type – ology

For as long as I could remember I scored a consistent "Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging" on the good old Myers-Briggs Personality Type Inventory. That made sense to me at the time. I tended to be reserved, critical, thought through everything before making any decision, never felt good enough because I was an obsessive perfectionist, and very focused on everything almost, and sometimes, to a fault.

I recently took it again and came up radically different as an "Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving." I am still trying to figure some of this out but it makes sense. I no longer like isolation from others and like to be around people. I long for deeper relationships with people and I tend to get depressed or down when my day or week lacks conversations with people. I get depressed if not surrounded by "interesting" people and have a lot of skill at doing a quick assessment of a group dynamic and then nudging that group in a certain direction. In other words I can synthesize what people are saying, read their body language, and intuit the next steps. This makes committee work and strategic planning actually kind of fun for me since I get to do just this with other people. The description here is almost perfectly spot on.

If you knew me in college you could see some of this personality when I got comfortable, but it took a long while for me to warm up, for the most part. Now what I have noticed is that if I don't have an environment that helps generally nurture these traits, I literally get depressed.

So following Kristin, I decided to give another perspective on personality with another set of questions. At this point I am too familiar with the question in the MBTI so it's hard for me to give an honest result. So I took the RHETI or Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator. I wanted to see if this was at least in the ball park with my most recent personality type. This is what I found.

On this test I am between a "6" and a "7." That means…

Type Six
The Loyalist
The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others.

Type Seven
The Enthusiast
The busy, productive type. Sevens are extroverted, optimistic, versatile, and spontaneous. Playful, high-spirited, and practical, they can also misapply their many talents, becoming over-extended, scattered, and undisciplined. They constantly seek new and exciting experiences, but can become distracted and exhausted by staying on the go. They typically have problems with impatience and impulsiveness. At their Best: they focus their talents on worthwhile goals, becoming appreciative, joyous, and satisfied.

The similarities with this test result to the MBTI are striking. It almost seems like my "INTJ" part literally "held" my "ENTP" self and now it has reversed. I still have the INTJ quality, but the ENTP has gradually shifted to become the dominant side of my personality. And I think this happened a while ago without me knowing.

In 2004 I told Brenna (my wife) that I was depressed because I thought we were boring. She told me, "We're not boring, you just need friends. Why not start drumming in a band again, and get out." What I did not know then is that I was literally no longer comfortable in my own skin and I had to start shifting my behaviors to be more at home in the world. This is still the case and I think I am finally owning the fact that I am no longer the shy kid who was perfectly fine all by himself without the pressures of being social getting in the way of creativity. Now I need the social to be creative.

So what type are you?

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