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Monday, August 27, 2012

Bouncing Back

By Patrick L. Kerwin, MBTI® Master Practitioner

Resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.* In other words, being resilient can help you bounce back from changes that are bound to happen in your everyday life, whether they are to your school or work schedule, your relationships, or your life plans. People often think of resilience as bouncing back quickly from change. However, we all bounce back in our own way and at our own pace. There is no one “right” way to be resilient. When dealing with change, what’s important is that you know what you need, and also what your possible blind spots might be.

You can learn a lot about being resilient by looking at the first two letters of your MBTI® type. Those first two letters provide information about how you respond to change and thus what you need to bounce back. They also tell you what you might do to be even more resilient. Here’s how that works.

If your first two letters are IS (Introversion and Sensing):
• Response to change: ISs often need to spend time alone reading or gathering lots of information about the specifics of why the change is happening and exactly how the change will affect what they’re doing. Once they get all the information they need, then they bounce back and feel resilient.
• Limitation: Be careful of getting bogged down and spinning your wheels in information. Also, realize that sometimes you have to bounce back in the absence of complete information. In those cases, remind yourself that the fact is, you can’t always get all the facts.

If your first two letters are IN (Introversion and Intuition):
• Response to change: INs often need to spend time alone conceptualizing the change and processing how the change relates to other things. Once they understand how the change connects to other things, then they bounce back and feel resilient.
• Limitation: Be wary of “overswirling” in your mind about connections and possibilities. Also, realize that sometimes you have to bounce back without exploring all the connections. In those cases, remind yourself that you can continue to explore the change internally.

If your first two letters are ES (Extraversion and Sensing):
• Response to change: ESs often need to take action on the change and do something to make the change happen. Once they take action, then they bounce back and feel resilient.
• Limitation: Be careful of taking action too quickly. Also, realize that sometimes making the best bounce means slowing down. In those cases, remind yourself that slowing down is taking action.

If your first two letters are EN (Extraversion and Intuition):
• Response to change: ENs often need to explore the change with others and to identify additional changes that could be made. Once they explore the change, then they bounce back and feel resilient.
• Limitation: Be wary of making too many changes out of one change. Also, realize that sometimes you have to bounce back in the absence of exploration. In those cases, remind yourself that you can come back and revisit the change and make suggestions later.

Check in with yourself about your perceptions of what it means to be resilient. It’s easy to look at someone with a different MBTI type and think he or she is taking too long to bounce back, or is bouncing back too quickly. Remember, different types have different ways of being resilient—so bounce back in the way that’s right for you!

*Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.

 Join us Thursday, November 15th, 2012 for a free Ask an Expert webinar: MBTI® Type and Stress.




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Getting to Work

By Patrick L. Kerwin, MBTI® Master Practitioner

Whether you are exploring a major or a career, the goal is the same: eventually getting to work! There are many factors to consider when exploring a career, or the major that will lead to a career—including your interests, values, and skills, and, of course, your MBTI® personality type! You can use information about your personality type to help you make a choice that will be a really good fit for you.

First, think about your preference for Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I). How much does the career you’re considering include your preference? When I taught a college Career Planning class, I would often hear students say, “I’m an E, and I love being around people and talking to people. So I’m going to be a marriage and family therapist!” And I would often say, “That’s great—except that as a therapist, you spend a lot of your time listening, not talking! How would that be for you?”

Now that’s not to say that people who prefer Extraversion can’t be therapists. But before making that career choice, they will want to think about what it would be like for them to operate outside of their preference (that is, in Introversion) for long periods of time. In addition, they will want to explore whether there are other ways to be a therapist that would allow them to spend more time actively interacting with and talking to people, such as being a community college counselor, or perhaps also teaching as part of their work.

Second, think about the middle two letters of your type. They will tell you a lot about how you’ll approach your career, whatever it is you do. If your two middle letters are:

• ST (Sensing and Thinking), you’ll likely want to work in a way that allows you to be practical and logical
• SF (Sensing and Feeling), you’ll likely want to work in a way that allows you to be of practical service to others
• NF (Intuition and Feeling), you’ll likely want to work in a way that allows you to contribute to the growth and development of people or things
• NT (Intuition and Thinking), you’ll likely want to work in a way that allows you to be strategic and contribute to the development of systems

When choosing a career, make sure that you’ll be able to express those two middle letters in your work.

