A little bit of non-scientific research

[Mavashi]

Hi there,

I'm new on this forum, though I've lurked for a while and have known about being an INTP for a couple of years now.

As part of a creative non-fiction essay I'm writing about being an INTP for a university unit, I'd really appreciate any comments and insights from fellow INTPs about the following:

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?

- Have you managed to hold down a steady job for more than, say 3 years or finished college/university? I've had heaps of jobs, dropped out of university once before and have gone back to get my degree. Nearly finished

- Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?

- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant topic?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sinny91]

Hi there

Hey hey,

I'm new on this forum, though I've lurked for a while and have known about being an INTP for a couple of years now.

As part of a creative non-fiction essay I'm writing about being an INTP for a university unit, I'd really appreciate any comments and insights from fellow INTPs about the following:

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?

Curiosity. Intrigue.

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?

One, on some level. Two or three, on another level.

- Have you managed to hold down a steady job for more than, say 3 years or finished college/university? I've had heaps of jobs, dropped out of university once before and have gone back to get my degree. Nearly finished

Managed to hold a job for three years. That's my record. Most jobs are 6 months or less these days. I keep picking up and putting down my degree, whilst doing other things in between.

- Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?

Yea think so, in a number of regards.

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?

Hell yes, and hell no. I usually miss the most important milestones in my life through something as mundane as sleeping... Meanwhile I'm up night doing nothing outwardly constructive.

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?

Erm... No. I was delinquent and proud.

- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?

A couple of things, but not ADD.

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant topic?

Sometime's but not all time, depending on my frame of mind.

 

[EditorOne]

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?
It was part of career counseling I went through when I was desperate to get out of the company where I was working.

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?
Just the one, it backed up what I intuited about myself and it also was another way of saying what other tests given for various management seminars seemed to indicate.


- Have you managed to hold down a steady job for more than, say 3 years or finished college/university? I've had heaps of jobs, dropped out of university once before and have gone back to get my degree. Nearly finished

Not exactly. I changed roles about every three years during my progression through 38 years of journalism. I still don't have my damned college degree. I may go back to get it just to be a prick about it.



- Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?

Yes, but development is ongoing.

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?

Journalism is all about deadlines. I manage my time well. What works for me is dividing work up into thin slices that do not last long enough for me to get bored. The intervals are filled with other tasks.

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?

I was bullied until I picked a fight* with a kid in 11th grade who was six-foot-two and weighed 200 pounds. I got two black eyes. He got one. After that I was too crazy for anyone to mess with, even if I was only 140 pounds and a bookworm. Your mileage may vary.
* Last fight I was ever in.

- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?
No, I thought I was deficient, defective, and not normal, if not crazy.

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant topic?
Fortunately, I can. Unfortunately, I sometimes share. There are some things you just don't say at a funeral.

Hope that helps.

 

[Nebulous]

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?

Identity crisis. I was on a personality test taking spree.

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?

When I read the results of the first MBTI test I took, I knew it was me.
Some more research confirmed it.

- Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?

Friend group? Yeah. Love em. Pretty varied too, although mostly introverts.

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?

Professional Procrastinator.

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?

Yea
Mostly low key passive aggressive stuff but, yeah.

- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?

Yeah. I thought something was wrong with me. Knowing your MBTI doesn't necessarily mean you don't have ADD, though.

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant topic?

Mmmmm depends. I tend to not take things as seriously as others do, so I'm able to laugh at some weird stuff.

 

[Mavashi]

Thanks so much Sinny, EditorOne and Nebulous for your comments! I can see myself in quite a lot of comments. I'd been seriously worried about the ADD thing before doing a test, and negated it by rationalising that when there's something I am interested in, it's nigh impossible to drag me away.

I like writing when there's something I want to say. As an outlet I used to produce a newsletter for the department at work that grew from a few A4 pages made in Word to a 24-page electronic magazine that one of my colleagues helped to design. Gave me the creative outlet that my normal job of technical writing suppressed. Had some fun with editorials, interviews and feature articles and eventually got noticed by someone in senior management who got the humour. Part of me wanted to switch to the corporate comms section, but that had the downsides of moving to another state and churning out some vexatiously sycophantic garbage on a daily basis. So the move wasn't worth it.

Nowadays I teach English in northeast Asia and write tender and grant applications for clients as a part-time consultant. It's OK but I'm still looking for something else - the teaching is incredibly draining though stimulating at times, and the work volume for consulting is a feast-or-famine proposition.

I did one MBTI test recommended by a colleague, who's a nice INTJ, plus couple of others over the last two years or so that only confirmed the initial results. In not highly I, but have strong Ti and Ne preferences and a moderate P preference - possibly the reason for my anxiety about being somewhere on time if not always getting stuff done on time. But like Editor, many of my jobs seem to require deadlines so I end up putting in huge efforts just before the cut-off and usually do a pretty good job.

 

[EditorOne]

Intermediate deadlines help a lot. Divvy the work up and set a deadline for each part. That way you're not looking at an iceberg you have to move, just ice cubes.

 

[Interdimensionist]

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?

I had been doing my own research into psychology and introversion/extraversion for some time when a girl from my old job with whom I had a pathetic infatuation with turned me on to MBTI, I was naturally curious due to my weak sense of self and identity. Came out INFP at first before I started testing as INTP consistently. When I got a little obsessed and went deep into typology research I found out it's quite common for us to be mistyped as INFP if we're 'in love' at the time.

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?

About 5 or 6, I still don't think I'm fully convinced or ever will be for that matter but the INTP profile comes closest to describing me and I have been feeling much more comfortable in my own skin and accepting of myself ever since, I also found it helpful in clearing up my uncertainties regarding what I want to do with my life.

