INTJ

The actually signifies Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging, but this needs a little explanation:

Introverted is aligned not with shyness etc. but whether the person needs others as an expression of themselves or gets energy from others. So an introverted means that they are self-activated.

An Intuitive person means that they believe the information that they themselves have received from the internal or imaginative world.

Anyway, the results did not really surprise me. But it got me to wonder whether I’ve turned out like that because of the things I’ve done in my life to date or that some of the trends are inherent. I looked back at what I assess were significant decision points and experiences in my life and felt that some of them had clearly had a life-changing impact and some were following a preferred path but some, as a I remember, were rather less significant at the time or less serious but turned out to be significant in hindsight.

I certainly think that my degree choice was significant - I still to this day over quarter of a century later have people surprised that I chose to study Theoretical Physics. I am still interested but realise that my interest is very much at a somewhat knowledgeable member of the public. But the scientific outlook still remains. Again a career as a school teacher, though at this time occupied about a quarter of my working life (this first quarter) has left me indelibly marked as having a teacher’s perspective - and this comes out even today in my desire to assist people to understand, the importance and practice of good communication, etc. My personal decision to follow Christ as an adult, and this is not meant to be a cliché, was and is still a life-changing event. This also has imbued me with new attitudes and outlooks.

There are others, but I wonder where some of the drivers to make the choices I made came from. I’m not so sure that everything is inherent - or “in your genes” as I believe that there is choice, which no doubt is another discussion. Did I make such choices because I was already pre-disposed to that route or was there a post-event change that shaped me? I’m not sure - but I’d probably say both, and that means that there may be a cascade effect that as your make choices that reinforce outlooks then the next choice is more likely to go the same direction. But sometimes I feel that we sense we’re constrained and make a leap - almost deliberately to be unexpected (or perverse).

I was intrigued to read some of the perspectives of an INTJ and several rang very true.