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Are you an ENTP and wonder why you can't get things done when working for yourself?

ZackerySprague

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Hello friends, are you an ENTP? Are you struggling with finishing things? Are you wondering why you can't seem to follow the monk-like discipline you crave so much?

This post is for you. (ps: This post may also apply to INTP, INFP, and ENFP, but it's not guaranteed. It has been primarily written for my fellow ENTP in mind.)

If you are a bit like me, and you probably are, you admire people of the ENTJ or INTJ types. The Elon Musks, the smart lads with the incredible power of execution.

They decide to do something and they just do it.

And you want that power, you want to be awesome at execution...

You have so many ideas (that you believe are amazing and revolutionary) if you concretize those ideas you will be on top of the world, don't you?

But when you start to work on them on your own, as a side-project or a business, your work ethic is gone, nowhere to be seen.

That's weird because you have an incredible work ethic everywhere else, be it at your job or in a team. You are always craving to learn more and become better. You always produce top-grade stuff and you are relentless. You are proud of this. And people agree with that statement.

You then, think you can make it out on your own, as skillful as you are, it would be a shame not to try.

But when you take the leap, you come to quickly realize, it's gonna be hard than expected.

First obstacle? Yourself.

You just can't seem to do what you know needs to be done.

You face a procrastination level more intense than anything you've never met in your life. Except maybe for that time you wanted to confess your love to your crush as a teenager.

You need to understand you are not a cold-blooded strategist that will follow a plan to completion.

You must understand this: You are an explorer! You go where your interest leads you. And when you are motivated by a will to explore your curiosity, YOU ARE UNSTOPPABLE.

The other side of the coin says, when you are disinterested in the tasks at hand, you feel bored as hell and will probably find a way to escape from doing the tasks at hand.

Your driving force is not the perspective of making shit loads of cash, neither it is the perspective of freedom, and sorry to break it to you, your driving force is not your desire to change the world for the better.

Your driving force is your curiosity. This is your motor.

With curiosity, you are a tsunami. Nothing will get in the way of the answer you seek.

Without curiosity, you are very good at finding excuses to not do what bores you out.

Why does it matter?

It matters because you will probably do the following mistake...

You will decide on a goal and following contemporary advice decide to make it S.M.A.R.T. Which basically means realistic with an arbitrary deadline.

Your strategizing mind will help you devise a sound plan of action, and your knack for creativity help you discerned a way you can even kill two birds with one stone.

You talk about it with whoever might be willing to listen and you feel on top of the world.

The first day? You are killing it. The second day? You are killing it.

The third day, you get sidetracked...

One month later? You haven't even achieved 10% of what you set out to do.

You were supposed to be able to do it in three months by focusing intensely.

Now, this seem very compromised. You feel miserable and guilty. You wonder if you are any good at anything.

This scenario keeps happening again, again, and again... Until you give up or you stumble upon the truth.

Let's give a closer look at your primary hypothesis.

So you were thinking you can do it in just three months by focusing intensely?

Well good news, you were half right.

You can do it...

...But not in three months.

Why?

Because even though you can focus intensely consistently on the subject you are curious about.

You can't stay curious about the same subject consistently.

So your curiosity will lead you to places you can't predict.

You just know one thing for sure, if you were interested in something one day, you will be interested in that thing again. You just can't predict when.

You will actually bring that project to completion effortlessly, but not in the shortest time possible.

Instead of the three months, you estimated, it will likely be six to nine months.

And that's ok, because that won't be the only thing you have done in those six to nine months.

You have an unprecedented capacity for multithreading, you just can't allocate all your threads to one project. It must be different projects. This is how you are.

If you are curious about something, you will want to drop the ball on your current project to satisfy your curiosity. And you must do it.

But every time you follow your curiosity you must find a way to get away with more than just knowledge.

Unused knowledge is ephemeral, vanishing as swiftly as it was acquired.

You must build something from the fruit of your recently acquired knowledge that will stand the test of time and bring you a small but lasting advantage.

It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be there.

THE KEY THING TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS: You must shift from a consumer to a producer.

You must start producing stuff. Start businesses, start a blog, do everything you want, but DO. (keyword do, not just read about/learn about etc....)

It's normal for you to getting informed about something you are interested in, but you need to act on it. You must build something out of it. You must share it with the world.

You must create things and release them in the world. I REPEAT. You must create things and release them in the word.

You don't have to follow a great mastermind plan, you don't have to follow a routine or fixed planning. You don't have to torture yourself to heck out every last bit of productivity there's inside you.

You just need to listen to yourself and follow your curiosity. And to do it everyday.

Your strength is the speed at which you can pivot.

You can change your mind and start working on something different than what you were doing, at full speed, and immediately.

You can survey a complicated question an bring back multiple possible answers at the speed of light.

You are impulsive and adaptable. You can do anything you want because you will always find a way... As long as you are interested.

This surges of productivity come at a cost. Your interest in a particular thing has a very short shelf-life.
One to two days top. Sometimes it's less than a couple of hours.

If you don't catch the wave of curiosity, it's gone, and sometimes it's gone for several weeks or months.

So expecting yourself to work on the same project, without interruptions every day for three months in a row? ... You are being oblivious to your own nature, my friend.

You probably know that by now, the biggest predictor of entrepreneurial success is consistency.

Then how can you expect success if you can't stay on track and schedule for more than two weeks?

You need to build a different kind of consistency than a rigid routine and prison-like tight schedules.

You need to play on your strength: Explore and Exploit ASAP.

Don't explore something without bringing back a treasure from your adventure.


Examples:

  • You were curious about nutrition and muscle-growth gym regimen? You binge-learned every possible way to do it (instead of doing your job lol). You just acquired way too much knowledge to expect yourself to remember it a week from now. So applying it consistently? Out of your league.
    The solution? Swiftly assemble a training and nutrition guide based on what you just explored, package it in a nice PDF, and then share it with the world. You can decide to monetize it or just to share it for free on a forum, it doesn't matter. It will help some people, and that's good for your karma. Second benefit, the day you will want to actually go to the gym, you can just follow your own guideline. Two birds, one stone.
  • You are learning Python and discover the weird world of Decorators and Closures. This stuff is basically out of your league and at your level you will probably never use it. But you can't shake off the feeling. You start binging and learning mystical stuff. Before you go back to the real world to what will actually move you forward in the grand scheme of things, put on together in one shot a blog post that you will publish on Medium behind the paywall. Boom! Three birds, one stone: Personal Branding & Portfolio : check; a very slim source of additional passive income: check; a quick way to retrieve your long-lost knowledge about closures when you finally need it, three years from now: check.
  • Well you see the idea, indulge your instinct and before the honeymoon ends, build something that will last. In this way, you will shift from an inconsistent being to a prolific and polymath builder. You will shift from consumer to producer.







