Diary of a "J"
Did you ever take the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator test? It's a very cool instrument that can tell you a lot about yourself and other people. It looks at eight different factors: Introversion, Extraversion, Sensing, Feeling, Intuitiveness, Thinking, Judging, Perceiving. I am an ISFJ. Today I want to talk about J-Judging.
Does this mean that strong "J" people sit in judgment of other people, constantly evaluating them, measuring them against an impossible standard? I hope not, but there are some who might do that.
It happens that the strongest aspect of Judging has to do with being organized. It is quite psychically satisfying for us to having a place for everything and everything in its place (as my grandmother used to say). Do you roll your belts? Have a nice neat sock drawer? Stack your pots and pans, nesting them in the cabinet? Really dig Excel charts and Access queries?
As Jeff Foxworthy would say, "You might be a 'J' if..."
I think it's a riot when a student comes into my office and reaches across and straightens things on my desk! That's a sure sign that we're dealing with a J.
My J-ness serves me well in my work, as I organize job fairs, obsessing about every detail, picking nits wherever I can find them. Since I am responsible for the technology in the office, it suits my J abilities to track serial numbers of PC's, map network drives--sounds fascinating doesn't it? The orderliness of computers appeals to me, what can I say?
I live to make an new chart for something.
Sometimes I wish I could be wild and free and wear mismatched socks, throw a purple scarf around my neck, and drive off to my artist's loft where I throw paint randomly against a canvas, not caring whether anyone buys my stuff or not.
Even J's can dream, you know.
So, are there more of us out there? How would I know if you were J?
posted by Career Guy @ 6:48 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Of course I'm a J - I am my father's daughter. I planned out in my head how best to use the space in the dumpster - garbage bags piled up at one end, saving the other end for lumber and furniture. I jumped into the dumpster often to make sure the space was used as efficiently as possible. I loved that. I told Peter that I think I've found my calling - I could get other people's houses ready for sale.
John, I attended the Boyce Bible School (it has since changed its name to College) at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary here in Louisville, KY, back in 1986-88; I graduated with a Diploma in Education Ministry. Long way of introducing the fact that "over on the Hill" (in full-fledged Seminary), all students were given the Myers-Briggs, but we Boyce people didn't get to. I'd always wished I'd gotten to.
But also, every time I've ever had some sort of "evaluation" such as M-B, the results have been pretty much what I already knew or strongly suspected about myself. No surprises.
And I suspect I'd be a J, too. However, my organization is mostly mental--I pick out my socks every morning from a laundry basket that I keep the clean ones in; my apartment is typically a mess (I shove stuff in the closets and into the bedroom and shut the doors if company is coming over); a day later, looks like nothing was ever "put away"--more precisely, "hidden". But I almost never lose anything immportant--in the midst of the mess, I know where stuff is.
Now, where did I put my...oh, there it is--my mouse, so I can click "Login and Publish" ...{click}
ISFJ--I'm a Sucker For Junk ?
ISFJ--I'm a Sucker For Junk?
John, I shyly admit that I am the wild and free fly by the heel of my mismatched socks kind of person. It's a brown scarf I wear, and one week it's paint I'm slapping on a canvas, then the next week it's words I'm jotting down in my journal.
I am extremely particular with my craft while the world falls down around me. And I wish I was the organized person I have always wanted to be.
Darlene,
I think I knew that about you. Balance is the thing. Be wild and free, but organized when you need to be.
Darlene,
I think I knew that about you. Balance is the thing. Be wild and free, but organized when you need to be.
Darlene,
I think I knew that about you. Balance is the thing. Be wild and free, but organized when you need to be.
so what does ENFP mean?
Rebecca,
Do you want a funny acronym for ENFP, or the Myers Briggs translation? If you want a funny one, or allegedly funny one, just make one up, which is what we were doing.
Nice writing! Thanks for sharing. Very witty and readable.
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