Is wasted potential common amongst INTPs?

[ForbaerneYfel]

Hello everyone,

As a forewarning this post is likely to be me venting and trying to reconcile my thoughts with a few questions at the end.

Anyway, I can't help but feel that I'm wasting my life, yet I cannot devise a way to live any differently; I feel as though trying to fight my intrinsic nature will only result in failure as it has many times before. I am, in essence, incredibly sporadic and I presume many other INTPs are too. I've had so many brilliant ideas, involving topics ranging from politics to astrophysics, however I simply cannot realise any of them into the realm of tangibility. My mind is an entanglement of countless conceptual proposals and as soon as a single idea starts developing to a reasonable level, it simply withers and dies at the hand of newer, more interesting thought. This happens every single time without fail, resulting in precious years being wasted.

I'm only 17 years old so in theory I have the majority of my life ahead of me, however I'm pretty much set up to fail already; I purposely decided not to take the few subjects that actually sparked my interest in college for fear of them becoming tiresome and chore-like. Essentially, in school all my favourite subjects were ruined by the structure of the educational system (I thought school was supposed to enlighten me, yet all it did was limit me... severely) so I didn't want that same fate to befall me in college. I thought that this way if I didn't enjoy college, at least I could enjoy learning independently at home. Unfortunately, sitting at my desk daydreaming about time travel isn't going to get me very far in life.

I don't mean to sound conceited or anything but I don't think I'm excessively unintelligent even though how I've been doing in college would suggest otherwise. As a child, with all my grand thoughts, I always believed I'd become somebody of some small significance but if I fail college I'm left on the same level as the kids in my school who did nothing but verbally abuse the teachers and smoke behind the bike sheds. I just feel pretty useless at the moment, I guess. I don't really know why I bothered writing this now but whatever.

Is this a common occurrence within the INTP personality type or is it just me? Are there any topics that you (as an INTP) have had particular success in? Are there any niches in the world for thinkers rather than doers?

 

[TheManBeyond]

¿is complaining about shit the way to solve shit, is being an intp the cause of not succeding, is being born the cause for death?you are 17, fucking stand up and fight for what you believe, goddamit, stop blaming typology or the mystical nature of parasitarial existence. The power is in yourself.

think i'm this guy
imagine how angry i am with you
feel his breath in the back of your neck
next thing you'll see is his hand piercing your chest and getting your heart out to squeeze it.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Results of using the search function, highly advised to rely on it if you suppose the problem is common, as is the case with this one.
Similar threads:
http://www.intpforum.com/showthread.php?t=3996
http://www.intpforum.com/showthread.php?t=11166

 

[ForbaerneYfel]

What, so verbalising (typing) how I feel to people who have the choice whether to read it or not is now a problem that causes anger to people? I even gave a warning at the beginning stating that I was going to be venting. Also when was I blaming the fact that I'm an INTP for being unsuccessful? I asked whether it was common or whether it was just me. I was asking about correlation not causation.

I can't fight for what I believe in since there is literally nothing with any sentimental value to me so I'd essentially be fighting for no reason.

 

[Vion]

This is what happens when a J type tries to perceive the future. Numbers have no innate value as they are intangible constructs. One must recognize the cognitive limits of logic in order to not create an existential paradox such as the following statement:

"I'm only 17 years old so in theory I have the majority of my life ahead of me, however I'm pretty much set up to fail already"

And here is the resulting madlib of a perceiver attempting to judge you for it in a manner that would force you to apply Term Logic to that Predicative spaghetti code:
"I'm only 6'2" tall so in theory I have the minority of my death ahead of me, however I'm pretty much set up to win already" <--- After further extrapolation one can guesstimate that I am telling you to take out an insurance fund and off yourself already.

 

[dark+matters]

Hi- I vent on here all the time too. What has been happening that has you feeling as though you are failing college (something that almost everyone will feel at some point)?

 

[Pyropyro]

Is this a common occurrence within the INTP personality type or is it just me? Are there any topics that you (as an INTP) have had particular success in? Are there any niches in the world for thinkers rather than doers?

A healthy dose of illusory superiority and an unhealthy fear of having said illusions shattered by reality are common traits for the immature. It's not necessarily an INTP thing.

The Sciences are good fields for INTP's to be successful in. We also seem to have a knack for IT.

I think a Thinker who get things done can find any comfortable niche. Thinkers who don't get things done on the other hand might have difficulty accessing niches. The world wants people who make results.

 

[Yellow]

Wow, wow. This was a significant amount of hostility to throw at the poor boy.

First, ignore TheManBeyond. He's been acting like a troll for the last few weeks for no apparent reason.