And lastly, think about your preference for Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). If you prefer Judging, how much structure will be part of your career, and how much closure will you be able to get in your work? If you prefer Perceiving, how much will you be able to explore as part of your work, and how much freedom will you have to do things on your own schedule?

Join us Thursday, November 15th, 2012 for a free Ask an Expert webinar: MBTI® Type and Stress.



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Good Decision!

By Patrick L. Kerwin, MBTI® Master Practitioner

When we’re faced with a problem, it’s natural to solve it using our natural MBTI® preferences. For example, if you prefer ISTJ and you are trying to solve a problem in your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend, it’s natural for you to:

• I: Use Introversion to spend time reflecting on the problem
• S: Use Sensing to look at the reality of the situation and practical alternatives
• T: Use Thinking to analyze the problem objectively
• J: Use Judging to come to a conclusion quickly

As natural as that might be, here’s the problem: There are eight preferences, not just four! When we solve problems using only the four preferences that are natural to us, we overlook valuable information and make lopsided decisions!

To make well-rounded, thorough decisions, we need to also engage our four opposite preferences. For an ISTJ, that would mean engaging his or her opposite preferences of E, N, F, and P. So the ISTJ would:

• E: Use Extraversion to talk to others to get their perspective on the situation
• N: Use Intuition to consider other possible ways of looking at the problem and other alternatives to solving it
• F: Use Feeling to consider how his or her boyfriend or girlfriend might feel about the situation
• P: Use Perceiving to stay open to letting the situation unfold

When you’re making a decision, remember to look at your opposite preferences, as described above. Have you taken those into account? When you use your four opposite preferences in addition to your four preferences, you won’t just make a natural decision—you’ll make a good decision!
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Friday, August 24, 2012

People who prefer Sensing are good with details

Written by Catherine Rains
Although this is often true in terms of the behaviors exhibited by an individual with a Sensing preference, it is not true of ALL people who prefer Sensing.  What is wrong with this statement is the generalization at that ALL people with this preference will exhibit this behavior or will have this skill to the same degree as others with this preference.  A way to clean up this phrase would be to say “people who prefer sensing are often (usually, typically, generally, etc.) good with details.  Again, we don’t want to use language that boxes our client into have EVERY characteristic listed for Sensing in the Introduction to Type® booklet.  Most likely someone who prefers Sensing will exhibit many or even most of the characteristics, but not always or to the same degree. There are as many ways to express Sensing (and all of the preferences) as there as people.  I like the way Isabel Myers used to describe this -  someone who prefers INFP (what she preferred) can be like all INFP’s, some INFP’s or no INFP’s.  In other words, although there are only 16 types, there are a million ways to express those 16 types, making each person unique within their own type.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Control + Alt + Delete

Regaining Balance with Insights from MBTI® Type Concepts

Written by Patrick L. Kerwin, MBTI® Master Practitioner

When your computer is acting all out of whack and nothing you do fixes it, there is one surefire solution: Control + Alt + Delete. Knowing how and when to use this combination of keys can help us take a frustrating situation and return it to normal. The same is true of our personality. When we’re stressed out, it helps to know what to do and when to get back to normal.

ISTJ and ISFJ:
Take lots of quiet time to reflect. Prioritize what needs to be done, and accomplish a task that is easy for you to complete.

INTJ and INFJ:
Do something by yourself that engages your senses, like working outside, reading a book, watching a movie, or doing a craft.

ISTP and INTP:
Take time away from the people or situation causing the stress. Get some alone time.

ISFP and INFP:
Get out in nature, or do another activity that relaxes you. Spend some alone time reflecting or meditating.

ESTP and ESFP:
Do an activity you like that distracts you from the stressor. Figure out what needs to be done to address the stressor, and get started on doing it.

ENFP and ENTP:
Get some space to reflect and refocus. Talk to a close friend.

ESTJ and ENTJ:
Talk it out with a trusted friend. Engage in physical activity. Take some time alone to think of a new approach to the stressor.

ESFJ and ENFJ:
Talk to someone who will be supportive. Take some time alone to reflect on the stressor, and to find some other ways to address it.

And this one applies to all personality types: Don’t be too hard on yourself. Everyone has out-of-character stress reactions, and you’ll eventually get yourself back to normal. It might take some time, but you’ll get there! 

 Join us Thursday, November 15th, 2012 for a free Ask an Expert webinar: MBTI® Type and Stress.
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