ENFJ
That is apparently my personality type, according to Myers-Briggs. For those not in the know, that is Extroverted-Intuitive-Feeling-Judging. I find this interesting, since according to my career counselor this is atypical for both college professors as well as engineers. Most college professors tend to be I, or introverted. This is often attributed to the fact that while academia can be and often is collaborative and collegial, the motivation for research or scholarship tends to come from within. Many engineers also tend to be more S (sensing) rather than N (intuitive) and more T (Thinking) rather than F (Feeling).
So this gives me insight as to why I might not be the happiest person in my job, since I am both an engineer and a college professor.
The other possibility is that the test is just wrong, or I answered it with bias towards a particular view.
However, from the ENFJ personality description:
"For ENFJs, relationships are everything. Because it is so important for them that other people like them, they are outgoing, friendly, and genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. They tend to be rather idealistic and use their personal values to rule their lives. They are caring, warm, and enthusiastic people, with great energy for projects or causes that they believe in."
"Because it is so important to ENFJs that they are liked, they often talk around issues or are less than direct and honest in an attempt to avoid conflict. Hence, they sometimes sacrifice their own needs and make choices that are not in their best interests in order to please others. They may choose not to see the facts that contradict their idealistic view of other people and end up disappointed or hurt."
"ENJFs are so eager to have things decided and projects finished, they sometimes rush through the information collecting stage and make hasty or flawed decisions. Wanting to always appear capable, organized, and in control, they may hesitate from asking for help or admitting they need to start over."
While it isn't perfect, I definitely see a lot of this in myself. ENFJ's are future-oriented, and have difficulty living in and enjoying the present. I know that this is definitely true for me - I am often saying to myself "If I can only get to X holiday, or Y break, I will be OK." Then of course, these dates come and go, and I am left looking forward to something else, but never really happy.
It was an interesting two-hour session with the counselor this afternoon, and I feel like I am learning something about myself. The only problem is that I *am* eager to have things decided and projects finished. I like to feel like I am making consistent progress, that I am working towards something, rather than simply existing, which is how I've felt for the last year or so. The problem here is that the path of self-discovery is rarely linear. I know instinctively that five years from now my life will be OK (it better be!) - I can take the coarse-grained view and know that writ large, everything will work out as it is supposed to. What I am decidedly having trouble with these days is the fine-grained view - the trees rather than the forest. I've forgotten how to live life on a day-to-day basis, which really, is all we have when it comes down to it.
I feel that slowly but surely I am waking up from some deep sleep, that I am rediscovering who I really am. The scary part is that I don't know how or why I forgot who I was (or thought I was) in the first place. I have been pounding this round peg into this square hole for years now, and somehow am just coming to realize that it just doesn't work.
It's liberating and terrifying at the same time.
So this gives me insight as to why I might not be the happiest person in my job, since I am both an engineer and a college professor.
The other possibility is that the test is just wrong, or I answered it with bias towards a particular view.
However, from the ENFJ personality description:
"For ENFJs, relationships are everything. Because it is so important for them that other people like them, they are outgoing, friendly, and genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. They tend to be rather idealistic and use their personal values to rule their lives. They are caring, warm, and enthusiastic people, with great energy for projects or causes that they believe in."
"Because it is so important to ENFJs that they are liked, they often talk around issues or are less than direct and honest in an attempt to avoid conflict. Hence, they sometimes sacrifice their own needs and make choices that are not in their best interests in order to please others. They may choose not to see the facts that contradict their idealistic view of other people and end up disappointed or hurt."
"ENJFs are so eager to have things decided and projects finished, they sometimes rush through the information collecting stage and make hasty or flawed decisions. Wanting to always appear capable, organized, and in control, they may hesitate from asking for help or admitting they need to start over."
While it isn't perfect, I definitely see a lot of this in myself. ENFJ's are future-oriented, and have difficulty living in and enjoying the present. I know that this is definitely true for me - I am often saying to myself "If I can only get to X holiday, or Y break, I will be OK." Then of course, these dates come and go, and I am left looking forward to something else, but never really happy.
It was an interesting two-hour session with the counselor this afternoon, and I feel like I am learning something about myself. The only problem is that I *am* eager to have things decided and projects finished. I like to feel like I am making consistent progress, that I am working towards something, rather than simply existing, which is how I've felt for the last year or so. The problem here is that the path of self-discovery is rarely linear. I know instinctively that five years from now my life will be OK (it better be!) - I can take the coarse-grained view and know that writ large, everything will work out as it is supposed to. What I am decidedly having trouble with these days is the fine-grained view - the trees rather than the forest. I've forgotten how to live life on a day-to-day basis, which really, is all we have when it comes down to it.
I feel that slowly but surely I am waking up from some deep sleep, that I am rediscovering who I really am. The scary part is that I don't know how or why I forgot who I was (or thought I was) in the first place. I have been pounding this round peg into this square hole for years now, and somehow am just coming to realize that it just doesn't work.
It's liberating and terrifying at the same time.
posted by Professor B at 9:55 PM
1 Comments:
I take the Myers-Brigg type indicator description loosely. I think it's generally accurate when it comes to personality, but worthless as a career predictor. I'm an INTJ, and have been ever since I first took the test in high school. But though the personality description is fairly accurate, career-wise it pegs me as a scientist.
We all approach our fields from different perspectives and bring different skills to those tasks, and I think the popular notions about which personalities "work" with certain careers--that, say, artists are dreamy and flakey and scientists are logical and humorless--are usually quite wrong, or at the best contain only a germ of truth.
Which isn't to say that I don't think it's useful that you're learning more about yourself--I do--but probably the way to approach your career dilemma is to think about the aspects that initially drew you to your field, and the ones you currently find most rewarding, and then figure out how either to emphasize those or to move into a different field that DOES allow you to emphasize them.
(Oh, and GWB is an extrovert--obviously!--and he's a college professor. As a teacher, it's very helpful to be an extrovert)
Here endeth the lecture.
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