So by now, if you are an ENTP, you are probably envisioning what I am talking about.

I want to add a couple of other points... Playing on your strength also means you need to mitigate your weakness.

Your strength and weaknesses are two faces of the same coin. You can't get one without the other.

During my short time on earth as an entrepreneurial ENTP, I have summarized below everything I know about mitigating our innate weaknesses.









Weakness mitigation tips #1: You can only respect HARD DEADLINES.

There's two kind of deadlines: HARD deadlines and SOFT deadlines.

HARD deadlines are deadlines you must respect. When you are under hard deadlines, you work like crazy to respect them. Those are often imposed by a promise or the external environment. Hard Deadlines are why you have so much work ethic when you work for somebody else.

SOFT deadlines are deadlines you don't have obligation to respect. Basically they are deadlines you can bullshit yourselves out of easily. Often those are arbitrary and self-imposed, for example, SMART Goals. Soft deadlines are why you have so few work ethic when you work for yourself.

The litmus test is simple, "Can I find a way to not respect that deadline?".
If you start generating a thousand ideas about how to do so, then it's a soft deadline and this deadline means nothing to you and will bring you nothing. (except guilt)


So you being too clever may start to think? "Oh, gotcha I just need to change every deadline into a HARD deadline".

NO! Don't do this. The only way to do this is to take risks and to put yourself at a disadvantage. You are basically gambling on yourself just to create the pressure necessary to do the work. This is a horrible way to live your life.

(ex of this destructive behavior: Damaging relationships just to be sure you will do something. Wasting all your money to let the pressure of feeding your family let you work like crazy, etc...)

As an ENTP what you crave is freedom, this way of proceeding (a.k.a. burn your bridges) is the polar opposite of freedom. It will make you feel miserable and burn you out, also it sucks because you are destructing what you build to build more. This is terrible. Don't do it.

Just understand that soft deadlines mean nothing to you and plan accordingly.

Don't gamble on a deadline you can bullshit yourself out of.

Soft deadlines are a distraction to you, those are noise. SMART goals stuff like that, forget those, they don't work with you.

But also, don't take on too many hard deadlines at the same time.

Those hard deadlines are like prison chains to you. And what you crave is freedom.

If you enchain yourself too much, you will burnout.


This leave the question. How an ENTP can get stuff done?

Weakness Mitigation tip #2: Boredom is like a steel wall to you. You can't get through it and have to wait for the door of curiosity to open.

So what should I do? The ENTP equivalent of taking massive actions.

You must play to your strength and mitigate your weakness.

Follow your curiosity and build something from your exploration. Build it quickly, in a couple of hours or max. You must build it before your curiosity wither.

Understand that boredom is your limit. You can only go through boredom excruciatingly. This is your hard deadline for every project, you must finish the milestone before boredom takes you and your curiosity wants to go somewhere else.

A quick note about perfection?
What you build must never be perfect. Perfection is your enemy, it makes you anxious and buries you in analysis paralysis. (= you don't do shit and feel shitty about it)

What should I do when I am bored with a project and want to do something else?

You must stop and do something else. You will get back to the project eventually if you were interested once, you will be interested twice.

Weakness Mitigation tip #3: Don't make plans more detailed than a rough outline.

A detailed and carefully crafted plan is wasted on you... You will never follow it through.

Don't spend time creating detailed stratagems to get to your goals. THIS IS A WASTE OF TIME, DO SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD.

You are tactical and agile. The time horizon you can plan on is limited to a couple of hours. It's very short.

For the long term, you can guess how things are gonna roughly. Your intuition power is often on point.

It's even more powerful when you feed your intuition with data. How do you get your data?

Every time you want to plan your future, turn to your past instead and log what you have been doing in the last few days.

You want to empirically determine your speed of production. Take the time to keep track of what you did during the day.

You can use this basic template:

Questions to gather data about your explorations:
1. What have I been interested in the last few day?
2. How did I go about exploring that interests?
3. What did I get out of it?
4. How long did it took?
5. What have I build-out of what I discovered? How have I used it?
6. How long did it took?
7. Is there thing I can do better next time? Things I need to avoid next time?


Answer those questions every two to three days. (Optimally, every time you finish a cycle of Exploration / Exploitation)

Store those answers in a way you can easily access those later. (Don't just write on a spare napkin and throw it away).

Weakness Mitigation tip # 4: Don't try to follow a perfect routine.

In the same way, hard deadlines are a chain to you, trying to respect arbitrary daily planning will lower your available energy for the day.

Instead, have a shortlist of 5 mandatory items you must do during the day and that you can do quickly.

If you can't cross every item of that list in less than 100 minutes, the list is too long.

An example can be:
  • Meditate 10 minutes.
  • Walk the dog.
  • Do the dishes.
  • Quick workout at the gym.
  • Write in my journal.
Sometimes you will meditate in the morning, sometimes before you go to bed, sometimes during the commute. Doesn't matter, you need the flexibility to do things when you are ready for those.

What matters is that you crossed every item of the list, not when you crossed those.

The rest of the day, follow your curiosity relentlessly and get something out of it.

Weakness Mitigation tip #5: Keep your Anxiety in check... It keeps your from entering a Flow state.

First of all, You must strive to get into Flow. Getting into flow every day is your bread and butter as an ENTP.

Though there's one thing that can keep you from entering a Flow state even if you are well rested, in good health, and will push you to immediate-rewards behavior.(ex:... alcohol, infinite scrolling, eating way too much sugar, gambling, buying spree, opening 200+ tabs on your web browser about a shitty subject you don't even care about)

This thing is Anxiety.

You must learn to effectively manage your anxiety level. Because when highly stressed and without a hard deadline, you are basically dysfunctional and will get nothing done.
(Please remember that high-stress level and hard pressure to get things done is a miserable way to live your life. It's okay once in a while but don't abuse it.)