Second, Blarraun is right, this topic, along with the subtopic of being young and hopeless comes up a LOT.

Third, I don't know what's going on with Vion's post. It's a mess.

Fourth, maybe college is a poor choice for you. I don't know what country you're from, but if you're in the US, you are better off going to trade school. Learn to weld or use CAD or something. You'll be in a field with high demand, you'll avoid mountains of debt, and if you don't like it, you'll make plenty of money to put yourself through the next trade program. All the while, you're living the INTP dream of learning new and interesting things.

 

[dark+matters]

LOL I agree with Yellow. Trade school isn't a bad idea. I went to trade school before even considering a public university (and I don't regret going to that trade school, although I am not employed in that field and have ended up going back to school).

Our late teens and early twenties seem to be a time in which we learn where we can't and possibly can fit into the world. It's a rocky ride. A lot of kids who did well in high school do not do well in college. High school gives much smaller, more bite-sized pieces of knowledge to ingest and tasks to perform, but there is an infinite amount of stuff out there to learn and create. I don't think that most people really know themselves well enough to decide on a good career track for themselves until their late twenties.

I can't necessarily recommend doing what I did, because I don't know how satisfied I am with those decisions, but I worked part-time and did only the classes and jobs that interested me for a while. They were usually art or theatre classes and jobs done simply to pay the rent. A lot of INxx's seem to really like art, music, writing and film and might be left wondering why they didn't go for it if they don't give themselves that chance to explore (at least that was how I felt after trade school, and three suspected INTJs, two INFJs and two INFPs I've met seem to have felt very similarly).

Maybe slowing down and taking the bare minimum of classes might help you figure out what you do and don't like. Maybe taking only the classes you like for a while too. Volunteering can also help to narrow down choices without committing too much, I think (or at least it has helped me a lot). You could always pick up a minor or switch majors.

Inspirational song about the infinite disappointments we must face in life:
https://youtu.be/RxPZh4AnWyk

 

[EditorOne]

The older threads are good, but sometimes people just need to talk it out.

Here's a thought: Who says you're potential is wasted? You or the expectations of other people?

I kind of just went through this at the other end of life. I retired, that is, I'm not longer required to work to put bread on the table and now have income from social security, pensions, etc. I experienced bone-deep dissatisfaction with what I've accomplished so far. Upon a lot of reflection, it occurred to me I was actually pretty well comfortable with my life, my decisions and my accomplishments. Whence then the dissatisfaction? From a literal lifetime of people expecting that I'd do more. INTPs get that a lot; my first clue was getting straight "A" report cards with every subject also registering a "2" for effort expended and repeated teacher comments of "can do better." ("1" would have been maximum effort expended.)

So, look into the telescope from the other end or something, you may be stressing over imposed burdens you don't know you've taken on.

To the other point I noticed: By all means take any subject that appeals, and do NOT avoid any subject because you think it will cheapen or alter any unique talent you might have. EG, when I was young I used to think the only good musicians were simply natural musicians, born with the talent, and that any "official instruction" they might get would bring them down to the common denominator, not raise them up. I have revised that silly opinion: Someone with natural talent can learn from what's offered and discard, upon gaining experience, anything that conflicts with the natural talent.

Final point: Define success in your terms, then see how all this other stuff shakes out. You can redefine success any time you want, of course, but you need some kind of standard to measure progress or lack thereof, otherwise you are just adrift in a world that has no patience with drifters.

 

[onesteptwostep]

When I was younger I thought the same- but the problem was that I was constructing how the world worked within the limits of the knowledge I had of the world. After experiencing a bit of college overseas and the military in my native country, my worldview enlarged tremendously. Right now I don't see myself as wasted potential- I see myself as someone who has a lot of potential. They say INTPs bloom later, and that could be true.

As for school, don't blame the system and moop at it. Just think of it as something that helps regiment your being to fit into contemporary society. It isn't supposed to enlighten you, that isn't its primary goal. Education right now more of an industrial process. The romantic notion of education that some people have, that of enlightenment, is often found outside of school. I don't think you'll get to that, until you're in upper years in college, maybe (if we're talking about educational/academic system), and when you're more comfortable in expressing and sharing your thoughts and notions with profs and your colleagues. And it's from that vantage point that you'll start to feel enlightened- and be aware of how little you actually know the world.

 

[Pyropyro]

Final point: Define success in your terms, then see how all this other stuff shakes out. You can redefine success any time you want, of course, but you need some kind of standard to measure progress or lack thereof, otherwise you are just adrift in a world that has no patience with drifters.

I like this final point

 

[DrGregoryHouse]

The world wastes the infinite potential of the INTP, never the other way around.

