A few days ago I was watching an episode of “Quantico” and they were profiling people using their personality types. I LOVE personality tests! My friends and I used to take them all the time, and my favorite is Myers-Briggs.

It had been a while since I’d read through mine, and I have some big changes coming in my life, so I Googled it. Spot on, as always. But it was really encouraging to read it again.

Here’s a bit about me from one website:

INFJ, “The Advocate”

The INFJ personality type is very rare, making up less than one percent of the population, but they nonetheless leave their mark on the world. As Diplomats (NF), they have an inborn sense of idealism and morality, but what sets them apart is the accompanying Judging (J) trait – INFJs are not idle dreamers, but people capable of taking concrete steps to realize their goals and make a lasting positive impact.

INFJs tend to see helping others as their purpose in life, but while people with this personality type can be found engaging rescue efforts and doing charity work, their real passion is to get to the heart of the issue so that people need not be rescued at all.

INFJs indeed share a very unique combination of traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will rarely use that energy for personal gain – INFJs will act with creativity, imagination, conviction and sensitivity not to create advantage, but to create balance. Egalitarianism and karma are very attractive ideas to INFJs, and they tend to believe that nothing would help the world so much as using love and compassion to soften the hearts of tyrants.

INFJs find it easy to make connections with others, and have a talent for warm, sensitive language, speaking in human terms, rather than with pure logic and fact. It makes sense that their friends and colleagues will come to think of them as quiet Extroverted types, but they would all do well to remember that INFJs need time alone to decompress and recharge, and to not become too alarmed when they suddenly withdraw. INFJs take great care of other’s feelings, and they expect the favor to be returned – sometimes that means giving them the space they need for a few days.

Really though, it is most important for INFJs to remember to take care of themselves. The passion of their convictions is perfectly capable of carrying them past their breaking point and if their zeal gets out of hand, they can find themselves exhausted, unhealthy and stressed. This becomes especially apparent when INFJs find themselves up against conflict and criticism – their sensitivity forces them to do everything they can to evade these seemingly personal attacks, but when the circumstances are unavoidable, they can fight back in highly irrational, unhelpful ways.

To INFJs, the world is a place full of inequity – but it doesn’t have to be. No other personality type is better suited to create a movement to right a wrong, no matter how big or small. INFJs just need to remember that while they’re busy taking care of the world, they need to take care of themselves, too.

Additionally:

• Strengths: Creative, insightful, inspiring and convicting, decisive, determined, altruistic and passionate.
• Weaknesses: Sensitive, extremely private, perfectionist, always need a cause and can burn out easily.
• INFJs are likely to find that most corporate career paths are not designed for them, but for those focused on status and material gain.
• Many INFJs struggle to begin a career early on because they see ten wildly different paths forward, each with its own intrinsic rewards, alluring but also heartbreaking, because each means abandoning so much else.
• INFJs are complex, deep and intensely private. Their life’s mission is to develop and guide others. Personal growth drives them and anything short of that pursuit is meaningless to them. They are passionate and devoted to the causes they believe in. INFJs live their life with a great sense of purpose.
• INFJs direct their energy inward. They are energized by spending time alone and have a few close friends. They are independent and deliberate. INFJs are highly intuitive and are deep thinkers. Their thought process is complex and abstract. They are idealistic and future-focused.
• INFJs are Feelers that make decisions with their heart.
• INFJs love to learn. Their whole existence is wrapped around growth. They are on a constant quest to improve and untangle more questions. They are gifted at deciphering the connections and profound meaning of things. They are interested in theoretical and abstract concepts that can be applied to people and relationships.
• Famous INFJs include: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Jefferson, Oprah, Agatha Christie, Leo Tolstoy, Edward Norton, Cate Blanchett, Princess Diana and Benedict Cumberbatch.
• Fictional INFJs include: Luke Skywalker, the Tinman, Kermit the Frog, Frodo Baggins, Martha Jones, Fox Mulder and Albus Dumbledore.

If you’d like to read the entire profile, you can do that here.

And if you’d like to take the test for free, you can also do that on this site, which I really liked. Here is another one that I pulled a few things from, but you can Google and find a bunch.

If you’ve never done this before, I highly encourage you to. It’s very illuminating! Learning these profiles and being able to identify them in others has helped me know how to interact with others better both personally and professionally, and also gain new understanding about myself. I’ve found them to be incredibly useful in a number of ways.

Give it a try! And when you know your letters, list them below along with one thing you love about your personality type.

 

August 2018 update:

I’ve also recently discovered the book, The INFJ Writer, by Lauren Sapala. Loved it, and highly recommend! It shed even more light from me on my personality type. It’s also a quick read, so dig in when you get the chance!