As a marketing coach who made no secret of being an Introvert, I had many business-owner clients confide to me their distaste for self-promotion.
“It’s not in me to brag,” said Len, a former corporate training company head now offering web development advice to firms in that industry.
“Marketing gurus tell us we need to show off and be in-your-face. To me that’s icky and not my personality,” said Donna, who specialized in family photography.
Introversion and extraversion are opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Few people sit right at the edges of the spectrum, however, and this means that extraverted personality types will show introverted tendencies when they need to and, likewise, Introverts will tap into their less-dominant extraverted side in certain environments and situations.
Introverts are gaining more appreciation in recent years but they may still be misunderstood and undervalued, especially in the workplace. Yet, in their quiet way they’re probably making meaningful efforts which aid in their own success, that of the company, and even of their coworkers.
“Nobody’s perfect.” Osgood Fielding III from Some Like It Hot
“Practice makes perfect.” Benjamin Franklin
“They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.” Wilt Chamberlain
Ah, the elusive concept of perfect. We’d all love to meet the perfect person for us. Live in a perfect world. Golf a perfect game.
Santa Claus is coming to town! If you were to hide behind the door and surprise this jolly old man into staying for a chat, what would you expect? Who is the man behind the myth?
Is he the mall Santa Claus? A rascal in it for the politics, publicity and a fast buck?
Is he the office Santa? Extraverted, the center of every party and into everyone’s business?
You’ve probably heard the idea that you resemble the company you keep. This theory appears in several idioms, including “Birds of a feather flock together” and “Water rises to its own level.” What about the claim that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, a quote attributed to motivational speaker Jim Rohn? Is it possible that your personality could change according to your friend group? Or any company you keep?
Let’s take a look at how this idea applies to personality theory.
INFJs spend their lives in a (semi) predictable routine. This isn’t to say that INFJs are predictable; they’re far from it. But, like any of the 16 personality types, INFJs have habits that affect their routine or how they live their lives.
If you’re a thoughtful, introverted INFJ personality, you may recognize these everyday habits as your own.
When we talk, we give clues about ourselves. From the way we speak to how long we hold eye contact for, we all drop hints and clues about our personality type every time we open our mouths.
While personality type is very individualized, there are some patterns that can tell you about someone’s personality type from the way they speak. You probably won’t get a detailed reading of someone just by talking to them for a short time, but you can get a pretty good idea of some key character traits that dominate their personality.
If you’ve been lucky enough to have them in your life, you know that INFJs are warm, giving, and supportive. They take great joy in seeing others achieve their dreams and ambitions, and they will help you in any way they can if you give them the opportunity to do so.
Adding to the delight of knowing them, INFJs are also thoughtful, curious, inquisitive, creative, and never afraid to think outside the box. In fact, they prefer to cultivate unique qualities and viewpoints, which makes them fun people to be around.
Your unique personality type is suited to particular kinds of roles in the workplace. INFJs – people with preferences for Introversion, Intuition, Feeling and Judging – seek work where they can turn their ideas into reality, creating constructive change for people.
It can be hard to figure out what kinds of jobs balance the INFJ’s need to make a difference in people’s lives with their desire for sufficient quiet processing time. But that isn’t all an INFJ needs in a job. So, let’s take a look at what they do need and some of the careers that meet those requirements.
THE FINE PRINT:
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