So do things that help you rest and recover. Make a conscious effort to recover and balance your innate restlessness.
Examples:
- Sport you genuinely enjoy
- Meditation
- Light encounter with your social circle
- Playing games
- Read books unrelated to your goals. (fiction, or history)
- Get a massage.
- Dance, Concert, Restaurant
- Journaling, gratitudes etc...

Weakness Mitigation tip #6: Inject a bit of order in your life.

Then, because you are so future and possibly oriented you need help to organize things that happened in your past.
  • Some of us are a mess when it comes to meetings and time constraints or remembering special events like birthdays. Get a calendar, note everything inside, check it often.
  • Your life memory is foggy at best and can't remember specifics even if you try hard, it often means you are totally wrong about your achievements and efforts (often wrongly believe you never did anything right) ⇒ Spend time every day to journal about your life, log your decisions and log your achievements. Include specifics like mood, time spent on task etc... When in doubt about what you have been doing, you can read those logs to help you access data you would have forget otherwise.
  • Revisiting your life is very difficult for you as you get immediately distracted. If you believe you have a trauma from your childhood (and most people have) Consider going to a psychologist who will guide you through the fumes of your past.
  • You want a boost of productivity and increase your odds of success in the short term. Get an accountability coach that will help you add some order in your life. (Getting a coach is one of the ways to help you achieve soft deadlines you would not be able to honor otherwise), it also helps you clarify and be more surgical about your focus.
  • You forget the things your family / entourage needs you to do (do the laundry, send wishes for birthday etc...)

Weakness Mitigation tip #7: Become more aware of your mind, thoughts and body.

You must strive to be aware of your mental state, to identify when you start to get bored and must finish asap or to identify when you are curious about something.

The best way to do so is to practice mindfulness meditation (yes seriously) and to do sports that demand to be aware of the mind-body connection.

This will help you be more tuned toward your sensations and thoughts. Which is key to live a more fluid and free life.

Weakness Mitigation tip #8: GET RID OF YOUR PHONE / SOCIAL MEDIA
Phones are engineered to suck your attention away from whatever your doing. Your attention is a raw resource they monetize.

As an ENTP you are curious and novelty-seeker, and you are very competent at indulging your curiosity for hours on end.


Attention vampires have access to brilliant minds that they pay a lot to spend their day engineering way to suck your attention for the sake of ad profits.


Against a phone, you are at the bottom of the food chain.

PHONES ARE YOUR NATURAL ENEMY.

Possible solutions to mitigate the damage from your phone:
- Destroy it.
- Use apps blocker like
STAY-FOCUSED (android)
- Use phone blocker like FOREST.
(ps: it doubles as a Pomodoro app, and is gamified which makes you less likely to bypass it, you sly fox)
- Use a way to track and realize how much time you waste on your phone, like STAY-FOCUSED. (prepare to be shocked)
- Change the color of your phone in grey-scale or invert white/black, attention vampires use flashy colors to suck you in, you can fight that by getting rid of colors.
How to do it with iPhone here, and how to do it with Android here.
- Destroy it.

- Buy a NOKIA 3310, a hand-held GPS, a vintage MP3 player, a nice watch, and a paper agenda. If you think about it, everybody has a phone so you don't really need one, as you can just ask to borrow the functionality you lack.

I repeat. GET RID OF YOUR PHONE. Thank me later.

Weakness Mitigation tip #9: You don't do well in a pond of sharks, you need a supportive and encouraging environment.


You are trusting and willing to see the best face of everyone you meet. You want to collaborate and share your knowledge.

You are good in a team and with people, especially when you can assume everybody is on the same side.

You want to trust people, and you usually demonstrate trust first. Keep doing that, it's one of your competitive edges.

But a word of caution, trusting people first doesn't mean people should be safe double-crossing you.

Of course, some foe will want to abuse your willingness to help.

If somebody abuses your trusting identity YOU MUST RETALIATE. I am serious.

You will know when somebody abuses your kindness. Your Machiavellian side will know immediately. DON'T MAKE EXCUSES FOR THE VILLAINS.

THEY CROSS YOU, YOU CROSS THEM. PERIOD.

ONCE YOU HAVE DEMONSTRATED YOU CAN BITE AS WELL AS YOU CAN SMILE
and both sides are bleeding, YOU CAN THEN SHOW FORGIVENESS.

AFTER ALL, YOU DON'T LIKE CONFLICT.


This assumes that you are evolving in an environment where people willing to screw you are an anomaly, and most people are on your side.

If you realize that people wanting to screw you over are the norm, then you are in a pond of shark AND YOU MUST RUNAWAY ASAP.

Let the evil political game and the House of Cards vibe for the people who thrive in those corrosive environments.

This is not you.

You will thrive more in a group that is trusting and encouraging, united in a common cause.

The fact that you have a developed Machiavellian mind doesn't mean you must use it at 100%.

If people around you are mean, calculating, or vain. Leave, without looking back.

Weakness Mitigation tip #10: Don't bet on speed. Build an advantage for the long game instead.

Because, when you start out as an ENTP, you will never be the first to arrive somewhere...
(When you will become an experienced ENTP, this will change, as your tactical velocity will be unheard of, but when you start, well... You are not the fastest.)
... You must not pick your battles based on rewards correlated with a short time to arrival... (Example, you are starting out with dropshipping, you see everybody is going for fidget spinners. Don't go for it, you will arrive after the battle.)
... Instead, You must pick your battle based on long term compounded rewards. (Example, learning skills that are difficult and valuable to master. Code, Copywriting, Writing, Consulting.)

Then once you start to have an edge that is difficult to replicate...(Example; you are a blockchain enthusiast, but you probably know things more in-depth than most of the other blockchain enthusiasts.)
... Pick a battle that will complement it and that triggers your curiosity (Example, starting a blog about blockchain + learning how to do first-class SEO).

Even though everybody was faster than you in the short run... (Example, your accountability partner Tom became a millionaire just in two years, and you were still in your parent basement)
... On the long run, you will establish a valuable strategic advantage that is hard for anybody else to replicate. (Example: Five years later, your Blockchain blog is ranked first on google and is monetized with ads, You keep getting people asking you to interview you and you started a consulting business about blockchain. You never made that much money in your life and you now have a strong network. You basically do what you want, when you want, with who you want, from anywhere you want.).




