What's Your Type?

About 15 years ago, when I worked full-time and had no kids, I was sent to a two-week management training thingy (where we learned important professional-sounding words like "thingy"). One of the exercises we did there was get our Myers-Briggs Type Indicator evaluated.

I love tests like that, although I remember obsessing over questions such as "Which word do you prefer: mercy or justice?" (I still tear my hair out over that one.) I also recall that the seminar leader had to remind us (editors, graphic designers, etc.) not to consider words as words, but rather as concepts. It seems that she had found out that some of my more typographically inclined colleagues were choosing words with an aesthetically pleasing array of ascenders and descenders! That still cracks me up.

Anyhow, I still have my report (packrat! packrat! packrat!) and I came out as an ENFP: "Warmly enthusiastic PLANNER OF CHANGE; imaginative, individualistic; pursues inspiration with impulsive energy; seeks to understand and inspire others." However, the scorer noted an "inconsistency between word pairs [I had written "business" above that] and phrases [I had written "personal" above that] on True/False scale." I think I recall that that meant I was "almost" an ENTP instead: "Inventive, anlytical PLANNER OF CHANGE; enthusiastic and independent; pursues inspiration with impulsive energy; seeks to understand and inspire others." I think both are pretty close to describing me.

Now, in this digital age, comes the Typealizer, which has analyzed my blog and determined that I am an in fact an ESFP: "REALISTIC ADAPTER in human relationships; friendly and easy with people, highly observant of their feelings and needs; oriented to practical first-hand experience." That seems quite accurate in terms of my blog, which is mostly about my personal life. If I kept a professional blog, perhaps the Typealizer would score me differently.

It's been more than 10 years since I worked in an office environment, but I still have this clever list of MBTI Prayers that was going around back then:

ISTJ: Lord help me to relax about insignificant details beginning tomorrow at 11:41.23 a.m. EST.

ISTP: God help me to consider people's feelings, even if most of them ARE hypersensitive.

ESTP: God help me to take responsibility for my own actions, even though they're usually NOT my fault.

ESTJ: God, help me to not try to RUN everything. But, if You need some help, just ask.

ISFJ: Lord, help me to be more laid back and help me to do it EXACTLY right.

ISFP: Lord, help me to stand up for my rights (if you don't mind my asking).

ESFP: God help me to take things more seriously, especially parties and dancing.

ESFJ: God give me patience, and I mean right NOW.

INFJ: Lord help me not be a perfectionist. (Did I spell that correctly?)

INFP: God, help me to finish everything I sta

ENFP: God, help me to keep my mind on one th—Look a bird!—ing at a time.

ENFJ: God help me to do only what I can and trust you for the rest. Do you mind putting that in writing?

INTJ: Lord keep me open to others' ideas, WRONG though they may be.

INTP: Lord help me be less independent, but let me do it my way.

ENTP: Lord help me follow established procedures today. On second thought, I'll settle for a few minutes.

ENTJ: Lord, help me slow downandnotrushthroughwhatIdo.

What's your MBTI? Is that test even still used in the business world?

Comments

[Erin]

I have the Myers-Brigg book (Please Understand Me, I think) in which I believe I tested out as an INTJ. (Certainly that prayer matches what I self-identify as, hehe.) Interestingly, my personal blog is ESTP, while snowclones dot org is INTP. My Twitter comes out as ISTP.

[scott]

I am an iNtJ. (The capitals representing a high number in that direction, the lowercase ones indicating a more moderate score.) I blogged about the MBTI back in 2005, if you're curious:

http://www.scottfeldstein.net/blog/?p=942

[Florinda]

I'm either an ISFJ or ISTJ, depending on the questions asked, I suppose. However, my blog is an ESFP, which may be the first time anything about me has ever been accused of being an extrovert.

I love those MBTI prayers!

[Susan]

I am an ENFP also! One of my very good friends is an ISTJ and we say together we are a whole person. I used to make everyone at work take that test. The prayer for me is absolutely spot on.

[Nancy Friedman]

I dunno about Typealyzer. According to Wishydig, it represents the Forer effect in action: "convincing you that it's accurate because it tells you so many things that you've thought about yourself." (And I'm not citing Wishydig only because he says nice things about me, although I certainly don't mind.) http://is.gd/92XR

As for Myers-Briggs, I've tried and tried but can never remember what the initials stand for, because as I recall they aren't necessarily the first letters of the words they represent. Bleah.

Love the prayers, though. They ALL apply to me.

[TwoBusy]

My ex-colleague Sporty was huge on M-B types, and used to talk at GREAT length about her type and what it said about her and how everyone should do M-B testing and... blahblahblah. Eventually, we decided I was an ESPN and left it at that.

[Di]

I am a total ENFJ. As a matter of fact, our psych consultant at the consulting firm I worked for said that he has never seen such a high "J" in his life. But I think I have natural "P" tendencies. Since we were this group of intellectuals working there, we often referred to each other's behaviors according to our MBTI profiles. It was really funny when we referred to Deb's "p"-ness!

[Lynn]

Karen,

You and I are the same! ENFP

[Moo]

I too did the test on a training course some years back. I came out as an INTJ, but seemingly I am now an INFJ. Only 1% of the population gets this score - it's good to be different!