Improving Type Function?

[Tyria]

This might be an odd question, but is there a way to improve upon one's proficiency of MBTI preferences? For example, if one wanted to improve on extraverted thinking, are there any methods that can describe both the process and how to improve it?

 

[Cryss Winters]

For all of them, if possible.

I need to help my Fi and Si

 

[Auburn]

There's a small book called Functions of Type that has some exercises to help develop every function better. Um, here, I'll list a few of them if you'd like ^^;

Fi: Use your emotions to identify what is important, your deeply held values.

• List five things that you would devote a lot of energy to or even die for. Do not include what other people think you should be willing to die for - only what you know is worth dying for.
• List five things that other people have told you are very important but you don't see the value of.
• The next time you start to take an action for someone else, ask yourself why you are doing it and how you are benefiting from the planned action. If you discover you don't like taking the action of find the benefit compromises your values, don't take the action.
• When you see someone else purposely hurt someone else, for example, on a television show, allow yourself to experience pain in your heart.
• Pay attention to your emotions. Stay with them. Name the emotions. See if a value is involved.

I'm not sure how well this actually works. However, at the very least it does give you a tangible way to look at every one of the eight functions and how they are used in real life.

 

[fullerene]

Thank you, auburn. I'm actually writing a wiki for enfpforum at the moment, and the next step (or at least, the one I felt like doing ) was to write up descriptions of the cognitive functions. I tried to do Ti and Fi first, because I thought that those were important, and also good places to help ease stereotypes (that Thinkers don't care about anything and are mean, and that Feeling is irrational and doesn't make any sense), but I just ended up upsetting snail (briefly), and realizing that one of us doesn't understand what these functions are. After reading through that book a bit, I'm thinking it was me.

*waves* sorry, decaf. I messaged you for advice before I saw this post. If it's too much trouble, don't worry about answering. I'll just use this to learn about them better.

 

[loveofreason]

Fi: Use your emotions to identify what is important, your deeply held values.

• List five things that you would devote a lot of energy to or even die for. Do not include what other people think you should be willing to die for - only what you know is worth dying for.
• List five things that other people have told you are very important but you don't see the value of.
• The next time you start to take an action for someone else, ask yourself why you are doing it and how you are benefiting from the planned action. If you discover you don't like taking the action of find the benefit compromises your values, don't take the action.
• When you see someone else purposely hurt someone else, for example, on a television show, allow yourself to experience pain in your heart.
• Pay attention to your emotions. Stay with them. Name the emotions. See if a value is involved.

This is really interesting - I've always done things in complete ignorance of the emotional impact upon myself, and then long after the fact gone... damn... why did I do that?

And ultimately, I have acted in ignorance of my values, compromising without even being aware until something chronic alerts me I am not living truthfully to myself...

(I have realised now that the ultimate, all-encompassing value I should never betray is Authenticity... but it has taken me half a life-time to have a name for it, despite a life-long hatred of fakery...)

Reading these exercises I'm more assured than ever that I am just plain Fi-dumb, and really need to make an effort to redress that.

Thanks for posting the list of exercises... perhaps we could make threads for each function.