....


Alright I am getting bored, just one last thing before we go...

TLDR: implement the code written below in your daily life. It will do the trick, I know you will figure out the specifics on your own.


ENTP?

Be Patient and Restless




You must be patient in the long term.

You will get where you want.

But you won't get there in the shortest amount of time possible.

Because you will take so many detours.

So be patient.




You must be restless in the sort term.

Want to explore an option, fine, do it.

Go all the way.

Unleash your curiosity.

... But you must make a pact with yourself.

Every time you unleash your curiosity, you must build a memento and share it with the world.

A simple recipe...


1/ Explore until bored.

2/ Quickly build something valuable for others.

3/ Share it to the people who most need it.


You are an explorer and every time you go on an adventure, you bring back wonderful treasures, undiscovered before.

Promise yourself you won't keep those treasures to yourself and will share those with the world.

Once your oath is taken, go.

Explore.

Follow your curiosity relentlessly.

Everyday.

You are free now.




BONUS:

What does it look like when you are not playing to your strength and mitigating your weakness?:


You are doing something, let's call it interest A. You begin to be interested in interest B.
You decide to keep doing interest A.
You slowly get bored and pick up your phone.
Five hours later, you haven't finished working on interest A.
You feel guilty and have trouble falling asleep this evening.
You wake up, lethargic, it takes you four hours before finally getting to work on interest A.
It's excruciatingly boring but you manage to finish it. You begin to be interested in interest C.
You repress it and start working on interest B.
And so on and so on....

It feels like an uphill battle.

Also, it's depressing because you know your current velocity of execution is nowhere near your actual potential...


What does it look like when you play to your strength and mitigate your weaknesses?

You are doing something, let's call it interest A. You begin to be interested in interest B.

You switch your focus on interest B.
Five hours later you know everything you could know about interest B. You are still hungry for more.
You decide to produce something about your discovery.
(for the sake of example and to give you an idea of what it could be, let's say it's an article you will put on medium behind the paywall and you include a bait to your newsletter.)
Three hours later you are done with the building phase, you share it with the world and go to bed.
You feel good and sleep well.
You wake up, early in the morning, your interest for interest A is back and you feel the urge to do something about it.
You jump out of bed and start working asap, forgetting breakfast. By noon you are done with interest A.
You begin to be interested in interest C. You start working immediately on interest C.
And so on and so on.

You are prolific and restless. Your cumulative speed of production is unheard of. You are proud of you.

Could you have been done with interest A sooner if you had double down on it? No. You can't get away with boredom. This is your limit.

This is why you need to be patient. You are like a wind vane, you keep turning. So you will get there. You just won't get there by the shortest path.

This is why you need to be restless. Because you have to take the detour and answer the calling of your curiosity, you have to move as fast as possible, or you will never finish anything.



....


Hope it helps,

Rémi

P.S.: Btw, from my slim understanding of typology, this can maybe apply also to INFP, ENFP, and INTP.

I am actually glad, I have found this post.

To be quite honest. I took the Myers-briggs test and was classified as a ENTP-T.

Everything he said above actually fits. No matter how much I try to stick to a routine, it doesn't work. My curiosity runs out pretty fast.

I have sent tons of money on courses because of my curiosity, but yet fail to follow through the same.

I first started out with Amazon FBA back in 2018. Sounded like a pretty good business model, I had the cash to spend (on credit of course) but yet did not purchase any inventory because I did not have the confidence to do so.

I then found Shopify Dropshipping as an alternative model to Amazon FBA and to my surprise I had a break-through last year selling a skincare product using Facebook Ads. But did not have the cash flow to keep with up the advertising costs.

Then I studied Social Media Marketing or servicing others helping them with their Facebook Ads, however I get the feeling of Imposter Syndrome due to not spending a ton of money with running Facebook Ads. So thus, I don't reach out to any potential prospects that may or may not need help. In all honesty, your clients might be most of dropshippers with 30% profit margins.

Right now my current profession is Information Technology, but I have hit a bump in the road to where I am not learning any new skills for the past two years. It's a work at home job that pays well.

My current problem is that I am out of idea's to explore that interest me. Therefore I feel like I am in depression state if you will?

It's almost as if we are to create businesses that require our attention that impacts others that will stand against the test of time without us being present once our interest for that business expires.

I can't seem to think of anything at this present moment.

I also explain to my friends that routine is just not in our nature. It's very hard to commit to a scheduled routine or let a lone build up discipline based on an interest once it expires.
 
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My current problem is that I am out of idea's to explore that interest me. There I feel like I am in depression state if you will?
I also explain to my friends that routine is just not in our nature. It's very hard to commit to a scheduled routine or let a lone build up discipline based on an interest once it expires.
It's almost as if we are to create businesses that require our attention that impacts others that will stand against the test of time without us being present once our interest for that business expires.
I appreciate you sharing the depression, Zack. First step is self-compassion. Knowing you're not alone and setting the intention to be kind to yourself. I sometimes think I'm out of ideas but I know that can't be true. The real issue for me is, will this idea be worth the work.

And now the issue is clear: what will be the overarching idea that is a big need for many people, that I can tag my various ideas of curiosity too. I like Knicks suggestion very much: learn a skill. This reminds me of past successes where I was able to stick with learning programming over many years. I suppose my curiosity was successfully played with because each day would be a new page to program - a new function, a new way to connect with and use the database. It remained fun until I got to the challenge of Object Oriented Programming and hit a wall. Learning a skill over time is another great framework around which we can tag all our curiosities.

On routine, have you heard of "Priming" or the "Miracle Morning" (I think I also read about this in James Clear's book "Atomic Habits")... basic idea: do your routine first thing in the morning. Whatever is most important to you. I do meditation, visualization, affirmation, gratitude, prayer, reading, and exercise. Before my "will power" (aka ENxP curiosity energy) runs out.

We can kick a$$.

Let's do this!
 

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It's almost as if we are to create businesses that require our attention that impacts others that will stand against the test of time without us being present once our interest for that business expires.

I can't seem to think of anything at this present moment.

