Here, finally, the promised additional comments.
True. So my real personality is how I act when in my natural and comfortable state, and the motivations for my behavior.
Your real personality governs how you act in every situation. When in a "natural" and unconstrained state, your behaviors will be a better mirror of this true personality, than when a stressed or constrained situation. In such situations, you may choose/be forced to act in "atypical" ways, but this will still reflect some attempt to balance your fundamental preferences.
I'm very motivated by striving for excellence. I want to excel in everything I do, and I'm always trying to improve in things and get to the top level. I don't always reach it, but it is still what I want and an inseparable part of my personality. Perfectionism comes with this, but also just enjoying talents because they allow me to be good at things; I really enjoy the feeling of doing things well while I'm doing them.
This is fairly type-generic. The desire for perfection suggests J, but I know plenty of SPs who want to perfect their sport, or craft, or art. The feeling of doing things well can also be based on several functions.
Going with excellence, competence is extremely important to me. I feel as though worth as a person depends a great deal on it. I want to be successful at living life and surviving. Pretty much all my insecurities come down to fearing incompetence.
Competence is usually associated with NTs, but there are many forms of competence, and many reasons for valuing it and appreciating it in oneself. NTs generally aspire to (much) more than survival and living life.
I do have a basic sense of value when it comes to people, and I am motivated by the desire to be a good person. In pretty much every sense of the word. But I'm not attached to it- I'd really rather not be judged or pressured to be a certain way; and I like the idea of living without being attached to value judgments. Still, to the extent that I have good qualities like beauty, intelligence, competence, etc., and I am useful and beneficial to the web of living things and the planet, I am good.
Relating goodness to the idea of benefitting the web of living things sounds much more F than T. A T might feel it, and even do it, but would probably not express it in this way unless VERY in touch with his/her Fi/Fe.
I'm motivated by a sense of interconnection. I feel part of the web of life in the biosphere, and because we are part of one entity I seek to preserve it. (I used to think this and the previous point were Fi, but I'm thinking they could just as easily be Fe because of the collectivism.)
Yes, this could be either Fi or Fe, depending on what motivates it and how it is realized. Fe suggests a greater tendency to operate via these external connections, while Fi is more of an inner, personal attitude. It is more likely to lead, say, by example while Fe will be more socially engaging.
I'm extremely curious and have the drive for knowledge and understanding of the underlying principles of reality. (I'm a philosophy major because it's something I never get tired of.) I really want to know objective reality, and in the process I'm willing to sacrifice all my subjective attachments- but I can't break my connection with the Earth and the life on it or I would cease to exist. I want to understand everything and how it all works and analyze it to death. Knowledge of underlying truth motivates me in most everything. (This is one reason I find it hard to relax- I have to analyze things and I fear losing objectivity and mental control by being absorbed in things.)
You say you want to understand "everything". Do you prioritize among this everything -- people, nature, philosophy, spirituality/divinity, technology? F's are neither dumb nor disinclined to study and scholarship, but their primary areas of interest (and reasons for that interest) often differ from those of NTs.
I am very motivated by social approval and inclusion. This and my drive to excel makes me competitive.
As I wrote before, this suggests Fe. Perhaps it fits with the desire "not to be judged or pressured to be a certain way" in that you prefer to get your social approval by being the real you, not the you others want you to be. Fi might be content just to be true to him/herself, regardless of what others think.
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'm motivated by being provocative and thinking outside the box. This is why I like being silly and mischievous, as well as creative; new and different perspectives are always useful, and help us to not take life too seriously (because taking life too seriously leads to suffering).
Another F-based motivation.
I'm very motivated by survival. I will do whatever it takes to survive in any situation, and I think a lot about how to be prepared for anything. This makes me not afraid of conflict, and makes me rather combative at times. But my sense of harmony tempers this tendency, and I recognize that it works well socially to not be abrasive and obnoxious.
Ts often recognize the practical downside of being abrasive and obnoxious, but won't have the same social context or sense of social harmony,
I do have a sense of idealism that goes with imagination; I believe that we create our reality (within reason), and sometimes escaping into imagination can be positive, therapeutic and even productive because it produces good ideas. We just shouldn't live there.
One of the more Ni-based comments you have made.
I'm very motivated by the desire for communication. Communication provides information, and information is needed to solve problems and make discoveries. So without it, nothing can be solved or discovered.
Again, any type can recognize the importance of communication, and learn to communicate well, but it is a bigger priority for Fe - not sure so much for Fi. Te might actually give it higher priority just out of the practical benefits.