Why Are Introverts So Darn Hard on Themselves?
16 July 2018 / By Jayne Thompson Clinically Reviewed by Steven Melendy, PsyD. on July 16, 2018What's your standard of perfection?
Mine is ridiculously, suffocatingly, constipatingly high.
What's your standard of perfection?
Mine is ridiculously, suffocatingly, constipatingly high.
I'm British and we're famous for how frequently we say sorry.
If we sneeze, we say sorry. If we stop someone to ask for directions, we say sorry. If you're rushing around like a reckless fool and you crash into us (your fault, not ours), we'll be the one to say sorry. It's like a verbal tic on a national scale.
It’s early on a Wednesday morning and even though I would like to sleep longer, I have already begun to prepare for the day. I got up long before dawn to prepare for a weekly task that I could never have imagined myself doing during my shy days: hosting a radio talk show at the University of Winnipeg.
In many cultures around the world, youth is associated with energy and passion. Reflective and calm personality traits are associated with being older and wiser. We are comfortable with these stigmas; however, we are slightly less comfortable when someone flips the switch.
Something I've noticed: there are more articles for INTJs out there than for any other type. And apparently, they’re all written by INTJ authors.
This means one of two things.
Either, that a handful of super-productive bloggers are churning out an ungodly amount of articles about their type. Or, there are way too many INTJs – far more than the statistics reckon there are, which is around 2 percent of the population.
You’re telling the room: any type can do anything. Personality theory is about understanding yourself better, playing to your strengths and broadening your horizons. It was never intended to pigeonhole anyone.
On the inside, you’re thinking. How can I, someone with a preference for Introversion, train groups of people as my job? My energy comes from in-depth, one-on-one conversations, not noise-filled, overstimulating group work. I’m much happier working and spending time alone.
Are you a hard worker who feels like your work regularly goes unnoticed or underappreciated? Do you set many goals but keep most of them to yourself for fear of judgment and failure? Are you desperate for success but get exhausted just thinking about attempting the traditional routes to getting there — networking and ladder climbing, among others? If you found yourself nodding along to each of these questions, you may be a sensitive and ambitious Introvert.
If you believe what you read, then running your own business is an option reserved for just a few personalities. ENTPs (Steve Jobs), ENFPs (Arianna Huffington), ENTJs (Warren Buffet) and INTJs (Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg) are hailed as the “street smart” types most likely to do well out of entrepreneurship. The thread here is the bias towards Intuition over Sensing – a tendency to focus on the future and take risks.
INTJs are the "Architect" or the "Mastermind" type of Isabel Briggs Myers' personality types. They belong to one of the rarest groups in the population, comprising only 2% worldwide. INTJ females are especially rare with only 0.8% of the world population, making it hard to find like-minded individuals and be understood by people around them.
I love to learn. In fact, when I took the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment earlier this year, Learner was listed as my top strength. I can spend hours at a time, days even, reading books about psychology and personal development and exploring inspiring ideas. I crave solitude because it means more time to feed my mind new information.
THE FINE PRINT:
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