Why knowing your Myers-Briggs type can help you become a more successful individual!
Perhaps you’ve heard someone mention the Myers-Briggs test before. Maybe it was mentioned in a class you took in college or you heard it on a great business scope. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality test designed to help people identify their dominant predispositions when it comes to the way they think and interact with the world, based on the writings of notable Psychiatrist, Carl Jung. When you take a Myers-Briggs test, you are asked a series of questions meant to determine which 4 dominant traits make up your personality from a possible 8 total traits. The result is that any given person can have one of 16 personality types and knowing your type, as well as the dominant traits that make up your personality, can really help you to understand yourself, your tendencies, your strengths and weaknesses. I also believe that it is helpful for you to understand the personality type of those closest to you, specifically people you live or work with on a daily basis. For this reason, many companies will have their teams take a test like this to get a better understanding of how each individual works on a physiological level, and will make sure the teams understand the personality types of each of their co-workers for harmonious and fruitful interaction!
When it comes to my Myers-Briggs type, I am an ENFJ, and I have come to memorize that personality sequence as though it was my blood type because in the online business community, more and more, knowing and understanding your Myers-Briggs type is important and you never know when you will be asked about yours!
What does that sequent of letters even mean?
Let’s talk a bit about the personality sequence and the options there are that make up the 16 total possible personality types you can score as in the test. Like I said, there are 4 dominant psychological traits and those are expressed as 4 letters in your personality type.
The first letter, in my example, E, refers to your overall focus as an individual. E stands for extroverted, which is my outward focus, the other possible option for this trait is I, which means introverted. You may already know whether you are an extrovert or introvert, introverts prefer to be alone, and aren’t necessarily the most outgoing, and extroverts enjoy being in a crowd and feel comfortable as the center of attention.
The second letter, in my example, N, refers to how you process information. I process information with my Intuition (N) but the other possible option for the second trait is to process information by Sensing (S). Because I process with my intuition, I tend to be idealistic and see the greater possibility in situations, always focusing on the bigger picture, but someone who processes information through sensing prefers to look at cold hard facts of reality and really pays attention to the nitty gritty details!
The third letter, in my example, F, refers to how you make decisions. I make my decisions through Feelings (F), which means I let my personal values guide my actions and draw upon empathy and how to bring harmony to a situation when I make a choice. The other option for this trait is to make decisions by Thinking (T) which means you use logical reasoning to strike a balance that is just and fair, as opposed to emotional reasoning.
The fourth and final letter, in my example, J, refers to how you live your life and interact with others. My natural preference in this trait is Judging (J) which means that I like to have rules, deadlines and general order in my life. The second option, Perceiving (P), means that you live life with a more flexible set of rules and tend to be more of a spontaneous person who enjoys surprises and likes to improvise as you go along.
The important thing to understand when determining your Myers-Briggs type is that no one personality or choice is better or makes you a more desirable or successful person. When you take the test or determine your dominant preferences, which you could reasonably do based on the explanations I have provided here, it is very important that you choose which trait comes natural to you, not the trait that you wish you had more of. As people, we all have dominant elements of our personalities and sometimes it’s important for us to suppress our dominant urges in certain situations. For example, someone with the Perceiving type in their personality would need to learn to follow rules and regulations at work or in certain scenarios and not act on their first impulse, but it is important to know exactly what those first impulses are. Said person would probably want to implement planning into their daily tasks to ensure they were following along with what was expected of them so that they didn’t get distracted as per their free spirit nature and fail to complete their work! If you get honest with yourself about which tendencies are your dominants, it makes it much easier to understand how to best control yourself for your own success!
What are the next steps?
So, if you want to learn more about your personality type, I suggest heading over to this website and taking their Myers-Briggs test. Once you know what your personality type is, you can do more research on their site to see your strength and weaknesses!
Once you know your type you can identify areas of sensitivity in your life where you think your dominant tendencies may be inhibiting you from being the most successful and productive version of yourself. Remember, your dominant tendencies should be honored and whenever possible it’s important to let those dominant tendencies have their moments, however, if your tendencies conflict with certain priorities in your life, understand those limitations will help you make better choices and become accountable to your own specific needs!
Finally, grab your spouse, children and perhaps some of your closest co-workers and share this information with them. The test is free to take online so this could be a fun bonding activity to see which personalities those around you have and how to best work together going forward for greater success and harmony!
