#cogntiive functions

[mr-entj]

As another ExTJ do you have any suggestions on how to mature your inferior function in a positive way? Thank you for your time!

Related answers:

What advice or suggestion would you give for a person who is trying to develop their inferior Te?

Hobbies. Explore your inferior function through hobbies because they provide, safe, controlled, and low risk environments to jump out of your natural habitat.

As an example of how I do that with my inferior Fi, the most obvious piece of evidence is my blog. I run this blog because helping people who want to help themselves is a core value of mine. As a first generation immigrant who grew up in poverty, I saw first hand the dramatic impact that resources and mentorships have on life outcomes.

Now, I wouldn’t do this as a full-time job because it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t pay for the standard of living I want, and it isn’t my primary goal so I’ve adopted the Batman method– during the day, I’m a corporate strategist for a Silicon Valley juggernaut (satisfies my dominant Te) and during the night, I’m a mentor and an anonymous online writer (fulfills my inferior Fi).

Other examples from other types:

INFP / inferior Te: Leads an online roleplaying/writing group with 30+ people where she builds storylines, runs the application process, organizes characters, administers the message board, etc. She’s able to take a hobby that she loves that enables creative expression (writing/text roleplaying) and apply her organization skills to expand on it.

INTP / inferior Fe: Joined the Boy Scouts and worked his way up to Eagle Scout rank where he’s a member and occasional leader of a social group that completes public service projects. He’s able to apply his logic to solve problems and learn new skills in a social environment where socialization isn’t the main focus.

INTJ / inferior Se and ISTJ / inferior Ne: They travel, extensively, exposing themselves to new stimuli in unfamiliar environments.

[funkymbtifiction]

This is sort of a weird question but, I know you can't exactly "change" your type but is there any way to strengthen different functions in your stacking to the point where you act/appear like another type?

Sure, most people do it on a daily basis.

Think about it. Who is harder to type, the stereotype or the balanced person? Whose nuances deepen whenever you look at them, who seems ‘good at’ several functions to the extent where you might face confusion over their stacking order?

When you work on a task, you use a different set of functions. If I’m doing something with great efficiency and skill that I have done a thousand times before, if that’s all you saw from me, in that context, you might assume I was an ISTJ because damn, that girl can get tedious things done! Unless you went home with me and saw me collapse on the couch in exhaustion, you might think me keeping track of details is easy-peasy. It’s not. And trying to focus Ne-dom onto a single task for 5 hours… or 7 hours… or longer… is like trying to keep an 8 ton whale on track with a fishing line. Good luck with that.

You know what improves functions?

Practice.

You know why a lot of people don’t improve their lower functions?

It’s hard work.

If your natural tendency is to be a scatterbrain with a short attention span whose mind goes 987 directions a minute, it’s not real fun to sit down in front of a filing cabinet for 6 hours and painstakingly put the contents in order, is it? But that’s how my Te/Si learns to do things. My Te also likes to finish things, and feel good about staying on top of things, which is at constant war with my Ne-dom/inferior Si procrastination techniques. I both love and hate routine; hate it, because I feel trapped by it. Love it, because I get stuff done when I have a routine, when I planned out what I intended to accomplish the night before, and I focus only on doing those things, so I can clear my to-do list, and get to the ‘fun’ things that I want to focus on.

So, how do you develop lower functions?

Te: organize externally by compiling information and/or putting things in order. You can organize a shelf, your sock drawer, your movie collection, or a schedule for you to keep to the next day that lists in what order you can do things for maximum efficiency (clue: tasks that take the least amount of time move fastest, enabling you to cross them off your list, and the motivation it creates by seeing your progress / things leave the list will give you the focus and energy to tackle the larger projects on that list).

Ti: analyze why you enjoy what you enjoy, or why you reacted as you did, with a desire to understand what motivates your actions and influences your mood. Read ‘heavy’ books that teach you how things work, so you have a better in-depth understanding of them and can form a stronger internal system of logic.

Fe: practice tuning in emotionally to others, and allowing their feelings to seep into you. Ask them questions and take a genuine interest in their life. Think about how your decisions might influence someone else, and do something you know will please them, to get a positive result. Learn to talk through your feelings as things happen, so you can process them in the moment and not bottle them up for a future implosion.

Fi: at the end of the day, shut out all external distractions, go into a room by yourself, and think about how your day went, how you felt about everything that happened, what you are excited about, and take an internal assessment to find out whether you feel you are on the right path toward achieving what you most care about.

Se: learn to saturate yourself physically in your environment, by actually engaging with it, focusing on how you breathe, on how that tree feels, on the smallest details in your environment and their beauty. Notice how many feathers a bird has, or the pattern on a ladybug’s wings. Push all future ideas from your mind and constantly re-center yourself in the present. Allow the moment to linger in your enjoyment.

Si: at the end of the day, think about everything that happened, and how you perceived each interaction. If you want to remember those things, focus on fixing them in your mind, in creating weight, depth, and significance to them, and in ‘storing’ them for future access. (If you can picture them, or repeat what someone said, that may help.) You can also practice derailing Ne’s tendency to skim read by reading small sections of information, then transcribing them in your own words with the book shut, and comparing them for equal meaning.

Ne: take something you love, and come up with several different ways to interpret or see it, based on alternate perspectives as ideas occur to you. If you find yourself engaged in fatalistic or fearful thinking, be deliberate in pulling up an equal possibility that is positive for comparison and telling yourself, “Yes, it could go wrong, or THIS wonderful thing might happen!”

Ni: spend some time each day focused on what you most want from life, in visualizing what it will look like when you get it, and in centering it in your mind, so it can impact the choices you make on a daily basis. Allow yourself permission to dream and fantasize, even if it seems unrealistic.

- ENFP Mod

[tbh-entp]

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Aha I love this. Congrats on having something like this! I love love. Here is the little dose of happiness for other people’s feeds.