Coming to Terms with my Inner ENTJ
So, these past few weeks have actually been more difficult than I let on. Something happened that left me in a pretty wrecked state: I accepted that I really am an ENTJ.
For those of you who don’t know, ENTJ comes from theories developed by psychologist, Carl Jung, which later was developed into a test by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. Each letter represents a principle psychological function that we experience the world through. Those four principles are: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. Now, I am still not a PRO on this subject, but Wikipedia obviously is, so if you’re interested in how this baby works you can educate yourself here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator.
Now, if you’re not familiar with this type of test, I know what you’re thinking: that it’s just one of those astrology-like tests or something where everything can kind of apply to you. That particular line of thinking would be false, though, as I was skeptical, myself, and looked at most of the other results. Looking at them I had mixed results of “Oh, yep, I hate those types of people”, “Those folks are all right, but they aren’t me” , and “Okay we’re kind of similar. I can see where I may have fallen along those lines, but I am cooler”.
And that initial thinking of mine lasted for a good ten minutes. I read this beautiful blurb describing me in ways that I couldn’t have thought of to describe myself. A part of me wanted to hug my computer and cry softly saying, “You really know me!”. I did not get to do that; however, as shortly after taking the test, I found out who else had my results.
Sauron. Napoleon. Julius Caesar. Lex Luther. Emperor Palpatine. Vegeta. Sue Sylvester. Frank Costello. Adam Sutler. Hans Gruber. Colonel Tavington. Shan Yu. Lewis Prothero. Amber Volakis. King Edward Longshanks. Petyr Baelish.
For those of who who don’t know, we don’t like a single one of these people. Sure, they may be cool in “You’re one of the best villains created”, but no one would actually like to know them personally. Okay, maybe Frank Costello [from The Departed] – but just because of Jack Nicholson.
So like most normal people, I wrestled with this. Have I been wasting all of my efforts trying to fight for good? I could be like this epic super-villain. What am I doing trying to save animals and join Bible studies. Then, one name had the ability to drown out all my fears…
Batman.
That instantly puts anyone in a better mood. Since then, I have found other people – both real and imaginary – who fall into this category who have used their talents for good. Miss Frizzle is one of them. The only thing that was slightly evil about her was her hair. But other than that- golden!
But what is the point of all this? Everything needs a point. The point is that this test actually helped me better understand myself, and I feel that I have a much better lens when it comes to viewing my strengths and weaknesses. Now, when my mom tells me that I’m a crazy control-freak that wants to take over the world, I can let her know that that’s simply not true. When certain leadership roles become vacant, due to my natural desire for order to be maintained, I will volunteer for positions until a suitable replacement can be made. I also learned that ENTJ makes up an extremely small percentage of the population, with it being more common in males than females. So this whole “My thinking feels more aligned to guys” is a real thing. I am not psycho. Well, maybe I am…but there’s a logical explanation for it.
The point is two-fold. Two-fold things are awesome. So point two is that you should take this test. Maybe you’re not as interested in details as I am. Maybe this whole thing doesn’t fascinate you. I do not understand you, but hey, just don’t tell me that you didn’t want to take it, and I won’t judge you.
In all seriousness though, I have tried to make an effort in studying leadership for the past three to four years, and one thing that I think has helped me the most is learning more about myself. Each time I have learned something such as my main love languages, my Spiritual gifts, etc. I have genuinely grown in my understanding of myself, and have actually been able to have a better life due understanding how I “work”.
God made us in specific ways (I’m not sure if this is a third point or just point B of point two). He gave us all unique talents and personalities, and with those He means for us to serve others and develop relationships. In order to do that to our fullest abilities, I believe that we need to take the time to analyze ourselves a bit. By knowing what our strengths are, we can seek out service in those particular areas and continue to grow. On the flip side, by knowing our weaknesses, we can become attentive to that area and have knowledge of that sensitivity, and hopefully, not let that get in the way of what we can accomplish and what relationships we can build.
So I’m excited that I am a weird, little freak. It’s different and I’m certainly not always a pleasant person, but it makes me unique, and God has clearly shown me that He’s using it for good and not to destroy the world…yet.
[ Oh, also, here is a link to take the test. Now, the best one I found is on the website OkCupid. It is a dating website and you need a profile to take it. I either suggest that you make a really basic profile with no real information, or you find another one. What? I can’t do all the work for you. ]
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-long-scientific-personality-test
xxMegan
I stopped using okc a few weeks ago after one too many awkward dates lol. My coworker showed me cliqie.com and I’m a big fan of that over the others in terms of actually meeting people vs. just entertainment. It has a different approach that feels less sketchy cause you and your friends essentially act as “wingmen”. I like that it helps you find things to do too. Skout’s okay too, but still has it’s fair share of creepers
Oh okay. I am actually not interested in online dating. I just like taking quizzes. Even my profile says that I am not interested in finding anyone over the site. It always looked a little sketchy to me too 🙂
I’m a big fan of Meyers-Briggs. We all took it at our intern training for Cru-it’s helpful for team purposes too- being able to have insight into how people think, make decisions, function incredibly different than we ourselves do. It’s easy to think the way another person does things, functions …etc. is wrong, or worse than the way we would choose as an individual to do things, when many times it is just different.