs, etc. (The first few trips at driving school were kind of funny, they involved a lot of "did you see that sign?' "I guess not." (or something to that effect.)

Once something is learned as a habit, it gets much easier.
 

bluebell

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Let's face it. Our Sensing function usually doesn't get any development until our 30s, at the earliest.

How do you deal with the real world of names, dates, and stubbed toes?

I live with another INTP and we're both in our mid 30s. I'm really good at automatically remembering details, like names, dates and other info - it's no effort, it just happens as long as I'm paying a little bit of attention. However, the other INTP in my house can't remember those details at all.

DIY at home, I get bored so quickly. My skill at doing something tends to drop off quite rapidly because I get so bored. The only exception is if I happen to have done it enough that I can go on automatic pilot and let my hands do their thing while I process some new idea in my head. On the other hand, the other INTP in my house is reasonably happy doing practical things, specially if it involves being able to take something apart to see how it works inside.

I have 2 data points of what NT's are really like - there's a lot of similarities but there's also a lot of differences. So I sometimes can be a bit sceptical about broad generalisations across types.
 

Xander

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Deal? How do I deal with reality? I use the two way street option.

I may forget names (tend not to) get used to it. (though I've learned to cover up this one with great skill now :) )
I always forget dates, get used to it. If I remember then feel special.
I don't crash into things. I rarely if ever do. Something to do with spatial awareness and being quite focused. I do however ignore things.

Perhaps the question should be why do NTs see this as a problem?
 
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