from the front door to the car
Description of a personality type according to MBTI
INFP – Introvert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perception
It’s been said that a person who is INFP is someone who gets lost between the front door and the car. I am INFP and that statement describes me very well.
An INFP can take so many side-trips (physical, intellectual, and emotional) that the goal of getting to the car is lost.
An INFP can take so many side-trips (physical, intellectual, and emotional) that the goal of getting to the car is lost.
You might expect, then, that an INFP would lack organizational ability. This isn’t true, because the less dominant Thinking and Judging functions can be summoned to assist an INFP.
Calvin of “Calvin and Hobbes” is sometimes taken as an example of INFP. Calvin seems normal to me. But I recognize Hobbes, the tiger. He’s the practical aspect that deals with the world.
While it’s healthy to summon a recessive trait, to awaken a sleeping tiger, it’s also healthy to restrain it. The business world demands Thinking and Judging skills. Under this pressure, an INFP might summon the recessive TJ and give it the starring role, rather than its natural supporting role. If the role reversal becomes permanent, the personal cost is too high. INFPs in this situation are likely to have success, money, friends, and misery. They gave the whole show to TJ, who is exhausted, while poor FP starves.
Calvin of “Calvin and Hobbes” is sometimes taken as an example of INFP. Calvin seems normal to me. But I recognize Hobbes, the tiger. He’s the practical aspect that deals with the world.
While it’s healthy to summon a recessive trait, to awaken a sleeping tiger, it’s also healthy to restrain it. The business world demands Thinking and Judging skills. Under this pressure, an INFP might summon the recessive TJ and give it the starring role, rather than its natural supporting role. If the role reversal becomes permanent, the personal cost is too high. INFPs in this situation are likely to have success, money, friends, and misery. They gave the whole show to TJ, who is exhausted, while poor FP starves.
Is INFP handicapped, then, in the business world? Not at all! A good example is my own specialty – what office workers call “putting out fires.” My INFP plays the major role, flitting from crisis to crisis, analyzing and solving, while my supporting TJ takes notes. In truth, INFP carries the notepad; TJ writes in it. INFP deals with the issues. TJ makes notes, writes memos, and keeps records. The unstructured job kept me happy as INFP. It’s important to distinguish the kind of decisions that I was happy with: they were based on long experience in a complicated field with right answers. I knew the right answers. This isn’t the same as making snap decisions in unprecedented situations, which would not be ideal for an INFP at all.
An area where an INFP needs guidance is setting goals. Goals are often built into a job description, which can simplify business life. Personally, however, an INFP might need prodding and guidance. For instance, as their first goal, many people would write, “Pay off mortgage.” Mine was, “Swim with dolphins.” Obviously, a nudge from a recessive trait would be useful.
Now that we’ve set goals and steps to achieve them, we have only to follow the path to the goals. In other words, we have to try to get from the front door to the car. It can be done if INFP is continually hip-checked back onto the path by TJ. But unrelieved attention to goals will result in a frustrated INFP driving a car that she has come to loathe.
Now that we’ve set goals and steps to achieve them, we have only to follow the path to the goals. In other words, we have to try to get from the front door to the car. It can be done if INFP is continually hip-checked back onto the path by TJ. But unrelieved attention to goals will result in a frustrated INFP driving a car that she has come to loathe.
No, INFP must take detours to encounter the world through Intuition, to evaluate by Feeling, and to exercise Perception. TJ, with the maps, lists, and pie-charts, must stand aside. At agreed intervals, TJ can bump INFP back onto the path. After many happy detours and returns, INFP will succeed in getting from the front door to the car – goal achieved!
© Chris McDonough 2008