 

[ActiveMind]

I think the problem for many of us INTPs is finding our life purpose. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a comic book artist. However, like the OP, I felt the educational system has done more to ruin than enlighten and I feel that I also have untapped potential.

I now work in IT as a contractor but have become more and more unsatisfied with having no real input or say as it is a dead-end position. The money is good but I feel stagnant. I have trepidation about going back to school since I don't want to commit to something and have it suddenly become mundane and tiresome, kind of how I feel about programming.

However, recently I watched a video about finding one's life purpose and in it the self-help guy says to imagine what you would do if money wasn't a worry for you. The key is to keep your vision grounded but can still be grandiose if you choose.

Now I'm looking at video game development as a career interest, in the beginning stages of working on ideas for various non-profit orgs., and hopefully opening a co-op gym down the road.

If you're still young, don't worry so much about finding your purpose. I read many INTPs usually end up finding their purpose late into their 30s onward. Do work on different things to keep your mind challenged and busy and to expand your interests. Live life and experience as much as you can, meet people, and travel.

 

[WALKYRIA]

It's okay, it's never too late to change and turn into an INTJ or ENTP you'r only 17 afterlall... You still can do it !

And also I think we INTP have a too narrow understanding of the meaning of happiness/ too rigid/too specific... Therefore harder to reach it. Just look at NFs and Sensors... they accept their lot much easier than we do and in a sense they are actually the ones that goes with the flow, not us.

 

[Seteleechete]

It's okay, it's never too late to change and turn into an INTJ or ENTP you'r only 17 afterlall... You still can do it !

And also I think we INTP have a too narrow understanding of the meaning of happiness/ too rigid/too specific... Therefore harder to reach it. Just look at NFs and Sensors... they accept their lot much easier than we do and in a sense they are actually the ones that goes with the flow, not us.

Who claims INTPs go with the flow? or at least like doing so. Doing the things in your second paragraph sounds revolting to me which is why I am an INTP

 

[Jennywocky]

It sounds like people are equating "go with the flow" to "conformity"?

I know I only use the term to mean "adaptability/flexibility." I'm extremely adaptable, but I don't generally conform well, long-term; I tend to withdraw so I can have freedom to do my thing, if I feel too much pressure to comply.

 

[Feather]

Alter how you create. I have a tendency forexample to try to make a song but end up with an enormously complicated intro and never get further. Practice getting through drafts of a project let complexity evolve into it over time. Document all projects well so complexity will grow in them in the future.
-
For school. Give up something. I had to stop playing madden as much or I would have failed out I failed like 2 classes my first semester. You will learn tactics to learning over time and get better. Meditating helps you focus longer on the boring stuff.
-
Take the mindset that you are escaping from prison one spoonful of dirt at a time. Each day learn something in the direction you want to end up. Like take a picture of a solution to a physics problem and study one a day on your phone. Or call a real estate agent from any where and have a bs conversation about the property each day. Learn one new word each day. The poeple your up against will not put this kind of dedication into it most likly that consistent grind will make you accel.
-
Fullfilment is a function of accomplishment. Set goals that are about self discovery. Find what makes you uneasy and overcome it. And gave a helpful will about you so the universe will line things up for you.

 

[ENTP lurker]

Some people tell me that if you are not going to make profit out of your ideas, I will. Well, they are free so go ahead and take the pride because it really doesn't matter. I live poorly but comfortably so there is no rush. Earthly things and possessions are waste of time.

I'm a firm beliver in scientific anonymity and free copyrights. There is no need for making name out of yourself.

 

[WALKYRIA]

Well, they are free so go ahead and take the pride because it really doesn't matter. I live poorly but comfortably so there is no rush.

LOL ENTPs are amazing... They keep failing and failing and failing, yet never get stressed about it and keep the smile and the big EGO . They are likely the poorest MBTI group but they enjoy it perfectly since money don't mean a thing and that they'll likely end up billionaires one day...
THe crayz thing is that even when they are amazingly failing, they look down on you and give you advices on " how to stay positive" or " how to make money in a second" or " how to be succesful"...
I seriously don't understand how you guys even manage to survive if it wasnt for your bullshitting/ parasiting/ manipulative and charming abilities.
We INTP are equally as likely to fail but we end up more succesful because we are stressed and self-conscious and have that" impending sense of failure" going on.... THese same qualities that people look down to. U ENTP have such a big ego that you keep failing and failing through and through... I'm really really amazed by those qualities.
THat's really a lesson to learn from them.

 

[manishboy]

Wasted potential may or may not be more common among INTPs that other types but there's no way to really tell. (Did I just throw away my potential to be an internet mbti pseudo researcher?).