I also explain to my friends that routine is just not in our nature. It's very hard to commit to a scheduled routine or let a lone build up discipline based on an interest once it expires.

Hey I've come to a similar conclusion.

But to rectify just one bit, I believe your interest is sort-of cyclic, not ephemeral, one day shining bright to never be seen again.

You curiosity about a subject is like the seasons it will come again, not like a shooting star. You have to take that into account, creating way to easily get back on track when the season come again. By being overly pessimistic you fail to see lines of play, by thinking your interest has vanished for good, you might take actions that are akin to auto-sabottage while thinking your doing the right thing.

One time-period you care about A, the next one about B, the next one about C, the next one about A again...

So the idea is to build a system that will be able to go on during the time period you don't want to put maximal effort in it.

From the way I see it (and I'm pretty sure there's more perspectives than those, I just don't see those yet)

The system you build need to (1.) have a system of checkpoint, (2.) some inertia or resilience built into it.

To solve (1.) the question is:
What happen if you stop working on the business and, one day, decide to come back. Do you have to start it all from scratch? The answer must be "not really"
Why does it matter? The easiesr it is to build the system incrementally, the more likely you are to keep coming back to it and make progress here and then.

To solve (2.) the question is:
What happen if you suddenly stop working on the business despite being uber-motivated the day before? The answer must be along the line of "It keeps going".
Why does it matter? First, if it stops working if you don't work on it, you fill guilt and guilt will criple you. Second, you it means every time you come back to it, you can improve the system and it will work better and better as time passes.


Some generic idea:

In term of "passive" income,
Invest in Real Estate and find a way to rent it so you are cashflow positive (do the maths!) on the transaction.
Repeat, fine-tune.
Why it works: one piece at a time your building a portfolio that will keep growing.

In term of funnel acquisition,
- maybe focus more on building organic growth thanks to automated system (like SEO) that can keep pushing lead into the funnel while you sleep instead of focusing on stuff that requires micro-management (like FB ads or affilitation).
- just buy the lead to somebody who know how to do lead acquisition so that you can just wire a certain amount automatically every month and keep the leads coming.
- set up shop in a market place that will keep leads flowing in exchange of a comission etc...

In term of funnel sales,
- maybe focus more on setting up a simple automated sales funnels that you can optimize every now and then.

Also some line of work have checkpoints built-in the progression

For example, freelancing, at the beginning it's hard but the more you do it and learn about it the more you realize you will never "go-back". The mindset and set of skills you learn will keep you from that.

So maybe you can start freelancing on the side, learn the rope, learn new skills thanks to freelancing and the variety of situation it offers (in contrast with a job where it's same ol' same ol' everyday)

Still with freelancing, you can sell retainers to client, (which means recurring income with high return-on-time invested).

Parting thoughts
By no mean it's an exhaustiv list of the options you have, this is just a sample from my own limited understanding of the subject. I just hope to help you see a new perspective that you can explore on your own, so that you can find the answers that fit your game of life.

Hope it helps,

Rémi
 
Last edited:

Simon Angel

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I appreciate you sharing the depression, Zack. First step is self-compassion. Knowing you're not alone and setting the intention to be kind to yourself. I sometimes think I'm out of ideas but I know that can't be true. The real issue for me is, will this idea be worth the work.

And now the issue is clear: what will be the overarching idea that is a big need for many people, that I can tag my various ideas of curiosity too. I like Knicks suggestion very much: learn a skill. This reminds me of past successes where I was able to stick with learning programming over many years. I suppose my curiosity was successfully played with because each day would be a new page to program - a new function, a new way to connect with and use the database. It remained fun until I got to the challenge of Object Oriented Programming and hit a wall. Learning a skill over time is another great framework around which we can tag all our curiosities.

On routine, have you heard of "Priming" or the "Miracle Morning" (I think I also read about this in James Clear's book "Atomic Habits")... basic idea: do your routine first thing in the morning. Whatever is most important to you. I do meditation, visualization, affirmation, gratitude, prayer, reading, and exercise. Before my "will power" (aka ENxP curiosity energy) runs out.

We can kick a$$.

Let's do this!

Was just going through your post and noticed some clear "function speak" in your sentences, so I figured I'd share:

I appreciate you sharing the depression, Zack.

Introverted Feeling (Fi)

First step is self-compassion. Knowing you're not alone and setting the intention to be kind to yourself

Extroverted Thinking (Te) followed by Introverted Feeling (Fi)

The real issue for me is, will this idea be worth the work.

Extroverted Thinking (Te)

And now the issue is clear: what will be the overarching idea that is a big need for many people, that I can tag my various ideas of curiosity too. I like Knicks suggestion very much: learn a skill.

Extroverted Thinking (Te)
This reminds me of past successes where I was able to stick with learning programming over many years

Introverted Sensing (Si)

I suppose my curiosity was successfully played with because each day would be a new page to program - a new function, a new way to connect with and use the database. It remained fun until I got to the challenge of Object Oriented Programming and hit a wall. Learning a skill over time is another great framework around which we can tag all our curiosities.

Extroverted Intuition (Ne), obvious lack of Introverted Thinking (Ti), and Ne again.

On routine, have you heard of "Priming" or the "Miracle Morning" (I think I also read about this in James Clear's book "Atomic Habits")... basic idea: do your routine first thing in the morning. Whatever is most important to you. I do meditation, visualization, affirmation, gratitude, prayer, reading, and exercise. Before my "will power" (aka ENxP curiosity energy) runs out.

Te, Si.

Possible MBTI types: ENFP
 
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ZackerySprague

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Was just going through your post and noticed some clear "function speak" in your sentences, so I figured I'd share:



Introverted Feeling (Fi)



Extroverted Thinking (Te) followed by Introverted Feeling (Fi)



Extroverted Thinking (Te)



Extroverted Thinking (Te)


Introverted Sensing (Si)



Extroverted Intuition (Ne), obvious lack of Introverted Thinking (Ti), and Ne again.



Te, Si.

Possible MBTI types: ENFP
Oops wrong reply my bad!
 
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Thanks so much Simon! It’s fun gaining understanding. And it’s a great way to further learn these cognitive functions, which can be confusing at first.

One thing I realized today: in the past, I’ve used Marie Kondo’s ‘Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ (does this spark joy?) to clear out a lot of stuff.