I’d love to know what your Myers-Briggs personality type is, as I find this whole topic incredibly interesting! Leave me a comment down below and tell me your personality and what you’ve learned about yourself just from taking the test and reading this article! I do hope it brings you some clarity and self-awareness so motivate you become the best version of yourself possible!
xoxo,
Hi Alexis, this is a fascinating area. I have been in a couple of different sales roles since leaving Nursing and each company has their own variation of this that they use either during the recruitment process or after you start here in Australia. What has been really interesting for me has been seeing the changes in my ‘type’ as my experience and career has progressed over the last nearly 10 years.
Your email was great! I took this test about 2 years ago at my church while I was on the leadership team. This is my personality too- ENFJ, no wonder I am so attracted to your style! You will have to share with me more about the different things you like and don’t like…. I bet it’s the same! Thanks for posting this!
Just tried the test and I have exactly the same score as you!! ENFJ
I took this test in the 80’s as part of a corporate leadership program, and have taken two versions of it recently. I still get the same result, INFJ. I guess that goes to show our core personally doesn’t change much. Good thing my type description indicates writer as a good career option!
Hi, I’m INFJ. I wasn’t surprised by what the results said…it pretty much matched me to a ‘T’. Although, I feel like my introvert number was higher now than it was in a similar test I took a few years ago.
This really, really interested me. Thank you for sharing. I did the test and apparently I am a INFJ personality which in the description said is only among 1% of the population. Wow, interesting stuff!
INTJ here. This isn’t the first time I’ve taken the test, but this is the consistent result. I think the biggest impact this test has had on me, is an acceptance of why I’ve always felt “wrong” and out-of-place in many situations. Fortunately I have been lucky enough to find a specific home from home on the internet, where many of my friends share this type.
Hello Alexis 🙂 Thanks for sharing this great content as usual. I’m ESFP, quite different than you and that’s why I love what you do, I look up to you and your organisation advice:) xx
Thanks Alexis for sharing this information, I am INTJ 🙂
I’m also a rarer one: INTP. It definitely explained some things! It helped me understand why corporate jobs were so difficult and draining for me. It also helped me to prepare myself for working with opposite types. The E’s amazing energy made me want to run and hide, the S’s and E’s frustrated me with their “but THIS is reality” and “but how do they FEEL about it,” and pretty much the entire corporate world had no place for P’s. I have always hated rules and deadlines and never paid them any heed. (That isn’t bragging- it’s gotten me in a ton of trouble! College was a nightmare.) Additionally, after finally leaving the corporate life, I was identified as having Aspergers (even though it was dropped from the list). I suppose the 2 (INTP & Aspergers) go hand-in-hand. This paragraph is choppy because I need more coffee. =)
INFP here 🙂 introvert to the max. Makes being a solopreneur easy and hard at the same time. I crave interaction but am afraid of it at the same time lol
I am fascinated by the personality types. I am INFJ, and both my husband and daughter are ENFJ. I feel that these descriptions are pretty spot on and has helped them to see the reason I feel so much more restored and energized when I go up to my room and read after I have had my fill of friends and family for the day.
Thanks for sharing this great tool. Am an ESFJ.
OMG! Thank you Alexis for this article. It was an eye opener!
I first took the MB test in high school, and then several times since and the scores have remained the same. I am an INTJ. I noticed a couple of other INTJs and just to let you know that while INTJ is not the rarest (almost) personality in the world, INTJ women are – an interesting fact. I have been studying personalities for years as I find the subject fascinating! It has also helped in my marriage. Understanding each other’s personalities enables us to understand potential conflicts. While I gather my information and make a decision, my husband is a gatherer of information (I sometimes think to not make a decision.) At one point, it was a conflict, but now I just pray for patience and for God to get an answer to him sooner rather than later! I agree that knowing your personality helps you cope with all situations. I know that I have to store my energy when I know that I will be socializing or in situations where there will be a lot of people. And, then I need time to detox. Knowing my little quirks and being able to explain them to my husband (extrovert) has helped him understand my sometimes odd or unexplainable behavior. lol Like being on overload.
I have a personality! I’m an ISFP-T which makes me an Adventurer. I’m surprised!