INFJ Doodles

A very practical developer gave me some “comforting” perspective. It’s sometimes good to reset your expectations against a norm. However, if that bar can often be too low.

It’s odd to think of the things that are unpleasant that others enjoy doing, or often enjoying helping with. And, tasks that are bad alone are often fun with the right company. (And how can you not be cheerful when you with someone who is telling you how awesome the thing you guys are doing is?)

When someone says such a thing it’s usually coming from an emotional “I don’t want you here” angle. Not with factual, “you can go deal with your family stuff because the things will still get done” intent. 

It was really funny hearing two SPs talk about choosing a guitar to an ISTJ. He (the ISTJ) needs data to be able to compare what feels right. The baseline is this not that rather than this just is (is being feels right or wrong). 

Quoting ISTJ I work with (he shaved his beard and looks 15 years younger, weiiird). I think most IJs I know have this mentality. If I do stuff well, you should see it. I shouldn’t need to self-promate.

That’s especially strong with ISTJs, they can have a rougher go round with interviewing and getting in somewhere because they won’t really self-promate. They just end up doing most of the work.

I know one that likes rocking out and wears eyeliner, he doesn’t fit the SJ “all hail the establishment” stereotype. The one I work with is great at absorbing data and doing black magic with it. ISTJs will quietly do 80% of the work, only if you’re paying attention will you see how much they get done.

An INFJ can learn a lot from an ISTP in their 40s. Far enough along that introverted intuition is old hand. I worked with one such, a man I adore. I’ve never told him, that summer I learnt more from him than anyone else. I know if I slathered NF affection on him I would get Ti quips in return. It wasn’t through anything he said, it was watching how he worked and emulating that. He frequently sketched diagrams to explain things, talking and doing. When I started doing that, it was like discovering a superpower! By doing that I had a physical touchstone to the idea and could talk about how to build things in a very real way.

SJs, but ISJs in particular, also often have memory superpowers.

Quoting the ISTJ I work with. Work is a thing he needs to be doing, the drive to do and solve problems is really ingrained in him. I suspect many of the men that have trouble with retirement (“how do I not work?”) are probably SJs.

I adore the ISTJ I work with. Mostly I love how much he dislikes humanity. There’s a darker sense of humor that you don’t necessarily expect from SJs (being billed with a builder of society stereotype). I can’t always tell when he’s joking, sometimes it’s just so unexpected.