“We all benefit when an INFP personality type goes ‘Sir Lancelot’ on the world.”
Somehow in my graduate studies on Arts Leadership, I ended up taking a personality test. With both the paid personality text on http://www.myersbriggs.org/ and the free personality test at https://www.16personalities.com – I ended up with the INFP personality type.
I’m not much for online tests, but I was really blown away by how accurately these tests described my cognitive and social function. There is the old story about the college psychology professor who hands every person in class their weekly horoscope and asks students to raise their hands if the horoscope is accurate. Usually a large percentage of the class raises their hands, only to find out that they all have the exact same horoscope. In other words, we read so much in to descriptions that seem to match us.
But this seems altogether different. I do spend a great deal of my time pondering connections and abstract thoughts. In addition, I have absolutely no time for many things that almost everyone else I know sees as essential daily or weekly activities. And the biggest one: I am unable to highly function on a project unless I feel like it is aligned to my core values.
At the Meyers Briggs website (ttp://www.myersbriggs.org/ ) they identify 16 basic personality types.
INFP personality types, according to what I have read, can easily accomplish very little life because they are only highly functioning when they feel a genuine drive that coincides with their intrinsic values.
Why is this even important? I’m have an upcoming crossroads in my career life (which as an artist is nothing new) and I find that each time I make a decision, a nagging voice comes back the next day and says “Are you really making an impact with this, or are you playing it safe?” – It’s confusing. But now, I am armed with a little knowledge on my personality type. What I’ve learned so far, which I already know from experience, is that if I play it safe I will probably fail. If I try the impossible I may also fail, but I won’t know it’s impossible if it’s totally in line with my core drive and values.
I’ve also read many articles that say the Myers Briggs personality tests are meaningless, as well as other similar tests. So maybe it is all just like that psychology 101 Horoscope Exercise. In any case, it is interesting to think about how we individually process information and how we form procedures over time for decision making.
Here are several YouTube videos on INFP personality types: