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[ENTP] ENTP Development?

Synarch

Once Was
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
8,445
MBTI Type
ENTP
As an ENTP, I enjoy the strengths of my type while trying to eliminate the weaknesses. Any ENTP's have pointers on personal development? How have you tried to improve yourself? What challenges have you tried to face? Also, do you have any specific goals when it comes to growth and improvement?
 

Nocapszy

no clinkz 'til brooklyn
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Messages
4,517
MBTI Type
ENTP
As an ENTP, I enjoy the strengths of my type while trying to eliminate the weaknesses.
As an ENTP, I try to enhance the strengths of my type, and don't mind the weaknesses, as their consequences can be compensated for by my overwhelming strength.
Any ENTP's have pointers on personal development?
Be more arrogant. Enough of this pandering. A man's ENTP wouldn't pussy out and try to accommodate the world.

But you better damned well make sure you deserve to be more arrogant.

I'm saying you need to work your dick off at actually being good, so no one can say "nuh uh" when you blast your gun at the front of the bar making boasts.

Take a lesson from an David Blaine. Get good, then try to get famous.

How have you tried to improve yourself?
Every minute of every day. Just not the same way like everyone else says to.
 

Angry Ayrab

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Mar 31, 2008
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Actually, the main thing for an ENTP would be to work on reigning in that crazy ADD like interest in everything. This doesn't mean to stop doing everything under the sun that interests you, but to actually work on improving your focus when you need it most. The problem with us ENxP types is that we hate having to do something because we have to. Learning how to get our life organized in terms of working on a schedule helps us get things done.

For example, in undergrad, I basically waited for the night before the test to study for it or the night before an essay was due to do it. I graduated with a 3.8 and that was impressive, but I know that I could have done much, much better in everything if I had actually focused on doing things in advance by working with a schedule. Finally when I got into med school, I was surrounded with J types everywhere, you can't get through med school if you don't study in advance, it is just not possible, so I really had to get my crap together. After failing bad in my first block, I learned that if I don't want to be part of that super small elite group of med school drop outs, I would need to develop organizational skills. My first move, was to write a daily schedule on my arm (all of my arm in the moring), the funny thing is people would say, "yo double A, shouldn't you be in lab practicing for your practical right now, its already 12:30 and your arm says finish lunch at 12 and go to lab."

I now use a Phone/pda for my schedule, but getting things like this down helps you take that Super ENTP awsomeness to the next level. You will still be you, just with much more achievements under your belt. As much as I can't stand my SJ family, being like them in some aspects help. I know my story was wierd, but just wanted to give you a specific example, good luck.
 

substitute

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4,601
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I don't know really whether I have achieved anything in this regard... I often get comments from others that suggest I have, but I'm wary of putting too much store in them because vanity (resistance thereof) is one of the areas in which I'm well aware I need development. But... well, here are some of the things I do...

Firstly, I make sure I set aside time to meditate regularly. ENTP's can be such a whirlwind of activity, we get ourselves carried away and lose our centre I think, sometimes. An hour a week, perhaps, minimum, of just sitting in stillness and quiet to re-centre yourself can go a long way. It also provides the mental discipline to be able to STFU occasionally, something I think most of us could use lol

Secondly, I have a Rule that I live by. It's quite comprehensive, and it encompasses the underlying principles I value most and gives guidelines on applying them to the various aspects of my life. It acts as a sort of voluntary choke-chain, but the hand on the other end of the chain is my own, if you get me? Helps prevent me from wandering off so far on a tangent that I forget the point of why I went out in the first place. But it's flexible and open to different interpretations, so as not to make me feel stifled or really choked. It's got to be realistic, that's the key. Minimum requirements - then try to exceed them, better than unrealistic requirements and then the accompanying dismay when they're fallen short of.

Embrace your thirst for exploration and curiosity, but recognize when you're acting from this and when it's simple restlessness. Recognize the triggers for the latter, and circumvent them by giving plenty of nourishment to the former.

