Empowering career search and enrichment

Written by Catherine Rains

Let’s face it – we live in a J world. ESTJ to be exact. Most organizations, and most schools in the U.S., validate people who exhibit Judging behaviors. From birth, you are taught to get things done on time, arrive early, keep your room neat, use a day timer, keep lots of lists, make decisions and stick to them, etc. Ok, I admit it, I’m talking about myself. I was raised as a Judging kid, by a wonderful Judging father. He was so successful at raising me as a J that I thought I was one until I turned 33.


What changed? Well my type didn’t. I was ALWAYS a P undercover, even to myself. What changed is what happened when I turned 33. At that point in my life I was the director of a college career center, managing 10 professionals. For the first time, I was able to do things in a manner that I preferred, without a boss managing my daily actions. Through the process of learning to be a manager, I realized that I had always been a Perceiver, who was trained as a J to survive in a J world.

Don’t get me wrong – I am very grateful that my father taught me Judging skills. They have greatly added to the success of my professional life. However, now I can easily access my J skills when appropriate (and it often is), and can bring in my preference for Perceiving to make the process much easier and more fun.

Stay tuned for the next excerpt on this exciting series on the “world of P”!