How To Get From The Front Door To The Car
Somebody (I don't know who) said that an INFP is someone who
gets lost between the front door and the car. I am INFP and that
statement describes me very well. An INFP will know that the car
is the goal but will take so many side-trips (physical,
intellectual, and emotional) that the car may never be reached.
You might expect, then, that an INFP would be at a total loss
for organizational ability. This isn't true, because the less
dominant Thinking and Judging functions can be summoned at need
to allow an INFP to perform organizational skills.
Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes is often given as an example of
INFP. Calvin seems perfectly normal to me. I don't know why
people think he's funny. But I recognize Hobbes, the tiger. He's
the aspect that surfaces to deal with practical world. The
humour is in the extremes. Most INFPs are somewhere along the
middle range of Perception.
It is healthy to summon a recessive trait, to awaken a sleeping
tiger, in case of need. It is also healthy to restrain this
seemingly new power. Awareness is the key. The business world,
in particular, demands Thinking and Judging organizational
skills. Under this pressure, an INFP can summon the recessive TJ
and place it in the starring role, rather than its natural
supporting role. If the role reversal becomes permanent, the
cost to personal satisfaction is too high. INFPs in this
situation are likely to have success, money, friends, and
misery. They gave the whole show to TJ, who is exhausted, while
poor FP starves.
Is INFP handicapped, then, in this highly organized world of
ours? Not at all! A good example is my own specialty - what
office workers call "putting out fires." My INFP plays the major
role, flitting from crisis to crisis in true INFP fashion,
analyzing and solving them, while my supporting TJ takes notes.
I never go anywhere in an office without a notepad. In truth,
INFP carries the notepad; TJ writes in it. INFP deals with the
issues. TJ makes and reviews the notes, writes the memos, and
keeps the records. The unstructured job kept me happy as INFP.
It's important to distinguish between the kinds of decisions
that I was happy with: they were based on long experience in a
complicated field with right answers. I knew the right answers.
This isn't the same as making snap decisions in unprecedented
situations, which would not be ideal for an INFP at all.
An area where an INFP needs guidance is setting goals. Goals are
often built into a job description, which can simplify
professional life. On a personal level, however, an INFP might
need prodding to set goals and guidance as to priorities. As
their first goal, for instance, many people would write "Pay off
mortgage." Mine was "Swim with dolphins." Obviously, a nudge
from a counselor (or maybe a recessive trait) would be useful.
The Intuitive function that is so useful to an INFP must be
allowed its input to the goal-setting process. This is why INFP
goals may seem a little odd to people who greet the world in a
more Sensate manner. The same balance should be allowed in
structuring paths to reach goals.
Now that we've set goals and steps to achieve them, we have only
to follow the path to the goals. In other words, we have to try
to get from the front door to the car. It can be done if INFP is
continually hip-checked back onto the path by TJ. However,
completely unrelieved attention to goals will result in a very
frustrated INFP driving a car that she has come to loathe. No,
INFP must take the detours to meet the world through Intuition,
to evaluate by Feeling, and to exercise Perception. TJ, with the
maps, organizational lists, and pie-charts, must stand aside. At
agreed intervals, TJ can bump INFP back onto the path. After
many happy detours and returns, INFP will succeed in going from
the front door to the car - goal achieved!