Planned upheavals are cool, too. You know how Ne primaries can sometimes sabotage our own lives by just getting so damned BORED that we're apt to just walk out of things, burn our bridges and stuff like that? Well, to avoid that, if I can sense it coming then I'll try to find an area of my life that I can utterly change the face of, totally upheave, to give myself the refreshment and challenge I need without burning bridges. Anything from simply redecorating with a totally new theme to moving house - just round the corner, giving away all my books and starting the collection from scratch (and relishing the "wtf are you DOING??" comments from others lol) or just randomly dyeing all my t-shirts so I become Red Man :laugh:

Don't schedule yourself too tightly, or you'll feel suffocated, but just keep a calendar on the wall and pencil stuff in. Pencil in free days, too, and guard them jealously. Don't let "there's nothing on the calendar for that day" make you think it's a free for all to claim on your time. Set it aside for yourself to go and randomly explore somewhere or something (you know the old 'get in the car, flip a coin at each intersection' trick?), and consider that as much of a commitment as though it were one to someone else.

I might have more... must think about it some. Tell me what you make of it so far tho :)

edit - I might not be the best person to advise, in actual fact, since I think perhaps I might've embraced so much discipline in my life that this might be behind why I wind up doing 'little dangerous things' just to feel like I still have some risk and uncertainty in my life... driving without a seatbelt, impulsively deciding to refuse to say something diplomatically and telling it like it is with no punches pulled at the most inopportune of moments (ugh, all that Fe's been choking me!!)... cancelling something at the last minute, knowing it'll cause havoc, just to rebel against being needed/expected (all that Si!)... all kinds of stupid shit like that, which isn't very enlightened at all... :blush:
 

substitute

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what, even the part at the end about randomly being an asshole? :huh:
 

substitute

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Ah, I just realized - a vital part of what I feel helps me to keep making progress is that a part of my meditation actually involves reflecting on the time since I last meditated and sort of holding up my actions, words and choices against that Rule, so i can see whether I'm living by what I believe, or whether I'm self-sabotaging. Rather than beat myself up for the times I fall short, I try to just analyze where I went wrong and think of a strategy to avoid making similar mistakes. Also, not just holding up the past to the Rule, but also the possible future - think of anything that's bugging me at the moment, anything I'm pondering or considering, anything undecided, and again, hold it up, look at it and figure out where you're going.

Essentially what I'm doing is getting a sense of 'where I've come from', to see the 'you are here' arrow, and in turn the 'projected route if no change of course occurs', allowing me to make adjustments.

But it's also essential to allow yourself at least 20 minutes to literally just sit and let whatever comes, come into your mind and go where it will, silently. It helps me to actually create some sort of ritual for this process so that it keeps me focused and stuff, but I vary the ritual, again, because anything that becomes too 'same' begins to lose meaning and appeal for me. Being high church trained it tends to take a somewhat liturgical format for me, involving sensory focusing tools like incense, candles etc, but just do whatever works for you. But this process tends to allow any unacknowledged thoughts and feelings to 'wash up' on the beach, and you can comb through them and be sorta forewarned and forearmed.

Really, becoming a better person does increase your life opportunities just as much as learning actual practical or academic stuff, or at least I've found this to be the case. When they say 'it's not what you know, but whom you know', it's no empty cliche... but then, whom you know makes no difference if the people you know don't like you very much cos you're an ass. When you become a better person, you'll find that other people aren't actually as bad as you might've thought they were... (we often project our flaws onto others and blame them for the negative feelings that their reactions to our flaws bring out in us, so as you work on those flaws you'll find them being 'reflected' back to you less often!) and that they're much more willing to help you out and scratch your back. This shouldn't be a motivation for self-improvement, but it sure is a nice perk :D
 

substitute

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Anybody keep a journal?

Yup. Kept 'em since 1988. They're helpful, but get increasingly embarrassing the longer you keep past ones for...
*OMG did I REALLY think THAT???*

Also, gotta watch out they don't turn into DWELLING on shit...
 

Synarch

Once Was
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Oct 14, 2008
Messages
8,445
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ENTP
Anybody keep a journal?

Inconsistently. It's actually a Google spreadsheet with columns like mood, weight, amount of sleep, description of day, etc. I try to be brief. I guess it's more like a personal inventory of my day so I can try to suss out some ideas about how to improve mood and health.
 

Angry Ayrab

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Mar 31, 2008
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lol, I tried the journal thing before, but just like any other genuine interest... it turned out to be just the flavor of the week.
 

Synarch

Once Was
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
8,445
MBTI Type
ENTP
Journaling is difficult because it requires you to essentially step out of the stream of life. This is the main challenge with being a writer, I think. If you're writing, you're not really living. You've created some distance from which you organize thoughts and observe your own perceptions. If you're observing your own perceptions, how involved are you in perceiving?
 
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