I don’t have to do so much of that anymore; having cyclic interests in so many things, hi can keep some of the tools and equipment that I use for these various hobbies :)
 

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Hey I've come to a similar conclusion.

But to rectify just one bit, I believe your interest is sort-of cyclic, not ephemeral, one day shining bright to never be seen again.

You curiosity about a subject is like the seasons it will come again, not like a shooting star. You have to take that into account, creating way to easily get back on track when the season come again. By being overly pessimistic you fail to see lines of play, by thinking your interest has vanished for good, you might take actions that are akin to auto-sabottage while thinking your doing the right thing.

One time-period you care about A, the next one about B, the next one about C, the next one about A again...

So the idea is to build a system that will be able to go on during the time period you don't want to put maximal effort in it.

From the way I see it (and I'm pretty sure there's more perspectives than those, I just don't see those yet)

The system you build need to (1.) have a system of checkpoint, (2.) some inertia or resilience built into it.

To solve (1.) the question is:

Why does it matter? The easiesr it is to build the system incrementally, the more likely you are to keep coming back to it and make progress here and then.

To solve (2.) the question is:

Why does it matter?
First, if it stops working if you don't work on it, you fill guilt and guilt will criple you. Second, you it means every time you come back to it, you can improve the system and it will work better and better as time passes.


Some generic idea:

In term of "passive" income,
Invest in Real Estate and find a way to rent it so you are cashflow positive (do the maths!) on the transaction.
Repeat, fine-tune.
Why it works: one piece at a time your building a portfolio that will keep growing.

In term of funnel acquisition,
- maybe focus more on building organic growth thanks to automated system (like SEO) that can keep pushing lead into the funnel while you sleep instead of focusing on stuff that requires micro-management (like FB ads or affilitation).
- just buy the lead to somebody who know how to do lead acquisition so that you can just wire a certain amount automatically every month and keep the leads coming.
- set up shop in a market place that will keep leads flowing in exchange of a comission etc...

In term of funnel sales,
- maybe focus more on setting up a simple automated sales funnels that you can optimize every now and then.

Also some line of work have checkpoints built-in the progression

For example, freelancing, at the beginning it's hard but the more you do it and learn about it the more you realize you will never "go-back". The mindset and set of skills you learn will keep you from that.

So maybe you can start freelancing on the side, learn the rope, learn new skills thanks to freelancing and the variety of situation it offers (in contrast with a job where it's same ol' same ol' everyday)

Still with freelancing, you can sell retainers to client, (which means recurring income with high return-on-time invested).

Parting thoughts
By no mean it's an exhaustiv list of the options you have, this is just a sample from my own limited understanding of the subject. I just hope to help you see a new perspective that you can explore on your own, so that you can find the answers that fit your game of life.

Hope it helps,

Rémi
Thank You Remiremi! You gave me some good ideas!
 
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Wow, I've just found your post @Remiremi and it's awesome.

I'm an INTP (5w4) and I can relate to it. Some things I knew and for others I had a grasp of them. But your post is amazingly clear and to the point.

I'll start applying more consistently those strategies (I've used some of them with some success, but didn't persist on them).

Thank you for sharing!

On another note, ever since reading this, I've been listening to some Youtube videos about this personality type. As an INTP I tend to be restless until I understand something on a fundamental level. As it turns out, these personality theories go a lot deeper than I thought! I'm excited to learn more about the nuances of each type as it compares to others.

In case you haven't found this yet, I strongly recommend this site for all INTPs:


His books were like an instruction manual of my mind.
 

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Hey @Remiremi, I have a problem and I hope you could give me advice on how I can fix it. I have noticed that I usually think about doing stuff (like reading for my exam, creating that new game, comic etc) but end up not doing anything.

I just daydream, waste my time checking YouTube, quora, reddit and check meaningless stuff on my phone (if you are going to advice me to get rid of my phone, I don't know how I going to do that bcuz each time am without a phone, it feels like I am dying slowly lol).

When I was younger I didn't really have this problem. I usually created my comics, built that one robot (which I am sure didn't work), 3d modelling daily but now I do absolutely nothing.

Also I am very inconsistent. I had a gaming blog which only had 10 blog posts in 6 months. I eventually stopped it and I felt like I would have made a couple of money if I was consistent tho.

Another question, do you think blogging is for we, ENTPs since we have problem being consistent?

I know this all seem like a rant or might even sound like I am very very lazy which I am starting to believe but I hope you will be able to help me out or anybody here can too because I feel like I am wasting my potential.
 
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Tested as ENTJ 8W7 through the years on various tests and i asked family members and my significant other to take the test on my behalf and they got the same result.

My best recommendation is, ignore your inner doubting voice, silence it and force yourself to just get the tasks done, the reward will follow within days/weeks/months/years but in the end it will be worth it, i think for non NT types its a bit of a masochistic approach but it worked tremendously well for my INFP girlfriend and she got into a positive feedback loop and now its fairly easy to her to emulate me.

One thing that helped her alot was to use my planning strategy, when i started to buy DIN A0 sheets and hang them up in our appartment she said it gave her great insights into how my brain works, i took this for granted and thought everyone plans like this but apparently its not.

It basically goes like a mindmap, you write down the 4-5 main tasks/things you need to get done, draw a circle around them and then surround them by the tasks that need to get done in order to archieve the main task (layer it from layer 1 to 4/5/6 according to difficulty, the easiest tasks go on the outest layer and then build up the mindmap based on difficulty of the task and start attacking the easiest tasks first in order to get into a positive feedback loop).
 
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Cojo

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It basically goes like a mindmap, you write down the 4-5 main tasks/things you need to get done, draw a circle around them and then surround them by the tasks that need to get done in order to archieve the main task (layer it from layer 1 to 4/5/6 according to difficulty, the easiest tasks go on the outest layer and then build up the mindmap based on difficulty of the task and start attacking the easiest tasks first in order to get into a positive feedback loop).
Thanks for the tips but could you send an image of this because its kinda hard to picture it.
 

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I'm still struggling with finishing projects, f*ck!

I really need to get something concrete off the ground so that I can find that freedom to travel, there's people I really want to go see

So I'm using that as motiviation, but as usual! I start, start, start, start, start and there's a bunch of half-assed projects there again

ARGH!
 
