My husband and I were married in 1988. While you do the math, I want to mention in passing that we had not taken any personality tests at the time, so we were blissfully unaware that we were both TJs. The fact that he had firmly decided against getting married before we were both twenty years old should have raised a flag, but at the time it seemed like common sense.
Thinking is the function based on how you make decisions, found in the four-function stacking of your 16-personality type. It comes in two distinct flavors: Introverted Thinking (Ti) and Extraverted Thinking (Te).
If the final letter of your Myers-Briggs personality type is a J, you are a Judger. You’re a planner, scheduler, and list maker. Your opposite is the Perceiver. They tend to make decisions as they go, and might change their plans at the last minute.
As a Judger, last minute changes can be a real challenge to your balance. They’re also unavoidable. When they happen at work, you’re expected to roll with it and remain productive. That requires some coping skills. Fortunately, there are some strategies to help you handle these situations.
How do you look at life? According to the brilliant Swiss-American physicist Albert Einstein, our choice of how to live life is simple. “There are only two ways to live your life”, he reportedly said. “One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
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.
Type preferences mean that some personalities are more likely than others to start their own business. Last week, we looked at NT (Rationals) and NF (Idealists), the types most likely to leap into entrepreneurship, and discovered the types of businesses in which they might excel.
ESTJs are take-charge, confident people who live in the concrete world of facts and rules. As traditionalists, they like to make sure that everything is running like clockwork and that standards, laws and values are upheld. As a result, they often move into leadership roles where their strongly held beliefs can be put into action.
These go-getters don’t usually have any difficulty expressing themselves, especially when they feel someone is out of line. Their honest and straightforward approach ensures their desires are communicated clearly so that the job gets done properly.
We often encounter a misleading stereotype about Extraverts: talkative, party-loving individuals who travel in herds. Such a description matches only a few Extravert profiles such as the ESFP (The Performer) or ESTP (The Dynamo). The truth is many Extraverts have jobs or home lives that are rather isolating, and it severely drains their energy levels. If you’re an Extravert, maybe you can relate to some of these situations.
If you are like most people, you spend most of your waking hours at work. Getting along with your co-workers is not only necessary for your professional success, but also for your sanity. Whatever your own personality type, it’s likely that you’ll encounter clashing personality types and traits that make existing in your office difficult. This is why knowing these traits and how to deal with them will make work more enjoyable.
Compassion opens the door to happiness. We all want to receive compassion from others, since it shows that people see and understand us. Compassion is the mode of expression that tells us we are not alone; that hearts and arms are open for us if we choose to accept them. It is the instinct that drives someone to serve food at a homeless shelter, donate money to famine victims, or help a friend in need without expectation of reward.