ENFP: Myers-Briggs
This is hardly the first time I have heard of the Myers-Briggs personality test. As someone with a keen interests in all things psychology from a young age, I first discovered the test when I was but twelve years old and sifting through my mother’s career-guiding self-help books. At twelve I was high on the dimensions of ENFP, and ten years later those are still my results. A recent discovery, however, is the website 16personalities.com, with impressive graphics and thorough profiles of each “personality”, it is an incredible source of self-discovery. The website breaks the profile down into sections of: Strengths&Weaknesses, Romantic Relationships, Friendships, Parenthood, Career Paths, and Workplace Habits. Each section details how your personality results effect these domains.
Exploring the results from this test more deeply has been incredibly eye-opening and a growing experience, helping me navigate life events through a lens of understanding. After having many of my friends take the test, even the non psychologically-inclined ones, they were not as positive in reading their personality profiles as I was. For them, it was too accurate a depiction of them and was more frightening than it was eye-opening. A friend of mine described his experience taking the test and seeing the results akin to listening to a fortune teller, only more accurate. Although some cannot handle the eerie spot-on feel of reading your personality profile, I continue to revisit it and use it as a guiding point for navigating relationships and life events.
As an ENFP some of my weaknesses are my inability to focus, poor practical skills, and knack for overthinking things. This has been an especially important thing to identify in an academic setting that favours a focused, practical and one-track-minded attitude above all else. Identifying and working on these weaknesses has been one of the biggest benefits of taking the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. That said, some people worry that having a profile that details weaknesses as well as strength may inhibit your potential.
What do you think? Would reading a profile detailing your personality dimensions help or hurt you?
