[Deliberator]

Hello, I am new to this forum. I figure this would be the ideal place to go on a short dissertation about why my personality type is so interested in my personality type, including itty bitty details such as the true percentage of my J function (which is apparently hinging on P as well).

Of course what makes this all particularly funny is that even though I've had "Work on your senior thesis" on my permanent desktop to-do list for 5 months I am constantly coming up with different ways to procrastinate on it, including this rambling essay. Can a person be a planner/listmaker and a procrastinator at once? In need of serious responsibility while shirking it at the same time? Odd thing indeed. Ah, the duality of the human spirit.

I suppose many of you know that INTJ's can be very impersonal and are apparently most likely to be atheist. That does not come as a surprise to me, because despite my fervent efforts to be a genuine Christian, I've slipped into a joyous, non-religious lifestyle. Honestly, I've never been happier. Finally, freedom to think as I see fit! I don't see myself pulling a CS Lewis on this one.

Anyway, I digress. Perhaps this preoccupation with myself comes from a deeply rooted desire to logically analyze something that is immediately applicable/accessible but still marvelously complex; sheer bliss for the INTJ! I am not ashamed to say either that I really haven't spent much time trying to understand other personality types except those in my immediate family... why would I want to analyze someone without already having experienced them in person? Then I can say, "aha! That behavior fits HERE" and put in another piece of the puzzle. This puzzle process is the way I live my life; every article or conversation is analyzed for its underlying meaning in some kind of standardized format (within my head of course) and then applied to the big picture, the system of laws by which our world operates. Of course we make wonderful scientists.

Can our personalities change? I used to be uninterested in science, but instead fulfilled those same desires through philosophy and religion (was also quite artistic). It turned out religion was a letdown since it was so illogical/unfounded and philosophy was worse as it literally lead to "and the conclusion is that there is no conclusion". Perhaps that's how I knew that I was an INTJ; an INTP could be happy as a philosopher, whereas I could not.

Allow myself to introduce myself. If my alias is too much of a mouthful (or, since you'd be typing it, a handful?) you can call me Bess. Nice to meet you.

[Sean O]

Hi, Bess. I agree that the self is a fascinating thing to analyze and understand, particularly because deeper understanding of one's self usually leads to being more competent in your life as a whole.

	Originally Posted by Deliberator
	Can our personalities change?

Well, this depends on what your idea of the scope of the word "personality" is. If it includes things like hobbies, interests, values, beliefs, etc., then certainly it can change with time. If instead you take it to simply refer to the general trends in what makes a person "tick", then I think it would be more accurate to say that personalities evolve.

Take me for example. I am most definitely an INTJ. However, I am fairly expressive, and I'm comfortable with and aware of both my own feelings and the feelings of others (which contradicts my T preference). I also have good social skills and am very personable (which contradicts my I preference, although E vs I is more of a disposition than it is a preference). I wasn't always this way, but through being open to developing aspects of myself that I wasn't very in tune with before, my personality evolved. Anyone can develop sides of themselves that they don't naturally function with as long as they're open to it.

P.S. We're INTJs; unlike most of the rest of the world, words like "Deliberator" are easy for us.
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[reb]

Bess,

do you find anything better to be obsessed with? obsession, thy name is intj.
reb

[Allie]

Hi Bess. How do you do?

Why are we so obsessed with ourselves?

Most likely because we are obsessive about self improvements, is my guess.

[Chilibean13]

I am also new to this forum. I actually just learned that I am INTJ, and I am thrilled about it!

I am so obsessed with me. If I don't need/like/want/have a reason for something, I find it completely pointless and a waste of time. This actually drives my husband insane because he likes to argue for the sake of arguing. If we aren't getting to some sort of consensus or conclusion, I don't want to hear it.

I was surprised by your statement that most INTJs are atheists. Perhaps I'm an exception to the rule. I am a die hard born again Christian. Like you, I searched and tried all different kinds of beliefs before finding Christianity, and it stuck.

IN answer to your question, yes it is possible to be an obsessed list maker yet still procrastinate. At work I have a to-do list of things that are not pressing or important. They've been on my to-do list for weeks. The things that must get done are finished in no time at all, and when those things are done, I work on something that is far more important than entering a list of email addresses into my contact list.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone.

[clam]

i spend a day of the week reflecting on my actions and work from the previous days. I think this doesn't constitute as obsession, but just a need to fine-tune and improve our own worth in our lives, which requires what others may see as self obsession.

[Monte314]

It's selection bias. What group of people would be expected to join a Forum based on introspection? Probably people obsessed with themselves.

