INTJ personality elon musk

The World Through The Eyes of an INTJ Personality

Being an INTJ personality can feel weirdĀ at times.

It’s like being in a dream and suddenly realizingĀ that things just aren’t right. Maybe the trees are upside down, or the cars are moving backwards. It feels like there are lots of strange, nonsensical things happening in every direction, no matter where you look.

Then all of a sudden, it hits you. You’re living in a world full of contradictions, and you’re the only one who can see them. My friends, welcome to the daily life of an INTJ personality!

The INTJ personality (Introverted-iNtuitive-Thinking-Judging) is one of the rarest types on the Myers-Briggs quadrant. People who identify with this personality are known for their abilities in the science and engineering fields, however they can excel in a variety of careers. There are many famous INTJs who are proudly members of this exclusive group.

Famous INTJs

  • Elon Musk
  • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Katie Couric
  • Jodie Foster
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Julia Stiles
  • Jay-Z
  • Lance Armstrong
  • Stephen Hawking
  • Ashley Olsen
  • Angela Lansbury

Measuring in at only 4 percent of the population (on a good day), INTJs will feel quite awkward at times, as they try to cope with a world that afflicts their sensitivity to logic and reason.

INTJ Personality: I can make things better, if you get out of my way

I myself have lived through many awkward moments as an INTJ personality. But Iā€™m also aware of my strengths. One of the amazing superpowers that this personality gives you is an unquenchable desire to make the world a better place, in big and small ways.

Like many INTJs, Iā€™m an efficiency geek. I can’t help myself when I see a way to do something faster, cheaper, or more reliably. This has led to some great accomplishments in my life, but also caused some very strange personal habits that only a fellow INTJ would truly understand – refusing to fold my laundry being one of them!

On a more serious note, I really do believe that most INTJs want to use their superpowers to do some good in the world, and make things better for everybody living in it.

Coming up with great ideas is what we do best. We hate seeing a great idea get torn to shreds by the blunt weapon of collective ignorance. Unfortunately, persuasion is not a skill that comes naturally to an INTJ personality.

Our lack of persuasiveness is probably our most common personal struggle. Itā€™s hard for us to accept that other people won’t always agree with us, even when we’re right.

INTJ Personality: Patience is a virtue ā€“ give yourself all the time you need to see that Iā€™m right

Sure, there are times when INTJs are wrong. There are other times, however, where the truth is simply not convenient for other people. This can be torture for an INTJ personality – it certainly was for me!

The love of convenience over correctness was especially frustrating at work. I tried to persuade people with hard facts and evidence, but the more charismatic person in the room won the day.

I remember one particular experience very early in my career, when the company I worked for expanded its operations. Technical people across the country were absorbed into a single team.

At first, I was very much looking forward to collaborating with my new colleagues. I imagined us working together to improve the software systems that I had spent the last two years of my life building and perfecting.

I soon realized that some people feared that their jobs were redundant. I started getting a daily barrage of criticism on how ā€œbadā€ the company systems were, and how urgently they needed to replace them. Fortunately, my work eventually prevailed, and things settled back into place.

What ā€ŽI learned is that most human beings will listen to facts, but will only ever respond to hard incentives.

So nowadays, I simply choose not to argue with people to make my point, unless it is absolutely necessary. Instead, I lay out the facts for everybody to see, and just wait for the horses to find the water, even if it takes a very long time. Life is much less stressful when you approach it in this way.

INTJ Personality: The few, the frustrated

Throughout my life, I have experienced great joy, and also incredible frustration, as I walked gingerly through a world where the majority of the population doesn’t share my INTJ personality type.

I have also learned a great many lessons. I hope that you enjoyed reading just a few of them here, because they were a lot more fun to write about than they were to learn – I can assure you!

Along the way, I also realized that the world can be a much better place when people embrace the diversity of personalities out there, instead of using these labels for divisiveness. If we want to live together as one big happy group, the key to making it all work is to understand each other’s strengths, and to try not to judge what we don’t understand.

This might sound like an impossible dream to achieve, but when you feel like you are living in a dream every day, anything is truly possible!

This article was written by the creator of Working Quietly. HeĀ is an ex-employee in the software industry, who ā€Žfaced theĀ daily grind of office politics for over a decade before deciding to become his own boss. Visit WorkingQuietly.comĀ for a free eBook, and some instant inspiration on how to tackle your workplace challenges right now!