But what is probably more common among these wretches is the sense of having wasted potential, not only in oneself but in any system one comes across, especially when one is a youngish intp. I am a recovering potential junkie. I used to get hopped up on the possibilities in a new idea (which might have been that I could do xyz). It felt so real that I was duped into believing that the sense of having caught sight of what could be was enough to bring it about. (This probably relates to the thread on laziness. But I just don't feel like making that connection plain right now).

Anyway, with this sort of on-board euphoria generator on the one hand, and on the other an obsession with self management, I used to find myself lamenting what could be and could have been with respect to my life. The way out is to understand the seeing possibilities is a skill, like picking horses as the tracks, and does not dictate outcomes to reality. In other words, what is possible will always be constrained by what is, and that means that just because you see the potential in something doesn't mean that that potential is viable. So don't feel so bad that you didn't become an astronaut-fireman-surgeon-lawyer before age 25.

 

[ActiveMind]

I've come to the conclusion that a lot of INTPs may not have a sense of their true life purpose. This is something that I've been looking into a lot recently since I feel life has become stagnant and unsatisfying.

Watching some self help videos, it seems having a lot of life experiences as well as doing different things, seeing new perspectives will help with this problem.

I tend to agree since many INTPs, myself included, seem lazy or shy away from groups of people and social situations. And while such situations can be mundane or boring, this may be an aspect that is key to attaining a fuller understanding of ourselves. It may also be important to work on many different interests as well as new ones to help narrow down what occupation you enjoy doing the most.

I believe the perception of laziness is in fact someone who has not yet found their purpose in life.

 

[dark+matters]

LOL ENTPs are amazing... They keep failing and failing and failing, yet never get stressed about it and keep the smile and the big EGO . They are likely the poorest MBTI group but they enjoy it perfectly since money don't mean a thing and that they'll likely end up billionaires one day...
THe crayz thing is that even when they are amazingly failing, they look down on you and give you advices on " how to stay positive" or " how to make money in a second" or " how to be succesful"...
I seriously don't understand how you guys even manage to survive if it wasnt for your bullshitting/ parasiting/ manipulative and charming abilities.
We INTP are equally as likely to fail but we end up more succesful because we are stressed and self-conscious and have that" impending sense of failure" going on.... THese same qualities that people look down to. U ENTP have such a big ego that you keep failing and failing through and through... I'm really really amazed by those qualities.
THat's really a lesson to learn from them.

Spoiler

 

[Lapis Lazuli]

Hello everyone,

As a forewarning this post is likely to be me venting and trying to reconcile my thoughts with a few questions at the end.

Anyway, I can't help but feel that I'm wasting my life, yet I cannot devise a way to live any differently; I feel as though trying to fight my intrinsic nature will only result in failure as it has many times before. I am, in essence, incredibly sporadic and I presume many other INTPs are too. I've had so many brilliant ideas, involving topics ranging from politics to astrophysics, however I simply cannot realise any of them into the realm of tangibility. My mind is an entanglement of countless conceptual proposals and as soon as a single idea starts developing to a reasonable level, it simply withers and dies at the hand of newer, more interesting thought. This happens every single time without fail, resulting in precious years being wasted.

I'm only 17 years old so in theory I have the majority of my life ahead of me, however I'm pretty much set up to fail already; I purposely decided not to take the few subjects that actually sparked my interest in college for fear of them becoming tiresome and chore-like. Essentially, in school all my favourite subjects were ruined by the structure of the educational system (I thought school was supposed to enlighten me, yet all it did was limit me... severely) so I didn't want that same fate to befall me in college. I thought that this way if I didn't enjoy college, at least I could enjoy learning independently at home. Unfortunately, sitting at my desk daydreaming about time travel isn't going to get me very far in life.

I don't mean to sound conceited or anything but I don't think I'm excessively unintelligent even though how I've been doing in college would suggest otherwise. As a child, with all my grand thoughts, I always believed I'd become somebody of some small significance but if I fail college I'm left on the same level as the kids in my school who did nothing but verbally abuse the teachers and smoke behind the bike sheds. I just feel pretty useless at the moment, I guess. I don't really know why I bothered writing this now but whatever.

Is this a common occurrence within the INTP personality type or is it just me? Are there any topics that you (as an INTP) have had particular success in? Are there any niches in the world for thinkers rather than doers?

The Road Not Taken
BY Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

[AcuteVision]

I wouldn't call it wasted potential..... But others call me that a lot. Like I'm dumb good at what ever I put my hands on and learn from being showed something once but I'm still looking for something I really really wanna do. Something challenging that wont bore me in 5 min. I always start stuff then it gets boring so I rarely complete it. So yea I'm told I waste potential all the time.