[Deliberator]

Yeah. I guess I'm only obsessed since last night when I got distracted from schoolwork and retook the personality test. Finding a forum that totally exploits all of our analytical natures is just terrible... I'll never be able to get anything done!

[Wuchak]

Bess, you wrote a lot to which I could respond. But I'll stick with your title question. As an INTJ, with five decades of experience, I'm not in the least obsessed with myself. However, I am obsessed with whatever system of thought, mental exercise, pursuit of knowledge, or acquisition of competency I'm working on at any given moment. When I finish with that one, I pick one of the hundred others that are flying around wildly in my intuition and obsess on that one for a while.
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[Grace]

Originally Posted by Wuchak To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Bess, you wrote a lot to which I could respond. But I'll stick with your title question. As an INTJ, with five decades of experience, I'm not in the least obsessed with myself. However, I am obsessed with whatever system of thought, mental exercise, pursuit of knowledge, or acquisition of competency I'm working on at any given moment. When I finish with that one, I pick one of the hundred others that are flying around wildly in my intuition and obsess on that one for a while. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Yes, I'm with Wuchak. The gathering of information is the good part. Regurgitating is worthy of procrastination...

[mayumi]

heehee..I'm obsessed with myself.

You wouldn't find an ESFJ doing a forum like this, spending hours and hours reading and posting. But lots of INTJ and INTPs do it.

Perhaps it's the strong introversion. And unlike an INF, an INT would rather pick apart a personality and pin it down than ...i cant find a word.... see their soul? What would an INF call it? NFs are more obsessed with themselves than NTs are. They're more self conscious, and constantly aware of how others see them.

And when you're with a particularly sensitive and apprehensive NF, they'll tell you constantly how other people see you. Annoying.

[Deliberator]

Originally Posted by Wuchak To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Bess, you wrote a lot to which I could respond. But I'll stick with your title question. As an INTJ, with five decades of experience, I'm not in the least obsessed with myself. However, I am obsessed with whatever system of thought, mental exercise, pursuit of knowledge, or acquisition of competency I'm working on at any given moment. When I finish with that one, I pick one of the hundred others that are flying around wildly in my intuition and obsess on that one for a while. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Wow, story of my short life.

Anyway, I hope nobody took that question too seriously... but overtones of playfulness don't travel well over great distances. In any case it just warms my heart to see people as unabashedly analytical as I am, despite the supposed irrelevance and/or abstract nature of the topic in question (deciding on J vs P for example).

And I apologize for my rambly first post. I am apt to do that.

[WyeMe]

	Originally Posted by Deliberator To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Can a person be a planner/listmaker and a procrastinator at once? In need of serious responsibility while shirking it at the same time? Odd thing indeed. Ah, the duality of the human spirit.

I've beat myself up for this endlessly. A reason occurred to me some time ago that makes sense but still annoys me.

{Humility implied}
There have been countless times when I've had a paper due either for work or school that I just could not force myself to start until just before it was expected. I could at the eleventh hour, however, spit out a masterpiece in a single sitting without a rough draft. After dwelling on each of these instances for some time after & then collectively, my procrastination appears to be related to one of two reasons.

1. The assignment was so uninteresting &/or unchallenging that I subconsciously waited until the last minute to increase the challenge.

2. The paper was floating around inside my subconscious already completed & waiting to be dictated.

I take no pride in this however because I'd rather just complete everything in advance & forego all of the guilt & shame:>

[Deliberator]

	Originally Posted by WyeMe To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	The assignment was so uninteresting &/or unchallenging that I subconsciously waited until the last minute to increase the challenge.

EXACTLY. This was me before I went into science. Biology is a lot of comprehension of complex interactions mixed with lots of memorization; if you don't study appropriately you fail no matter who you are. When I was a philosophy major I would always wait until the last day to finish anything. The good thing about philosophy though is that it forces you to think. And so I did; I thought to myself, "hm... if I don't switch majors I'll never have a job." Well, took care of that problem.

My husband has this behavior as well, only worse. He was enrolled in an online course through a community college last summer and waited until the last day to do half of the exams and turn in the assignments. As you can imagine, that was a very chaotic day. But who cares? At least it's not boring.

