Apollanaut
Senior Mugwump
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2008
- Messages
- 550
- MBTI Type
- INFJ
- Enneagram
- 9w1
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
1.) What is your MBTI type?
INFJ
2.) If you ever thought you were a different type, explain why.
INFP - All the other members of my family are strong FP-types, so I had no J-role-models. I'm not very organised for a supposed J and hopeless at setting and meeting goals. However, I am definitely Ni-dominant and am very good at taking care of others using Fe, so INFJ is a much better fit. Also there is no way am I Fi-dominant - I still struggle to understand and access my own Fi function, despite the examples provided by my family!
3.) What are your percents? Are they on a 0-100% scale or 50-100% scale?
Don't know what you really mean here, but I usually score the following:
I: 60-70%
N: 90-100%
F: 90-100%
J: 55-60%
4.) What is your enneagram type (if known)?
Nine with a strong One wing. Instinctual stacking: Sx>Sp>So
5.) What types are you attracted for friendship and why?
In order of preference:
1. Fellow NFs, to share our idealistic worldviews and spiritual beliefs.
Most of my good friends are ENFPs, next most common is INFP. I only know a handful of ENFJs and INFJs, but I wish I knew more!
2. NTs, because we both like to speak the same abstract language, but I need their T-perspective to balance my F-idealism and for helping me make tough decisions. I wish they weren't always so cynical, however!
3. ESFPs and ISFPs, for their sheer good nature and love of all things sensual.
4. I have most difficulties relating to SJs, especially the more rigid ones. However, I have several very good ISTJ and ISFJ friends and there was a great ESFJ girl I used to work with. Don't usually get along with ESTJs at all - they don't understand me in the slightest. Only once did I have a good working relationship with an ESTJ female colleague, who used to ask for my input on various projects requiring an NF approach. I never could tell whether or not she actually liked me, but on my last day at work she gave me a big hug and thanked me for all my help - I was totally delighted by this!
6.) What types are you attracted to for romantic relations and why?
I've always been attracted to ETPs. I'm most attracted to ESTPs and have dated a few, but we don't speak the same language and it never lasted for very long. Then I found my current partner - an ENTP - and we are still together 17 years later. I need an Extravert to drag me out of my comfort zone and for meeting new people, a Thinker to keep me grounded and balance my strong Fe need to put others first all the time, and a Perceiver for their sheer unpredictability - otherwise I tend to fall into comfortable but unadventurous routines.
7.) What types do you generally enjoy working with and why?
No preferences here, the workplace is a great place for me to meet and get to know other MBTI types. Far more important to me is working with psychologically healthy and well-balanced types. A dysfunctional person is a nightmare to work with, whatever their type.
8.) What does your room/house look like?
Our house is old and quite eccentric - decorated with bright colours, a huge collection of ecletic artifacts and lots of nice paintings and other artwork, but other people do seem to like our style. My ENTP partner's ideas predominate - I'm much more of a minimalist by nature, but happily we share the same tastes in art.
Unfortunately, he is very messy and disorganised, so our house gets cluttered with piles of his papers and other crap. He is constantly losing things, which I always have to find for him. I much prefer tidiness, but he can create a mess far faster than I can tidy it up, so I've learned to live with it. When we have guests arriving, he suddenly panics and we have a mad cleaning frenzy to get everything looking nice and tidy for our visitors, but that is largely an illusion as we just shove all the crap into cupboards or our over-stuffed garage.
Despite the chaos, our house is kept clean, as we both value good hygeine.
9.) How imaginative do you consider yourself and what are you typically imaginative about?
I'm the most imaginative person I know, and I know some very imaginative people! There are no limits to my imagination - I use it for entertainment, to solve problems, to explore my inner world, to consider possibilities that no-one else seems to think about.
I have a huge curiousity about many things, which drives my imaginative speculations. One of my biggest problems in life is switching off my imagination and simply observing the environment.
The only things which turn me off are mundane details - stuff like tax returns, investment strategies and necessary but tedious paperwork. Luckily my partner is skilled in this area - he is an accountant - and I have put all my work-related admin onto autopilot, so that I can do it quickly and accurately, whilst thinking of something much more interesting instead.
10.) What can you relate to about your type descriptions?
Pretty much everything, including my weaknesses. The "official" hierarchy of type functions (Ni, Fe, Ti, Se) is extremely accurate for me.
11.) What other types can you relate to well?
It's easiest to relate to fellow N's, as we can skip through the usual tedious details and start bouncing ideas around straight away. If I meet and start talking to an obvious N-type for the first time, it may be ages before we get around to telling each other our names!
12.) What are you satisfied about in life?
I love living in New Zealand, where I emigrated to five years ago. I have some great friends and have travelled to many different countries of the world - they have all been fascinating and enlightening. I am comfortable with being an INFJ and enjoy exploring my inner worlds for the purposes of self-development. I like my house and I love my pets (two cats and a dog). There is much I am not satisfied with (are NFs ever truly satisfied?), including my career and my relationship - my partner has taken to working ridiculously long hours, which makes him very moody and critical with me. This is also starting to affect his health, but I don't seem to be able to reach him to put this right.
13.) What do you want to do as a career/what are you currently doing as a career?
I am a senior forensic scientist in a government laboratory. I used to really love the work, but the increasing admin burden and ever-more rigorous quality systems are making it harder and harder to apply my intuitive approach to casework. It's ridiculous, because every good forensic scientist (regardless of their MBTI type) needs intuition, to sense when something is not right or missing with the evidence they are examining.
My ideal and preferred career would be as a counsellor/therapist or life-coach. I have some training in this area, and my INFJ skills make me a natural at this type of work. I work best on a one-to-one basis and have done some private counselling work. However, it's a huge leap to make from my present career and the current recession will probably delay my decision still further (sigh!)