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So I'm using that as motiviation, but as usual! I start, start, start, start, start and there's a bunch of half-assed projects there again
Welcome to the club. I even had to make a list this morning, containing 7 tasks to do and ideas to explore today, as it was driving me nuts straight from bed... and at least writing them down helps getting them out of the way for a while.

You curiosity about a subject is like the seasons it will come again, not like a shooting star. You have to take that into account, creating way to easily get back on track when the season come again. By being overly pessimistic you fail to see lines of play, by thinking your interest has vanished for good, you might take actions that are akin to auto-sabottage while thinking your doing the right thing.

One time-period you care about A, the next one about B, the next one about C, the next one about A again...

So the idea is to build a system that will be able to go on during the time period you don't want to put maximal effort in it.

From the way I see it (and I'm pretty sure there's more perspectives than those, I just don't see those yet)

The system you build need to (1.) have a system of checkpoint, (2.) some inertia or resilience built into it.

To solve (1.) the question is:
Why does it matter? The easiesr it is to build the system incrementally, the more likely you are to keep coming back to it and make progress here and then.

To solve (2.) the question is:
Why does it matter?
First, if it stops working if you don't work on it, you fill guilt and guilt will criple you. Second, you it means every time you come back to it, you can improve the system and it will work better and better as time passes.
Thanks for this! I think this is my case too, as I've got a "pool" of topics that keep rotating in interest.

The issue I struggle the most is that the majority of them are things I want to learn, rather than things that get me closer to not having to work again if I choose to. That, and the actual urge, as I no longer enjoy working for direct clients and I'd rather build an actual software product that gives me time freedom sooner than later. But distractions keep getting in the way, there is always something exciting to explore or toy with :)

When I was younger I didn't really have this problem. I usually created my comics, built that one robot (which I am sure didn't work), 3d modelling daily but now I do absolutely nothing.
Just a guess, but as I noticed this too: maybe as you get older, you realise your time is limited and get in a dead lock of self-doubt as you don't want to waste your time on the wrong things, but at the same time you can't decide on what to work on.

I used to be a happy software dev, learning tons of stuff and working at companies where I could grow. Eventually, I realised that'll end up in being kicked out of the market at some point when I'm too old (a.k.a. have too much experience for them to pay for) or it's just my time to go and all I've achieved is to be a great employee to make someone else rich.

Aging and starting to see the "doors to Hell" helps prioritising, but can get you in an indecision trap too.
 

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Can confirm it applies to INTP as well. Or at least me.
This... has been crazy interesting, I'm printing it right now.
Many thanks!
 
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I know this might go a bit against the original idea of this post, but does anyone have a lightweight productivity system that works? I tried to adapt this GOLD! - Achieve Laser FOCUS + PRODUCTIVITY With The System Legendary Fastlaners Use... but I couldn't stick. Maybe it just needs some more adjustment for my specific case.

I'm trying to come up with what a "productivity system" would need. I'm talking about the "big picture" side, not (necessarily) specific to a particular project. On top of my head:
  1. Makes sure that you aren't all over the place and fail to take action due to being too scattered
  2. Helps keeping track of progress
  3. Helps keeping track of those million ideas you start but don't quite finish (yet)
  4. Doesn't distract too much from the actual work and the spontaneity of explore and exploit
  5. Not sure about this one, but probably helps if it allows mixing tasks from different projects, so you don't lose track of anything
 

Kybalion

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I know this might go a bit against the original idea of this post, but does anyone have a lightweight productivity system that works? I tried to adapt this GOLD! - Achieve Laser FOCUS + PRODUCTIVITY With The System Legendary Fastlaners Use... but I couldn't stick. Maybe it just needs some more adjustment for my specific case.

I'm trying to come up with what a "productivity system" would need. I'm talking about the "big picture" side, not (necessarily) specific to a particular project. On top of my head:
  1. Makes sure that you aren't all over the place and fail to take action due to being too scattered
  2. Helps keeping track of progress
  3. Helps keeping track of those million ideas you start but don't quite finish (yet)
  4. Doesn't distract too much from the actual work and the spontaneity of explore and exploit
  5. Not sure about this one, but probably helps if it allows mixing tasks from different projects, so you don't lose track of anything
I don't think it gets more lightweight than the GSD system which you linked to. It also contains all of the functionality you're looking for:

1. You can set big-picture long-term goals (see the very left side of the Trello board)
2. Keep track of progress by color coding tasks (add labels eg. red = urgent, orange = weak progress, yellow = almost done, green = done)
3. Use ''Inbox'' or Someday/Maybe tab for the million ideas you have
4. Every day set 3 tasks that include the actual work you need to do- keep them as vague or as specific you need (depending on the exploration required)
5. You can insert as many tasks from different projects in the "in progress" tab

The bottom line is - it's not about the system you use - but how you use it.
 

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I don't think it gets more lightweight than the GSD system which you linked to. It also contains all of the functionality you're looking for:

1. You can set big-picture long-term goals (see the very left side of the Trello board)
2. Keep track of progress by color coding tasks (add labels eg. red = urgent, orange = weak progress, yellow = almost done, green = done)
3. Use ''Inbox'' or Someday/Maybe tab for the million ideas you have
4. Every day set 3 tasks that include the actual work you need to do- keep them as vague or as specific you need (depending on the exploration required)
5. You can insert as many tasks from different projects in the "in progress" tab

The bottom line is - it's not about the system you use - but how you use it.
Thanks! I agree that the system is not important. I was more looking to see what other people use.

I do pretty much what you listed.
I merge the 3 tasks/today tab with the in progress one, to simplify a bit.
I use labels for various stuff, including prioritisation.
I keep two separate columns for Inbox and Someday. The idea is to use Inbox for the list of (smaller) tasks that need to be done for projects in flight, while keeping Someday for stuff I haven't started but I want to track.
I set limits for some columns. Helps managing mental overload.

Where I think it doesn't quite work for me is that there are some projects that are quite big, so they benefit from a separate Trello/Spreadsheet. Say "take X business to $YYYYY", that's a pretty complex project that might need a board where you have also a list of tasks that need completing. Then I find myself duplicating tasks on GSD and the project-specific board/sheet, which is an overhead I like to avoid.

I might try MJ's Sumo app as well, and see what works best.
 