- Have you managed to hold down a steady job for more than, say 3 years or finished college/university? I've had heaps of jobs, dropped out of university once before and have gone back to get my degree. Nearly finished

Longest I've worked anywhere is about a year and a few months. I get tired, fed up and depressed pretty quick at most jobs, only been at my most recent 2 months and I can't stand it already, apparently my customer service skills are atrocious and they keep making not so subtle threats about sacking people, little do they know I secretly give zero fucks and would be grateful if they did. I always feel as though work encroaches on time that could be spent more productively doing stuff that's important to me, I resent having to sacrifice so much of my life just to continue living, seems so counter-intuitive to me.

School was a funny one for me too as my folks decided to uproot to Spain when I was 13, I tried to stick in at first but eventually lost interest as it was simply too difficult to keep up in a foreign language so I ended up dropping out with no qualifications but I do have a second language now which I suppose is a plus although I have never really had the chance to use it, at least not professionally. Now I'm in my early twenties going back to get the grades I should have gotten at 16 whilst simultaneously studying to become certified in programming and data analysis so that I can give myself some chance of a future.

-Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?

Not really, I have one good friend who sort of gets me and his wider social circle is kind and accepting enough to let me tag along with them but a lot of the time I suspect that's because I'm the only one who knows how to roll a joint, either way I don't mind as I could do with the company every now and again. I sometimes feel a little lost and as if time is quickly running out to find something I'd be content to spend the rest of my life doing.

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?

I have a habit of procrastinating about procrastinating about doing something so go figure. It's a bit better now but I tend to float about and jump from project to project.

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?

Yeah, in the UK they would find it funny when I clammed up and sat seething in anger at their remarks then I had a few instances where I snapped and lashed out and was left largely alone afterwards by bullies, in Spain there were the odd asshat kids who tried to fuck with me and there have even been a handful of occasions where I've felt harrased at work although as an adult, I've come to realise what I thought of as bullying may have just been my perception of and misinterpretation of the situation. When I first met the guy I'd now consider my close friend I thought he was trying to pick on and humilliate me then I got to know him and discovered he acts the same with everyone as a means of vetting and initiation but then I've always been downright awful at banter and picking up on sarcasm.

- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?

I suspected many things including ADHD, depression, bipolar, schizotypal personality amd borderline personality.

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant

Almost excessively to a point, I often get accused of not caring about anything or of not taking anything seriously, contradictorily however, I usually end up taking other people's comments to heart but I'm making improvements in this area also.

 

[IndigoViolet11]

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?
I was searching about Aura color test and thought it would be much concise and accurate if I go to other more legitimate sites and take an MBTI test. That time I got back into the track of spirituality, and decided to re-evaluate myself to better understand myself.

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?
Just one test, but the deeper I looked for info the more that I can't deny the results. Every strength I got was described well, with very accurate description as if they looked into the mirror of the "hidden" side of what I am thinking and doing at the back of other people, even though my presentation isn't exactly the thinking type to most.

- Have you managed to hold down a steady job for more than, say 3 years or finished college/university? I've had heaps of jobs, dropped out of university once before and have gone back to get my degree. Nearly finished
No. My current job is the job that I held the longest, and I too dropped out from university, got heaps of trainee job, without one that can go beyond two months. But for this job, still, less than a year.

- Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?
No. No one of my friends are rational the way that I am. My interest goes both up and down. Still seeking lol.

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?
I always procrastinate, but usually I count time as a factor on how much of a degree i can keep procrastinate. But for time management, well, half good and can be pretty poor.

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?
my character developed very late, only somewhere over a year ago. I was a totally different person way back. Usually I deal with people ok now, but in reality I don't fit well. Secret tho .. they don't quite know about that side of me.


- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?
Nah..

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant topic?
People are always funny. Life can be some silly joke, almost always.

 

[Mavashi]

Thanks all for your comments. This could one day form the basis of some highly dubious research that I'll present at one of those phony academic conferences that seem to be popping up a lot these days.

In the meantime you've given me some valuable insight into the minds of half a dozen good people who've been kind enough to self-selectively provide responses to some hastily conceived questions on an anonymous internet forum. What could be more scientific than that?

 

[IncohateINTP]

- What motivated you to do one of those MBTI tests?
I forget the details, but probably a deep sense of ennui with a sprinkling of existential angst.

- How many tests did you do before your were convinced you were an INTP?
One. However, I've taken additional that have just driven the nail in....

- Have you managed to hold down a steady job for more than, say 3 years or finished college/university?
I have 3 degrees. I've had 2 completely different careers and plenty of jobs that fit into neither career, but which are not related cohesively enough to anything else to constitute a third career. Yes, I've had a few jobs lasting more than 3 years (but not necessarily much more).

- Have you been fortunate enough to find or develop your own niche?
No. I so desperately want to. But, with me being interested in so many things and with me being able to learn/do just about anyting, I've not been able to find something I want to do with such passion as to focus on doing that. Well, actually, there is something I would love to do, but it's not feasible for a number of reasons....

- Are you a chronic procrastinator, or have you managed to, er, manage your time well?
Procrastinate.

- Were you bullied at school for being a bit different or unsociable?
Unfortunately, yes.

- Before discovering MBTI, like me did you think you had ADD?
I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. I can't remember if the INTP or ADHD diagnosis came first.

- And humour. Can you see the funny in even the most unpleasant topic?
Haha, very much so. I constantly have to be very careful about how I discuss a number of topics. I always divorce myself from the typical social/emotional conventions wedded to many topics such that I can very easily talk about something in a way that makes me appear to be a monster to those who don't understand this way of thinking.