INFJ
2.) If you ever thought you were a different type, explain why.
INFP - All the other members of my family are strong FP-types, so I had no J-role-models. I'm not very organised for a supposed J and hopeless at setting and meeting goals. However, I am definitely Ni-dominant and am very good at taking care of others using Fe, so INFJ is a much better fit. Also there is no way am I Fi-dominant - I still struggle to understand and access my own Fi function, despite the examples provided by my family!
3.) What are your percents? Are they on a 0-100% scale or 50-100% scale?
Don't know what you really mean here, but I usually score the following:
I: 60-70%
N: 90-100%
F: 90-100%
J: 55-60%
4.) What is your enneagram type (if known)?
Nine with a strong One wing. Instinctual stacking: Sx>Sp>So
5.) What types are you attracted for friendship and why?
In order of preference:
1. Fellow NFs, to share our idealistic worldviews and spiritual beliefs.
Most of my good friends are ENFPs, next most common is INFP. I only know a handful of ENFJs and INFJs, but I wish I knew more!
2. NTs, because we both like to speak the same abstract language, but I need their T-perspective to balance my F-idealism and for helping me make tough decisions. I wish they weren't always so cynical, however!
3. ESFPs and ISFPs, for their sheer good nature and love of all things sensual.
4. I have most difficulties relating to SJs, especially the more rigid ones. However, I have several very good ISTJ and ISFJ friends and there was a great ESFJ girl I used to work with. Don't usually get along with ESTJs at all - they don't understand me in the slightest. Only once did I have a good working relationship with an ESTJ female colleague, who used to ask for my input on various projects requiring an NF approach. I never could tell whether or not she actually liked me, but on my last day at work she gave me a big hug and thanked me for all my help - I was totally delighted by this!
6.) What types are you attracted to for romantic relations and why?
I've always been attracted to ETPs. I'm most attracted to ESTPs and have dated a few, but we don't speak the same language and it never lasted for very long. Then I found my current partner - an ENTP - and we are still together 17 years later. I need an Extravert to drag me out of my comfort zone and for meeting new people, a Thinker to keep me grounded and balance my strong Fe need to put others first all the time, and a Perceiver for their sheer unpredictability - otherwise I tend to fall into comfortable but unadventurous routines.
7.) What types do you generally enjoy working with and why?
No preferences here, the workplace is a great place for me to meet and get to know other MBTI types. Far more important to me is working with psychologically healthy and well-balanced types. A dysfunctional person is a nightmare to work with, whatever their type.
8.) What does your room/house look like?
Our house is old and quite eccentric - decorated with bright colours, a huge collection of ecletic artifacts and lots of nice paintings and other artwork, but other people do seem to like our style. My ENTP partner's ideas predominate - I'm much more of a minimalist by nature, but happily we share the same tastes in art.
Unfortunately, he is very messy and disorganised, so our house gets cluttered with piles of his papers and other crap. He is constantly losing things, which I always have to find for him. I much prefer tidiness, but he can create a mess far faster than I can tidy it up, so I've learned to live with it. When we have guests arriving, he suddenly panics and we have a mad cleaning frenzy to get everything looking nice and tidy for our visitors, but that is largely an illusion as we just shove all the crap into cupboards or our over-stuffed garage.
Despite the chaos, our house is kept clean, as we both value good hygeine.
9.) How imaginative do you consider yourself and what are you typically imaginative about?
I'm the most imaginative person I know, and I know some very imaginative people! There are no limits to my imagination - I use it for entertainment, to solve problems, to explore my inner world, to consider possibilities that no-one else seems to think about.
I have a huge curiousity about many things, which drives my imaginative speculations. One of my biggest problems in life is switching off my imagination and simply observing the environment.
The only things which turn me off are mundane details - stuff like tax returns, investment strategies and necessary but tedious paperwork. Luckily my partner is skilled in this area - he is an accountant - and I have put all my work-related admin onto autopilot, so that I can do it quickly and accurately, whilst thinking of something much more interesting instead.
10.) What can you relate to about your type descriptions?
Pretty much everything, including my weaknesses. The "official" hierarchy of type functions (Ni, Fe, Ti, Se) is extremely accurate for me.
11.) What other types can you relate to well?
It's easiest to relate to fellow N's, as we can skip through the usual tedious details and start bouncing ideas around straight away. If I meet and start talking to an obvious N-type for the first time, it may be ages before we get around to telling each other our names!
12.) What are you satisfied about in life?
I love living in New Zealand, where I emigrated to five years ago. I have some great friends and have travelled to many different countries of the world - they have all been fascinating and enlightening. I am comfortable with being an INFJ and enjoy exploring my inner worlds for the purposes of self-development. I like my house and I love my pets (two cats and a dog). There is much I am not satisfied with (are NFs ever truly satisfied?), including my career and my relationship - my partner has taken to working ridiculously long hours, which makes him very moody and critical with me. This is also starting to affect his health, but I don't seem to be able to reach him to put this right.
13.) What do you want to do as a career/what are you currently doing as a career?
I am a senior forensic scientist in a government laboratory. I used to really love the work, but the increasing admin burden and ever-more rigorous quality systems are making it harder and harder to apply my intuitive approach to casework. It's ridiculous, because every good forensic scientist (regardless of their MBTI type) needs intuition, to sense when something is not right or missing with the evidence they are examining.
My ideal and preferred career would be as a counsellor/therapist or life-coach. I have some training in this area, and my INFJ skills make me a natural at this type of work. I work best on a one-to-one basis and have done some private counselling work. However, it's a huge leap to make from my present career and the current recession will probably delay my decision still further (sigh!)