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Where I think it doesn't quite work for me is that there are some projects that are quite big, so they benefit from a separate Trello/Spreadsheet. Say "take X business to $YYYYY", that's a pretty complex project that might need a board where you have also a list of tasks that need completing. Then I find myself duplicating tasks on GSD and the project-specific board/sheet, which is an overhead I like to avoid.

I might try MJ's Sumo app as well, and see what works best.
I use comment section of a specific task when there are too many steps involved.

Also I would categorize "take X business to $YYYYY" as a goal rather than task.
 

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I know this might go a bit against the original idea of this post, but does anyone have a lightweight productivity system that works? I tried to adapt this GOLD! - Achieve Laser FOCUS + PRODUCTIVITY With The System Legendary Fastlaners Use... but I couldn't stick. Maybe it just needs some more adjustment for my specific case.

I'm trying to come up with what a "productivity system" would need. I'm talking about the "big picture" side, not (necessarily) specific to a particular project. On top of my head:
  1. Makes sure that you aren't all over the place and fail to take action due to being too scattered
  2. Helps keeping track of progress
  3. Helps keeping track of those million ideas you start but don't quite finish (yet)
  4. Doesn't distract too much from the actual work and the spontaneity of explore and exploit
  5. Not sure about this one, but probably helps if it allows mixing tasks from different projects, so you don't lose track of anything
I've tried many things.
GTD, todoist app, google tasks, miro boards, etc.

The most success I've had is with a simple:

1. Physical notebook (daily todos) - todos
2. google calendar - calendar
3. google keep - ideas (note taking app, syncs between all my devices, I write ideas on my phone on the go)

Keeps everything simple and flexible.

I found I can't sustain a complicated system overtime.
At least for me, I need my system to be bullet proof and adapt to any situation without fail.

Rather have too simple but that holds steady than perfect but breaks with the wind.

Hope it helps!
 

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I've tried many things.
GTD, todoist app, google tasks, miro boards, etc.

The most success I've had is with a simple:

1. Physical notebook (daily todos) - todos
2. google calendar - calendar
3. google keep - ideas (note taking app, syncs between all my devices, I write ideas on my phone on the go)

Keeps everything simple and flexible.

Although I love them to pieces, one of the things I'm trying to avoid is physical notebooks, mainly because I move around quite a bit and I like to travel light. I've considered this approach many times before, but I had to discard it. Sometimes I feel that I tend to ignore digital boards/todo lists, compared to having a physical notebook I can trip over on, so I can understand why it works for some people.

I was also thinking about getting a tablet with a pencil and write there by hand, but it's kind of the same issue as the notebook, yet another piece of stuff. I like using laptop + phone (I need to carry both around anyway), and limiting my gadgets to just that. I might reconsider the tablet idea though if I can use it for other things.

I use Google Keep too, it's very useful for the reasons you mention. I tried to use it as my main todo list, but it felt short as you can imagine.

I found I can't sustain a complicated system overtime.
At least for me, I need my system to be bullet proof and adapt to any situation without fail.

Rather have too simple but that holds steady than perfect but breaks with the wind.
Agree about keeping things simple. Overhead kills everything quickly. At the same time, chaos doesn't quite work for me either, so I'm trying to find a middle-ground.

I think Trello (with the calendar add-on) can serve the 3 points you describe. I'll see if I can make it work for me.

Hope it helps!
Thank you for your insights, it definitely helps.
 
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Although I love them to pieces, one of the things I'm trying to avoid is physical notebooks, mainly because I move around quite a bit and I like to travel light. I've considered this approach many times before, but I had to discard it. Sometimes I feel that I tend to ignore digital boards/todo lists, compared to having a physical notebook I can trip over on, so I can understand why it works for some people.

I was also thinking about getting a tablet with a pencil and write there by hand, but it's kind of the same issue as the notebook, yet another piece of stuff. I like using laptop + phone (I need to carry both around anyway), and limiting my gadgets to just that. I might reconsider the tablet idea though if I can use it for other things.

I use Google Keep too, it's very useful for the reasons you mention. I tried to use it as my main todo list, but it felt short as you can imagine.


Agree about keeping things simple. Overhead kills everything quickly. At the same time, chaos doesn't quite work for me either, so I'm trying to find a middle-ground.

I think Trello (with the calendar add-on) can serve the 3 points you describe. I'll see if I can make it work for me.


Thank you for your insights, it definitely helps.
On a lighter note, there is this absolutely beautiful thing: The Hero's Journal - Stationery with a Story

Same basic idea of narrowing down specific goals with very creative execution.
 

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Personality changes with your beliefs. If you believe yourself to be someone who is disorganized and lazy, then it will show in your actions. I don't believe you're born as a certain type, although you might have a slight genetic inclination to act a certain way. I'm an ENTJ-A, but I would find myself relating more to the ESTP type description if I went down the personality theory rabbit hole. I choose not to let that happen. I choose to believe that I'm disciplined, organized and take the right actions, instead of maintaining a self-image based on outdated beliefs. Choose the right beliefs and your actions will follow. In 10 years time when your beliefs about yourself and the way you view the world has changed, you may find yourself relating more to the INTJ description. Personality is only static when your life is static. Additionally, you may get different test scores depending on your moods. Moods don't make shit happen, taking action does.
 
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Oso

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I'm one of those "mythical INTJ people", and I can tell you it has been a struggle to get to the point I'm now at. I wish the stereotypical "oh, he's an INTJ with an idea, so give him a week and he'll change the world" mentality applied to me, but alas, it doesn't.

I had to force myself to care about it, every micro step of the way, in order to make any type of progress at all. But this also taught me how to properly value my time, and it forced me into being even more self-aware.

I've learned 99% of personality tests are bullshit, and 99% of what we say, think, do, and feel is controlled via our mental state(s).

Take care of yourself and yourself will take care of you.
 
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Private Witt

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Really enjoyed reading the original post on this thread, good work OP. Looks like I'm a INTP-T aka Turbulent Logician. While I agree with Oso personality tests are generally BS this seems spot on. Great at creating and launching, living in own world always thinking, love to be social but crave to be alone to tinker and self ponder, lack of patience leads to all sorts of issues. Things I'm currently working on while addressing my list of addictive behavior.
 

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