[volk]

I get obsessed with everything, including myself. My theory is that it's because I'm so eager to find out how everything works and in order to do that you have to spend a considerable amount of time studying the subject. However now that I'm writing this next sentence I begin to think that maybe it's my tendency to get obsessed with things that drives my motivation to learn about their workings. My theory nr 2 is that obsession comes from the fact that we are so introverted and tend to live within our thoughts. Introversion drives me to selecting a number of hobbies and sticking to them because I feel more comfortable doing something familiar than trying something new. That leads me to focus on a limited number of things, which can be equaled to obsession with these things. Hmm, but this theory does not seem to hold either for the exact same reason as the first one.. I think I'm obsessed with trying to come up with flawless explanations for everything.

[acyckowski]

I can't believe nobody else has said this yet.....

I have no idea why you're so obssessed with yourself, I'm much more interesting.

Welcome home.

[Aeroscoper]

Bess,

Nice to see another Christian around these parts. I'm relatively new here as well and I came to similar conclusions, but it was pointed out to me that the majority of the posters here are relatively young, with many still in school. Not that that alone should make a ton of difference, but relevant nevertheless. By the way, my schooling in science is what lead me to Jesus after college. To me the Bible is very systematic and logical. If interested I love talking about it, but not so much with people that don't have the eyes and ears for it. I've got to work on that.

To answer your question, it seems that our types are geared much more for inner-reflection than most other types. The ISTJ types in my life are mildly interested at best, find it ridiculous at worst. The ESTX's I know act is if I'm trying to mess with their minds whenever I talk about the subject. NF's that I know have mixed feelings. My wife loves some of the information and implications, but I also recognize that she struggles with the fact that there are others like her. (She cherishes her "uniqueness").

For me personally, I found a lot of healing through MBTI. I think I'm not the only INTJ that has grown up surrounded by confused, and sometimes, mean, S's. Considering N's, and INTJ's especially, are so rare, it was fascinating to find others similar to myself.

And of course once that occurred, now it's a pursuit to attempt to apply it practically to my life. Once I've explored it to its fullest I'm sure it'll be on to the next systematic theoretical concept to keep me interested.
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Welcome and go vote in my polls.
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[Antares]

Why are we obsessed with ourselves? Well, I fascinate me. I enthrall me, because I'm the only one I can completely understand in depth, and I'm the only one who would completely understand me. I am my own best friend, and nobody else can fill that role. If I don't get to know something in depth, I'm not interested in it. That is probably why I'm obsessed with myself, I can ONLY be obsessed with myself!

[dogwoodlover]

	Originally Posted by Deliberator To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Perhaps that's how I knew that I was an INTJ; an INTP could be happy as a philosopher, whereas I could not.

Hello, Bess.

I would contest this statement. I am a philosophy major (though I am admittedly in the process of changing to a science major, probably physics) and there has been a long and rich tradition of INTJ philosophers. Examples would include names like Kant, Nietzsche, Plato, Aristotle (probably), Rorty. I know that at least three of my philosophy professors were INTJs.

That said, I do think INTPs are more of the "philosophical" type with INTJs being the more "scientific" type.

[Deliberator]

Originally Posted by dogwoodlover To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hello, Bess. I would contest this statement. I am a philosophy major (though I am admittedly in the process of changing to a science major, probably physics) and there has been a long and rich tradition of INTJ philosophers. Examples would include names like Kant, Nietzsche, Plato, Aristotle (probably), Rorty. I know that at least three of my philosophy professors were INTJs. That said, I do think INTPs are more of the "philosophical" type with INTJs being the more "scientific" type.

True; generalizing will never get one anywhere in life, although it is awfully fun to try.
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Deliberator added to this post, 2 minutes and 2 seconds later...

	Originally Posted by Aeroscoper To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Nice to see another Christian around these parts.

Just to clarify, I'm not really a Christian anymore, but I used to really try hard to be one. I've even read the entire Bible. Who knows, maybe it's just a phase and I'll snap out of it eventually...

[Arceus]

I think I'm obsessed with myself because I'm so different from the people around me. I'm the only one who truly understands myself, and it will always be that way. So I'm an awesome system that is so different and complex that I love to spend hours and hours on end analyzing myself and trying to find a pattern in an always evolving environment...

[Autoptic]

"...it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence- that which makes its truth, its meaning- its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream- alone..." Joseph Conrad

[True Rune]

Probably because I still haven't quite figured myself out yet..
Too many questions, while having too many things to do.
-_-; I'll make use of it all, someday!

[demaugustus]

Because we have an Ni.

[KOTM]

I'm new here.
We'll catch up later.

I'm always obsessing about who I am and how I can improve myself. In my mind, I will never be good enough. I've scoured the Internet looking for reasons behind my "weird" behavior. I honestly want to know who I am and why. That's what I obsess about on a daily basis.