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weirdfella · 7 years ago

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Why Ti is cool for INTJs

by Marc Carson at Marc’s INTJ blog

INTJs are big morons. There, I said it.

So many of us INTJs seem to think that somehow thoughts go through some amazing process and become objective, when in fact the only thing that’s self-evidently objective about the process is that it has some culturally-approved seal of authority on it. Like, say, a scientific study to which we blindly give our allegiance in casual conversation with friends. “I saw a study that said you shouldn’t eat X because it’s linked with Alzheimer’s.”

Or, we think we can go through some magical process of becoming objective. Let’s start by memorizing all of the logical fallacies, shall we? That will protect us against wrongness! We’ll be safe from fallacious thinking! (I still shake my head at some of the ridiculous logical-fallacy-quoting I’ve heard from depressed INTJs who can’t figure out why they suck at life, but want to filter out every even remotely subjective answer to their problems. Can I get a sympathy cringe? But that’s for another article)

Or, let’s say we don’t just quote some study as evidence of how right we are, and stop there. No, this time we actually dig deeper and see patterns in the data. And before we’re even done reviewing the data, we conclude that pattern X is missing and therefore the research is trash. “Something something something P-values.” Am I right?

Or, we argue with people and ask for the evidence.

If we’re not asking for the evidence, we imply that no information is intractable to the INTJ brain. Especially no information of which we are not big fans. “Tell me,” we say to an unenlightened friend or colleague, “which method of yours that you’re so proud of, do you think is the very best that you can recommend to me?” We patiently wait while the person we asked looks around for the nearest fire escape. We wait with one of those comically big hammers behind our back, just like a cat & mouse cartoon. Of course our brains are so big that the dimension of our physicality matters Not.

One.

Whit.

Well, baloney.

All of that stuff we do, all of that objectivity chasing, can get us in real trouble.

When the time comes to be original, when we are confronted with a huge problem that seems specific to us alone, it can completely overpower us.

But this is a ridiculous situation. Why?

Climb the mountain. Ask any INTP guru. Ask any ISTP guru. Ask the zany ENTP guru.

“You don’t get it. You know why? You could find a way out, but you’re not using your brain. You’re using other peoples’ brains to do your thinking for you.”

(Let’s get meta: You are on this blog why again? See? I’m doing all of your thinking for you. Hahahahaha)

Ah, the painful takedown of Ti versus Te. Introverted Thinking versus Extraverted Thinking. Subjective original thought vs. Objective, unoriginal thought. Creating your own really cool wheel versus Not Reinventing Wheels. Brainstorming vs. Googling The Answers in Order to be Efficient. Sysadmin-fun vs. Sysadmin-lazy.

Well, I’m here to tell you that Ti is indeed important. And yes, I agree that if we’re not using it, we’re not really using our brain, at least not in the ideal way.

When we use Ti, according to Dr. Dario Nardi, we refer to, apply, align, and refine a framework. Dr. Nardi suggests that INTJs study and learn how to apply Ti in their lives.

[“APPEAL TO AUTHORITY,” I hear some INTJ reader proclaim, as they stomp off, perhaps tabling the issue of wrestling with life’s problems for a more optimistic day. Hashtag logicalfallacies.]

What’s a framework? Think of a set of rules. For example, “Rules for Having a Good Day.”

In fact, don’t just think about it, start on it right now. It will involve using your brain. And, perhaps painfully, it will involve lots of subjective thought (only painful if you were really tied to your objectivity-as-ego. Please drop that guard just a little bit, just make more room for the subjective in order to help yourself).

Applying your Te (extraverted thinking) should be natural for you. When you use Te, you typically refer to, align, and refine a measuring device. For example, the scientific method. Or some other standard for measuring thought, results, whatever.

Te is super helpful. Very often INTJs will need to drone on and on about their problems, not in an emotional way, but in a very detached way. Typically what this is doing is clearing a space in which they can measure the extent of their problems and come to some conclusions. It’s helpful. It’s healthy.

Going back to Ti, I think most INTJs don’t really use it much. But I also think they enjoy it when they do.

I’m going to bring the blog post to an end here and encourage you to do this exercise:

First, list some problems in your life:

I am doing terrible at my job

I am doing terrible in my relationship with so-and-so

I hate myself for doing unhealthy activity X when I’m stressed out

Now, for each of those problems:

Refer to a framework or set of rules relating to the problem (do some research OR create your own draft framework, including leverage points that come to mind. I encourage trying the latter because Te will bias you toward the former)

Apply the framework. Put it into practice next time the problem comes up. i. To develop a framework, look for points of leverage. You might isolate specific activities, for example, that really give you a boost in overcoming this specific types of problem.

Refine the framework. Make the framework more elegant over time. i. This is super important. If you let the framework stagnate, you cannot benefit from the compounding energy that results from its continual application and refinement. a. Yes, I do mean that it is like compounding interest in finance. Very good. ii. Yes, this means possibly altering someone else’s idea with lots of creative license. Fun! a. Yes, a lot of INTJs get stuck here. They don’t always like altering things! That was a perfectly objectively good framework with nice clip art to accompany it! What if I break it! What if it blows up in my face after I make changes?

If you persist in this activity I think you’ll find an amazing thing happens: You’ll feel like you have a lot more leverage in your life.

Do you see how hands-on it is? You get to build something really powerful. I love it. So:

Try it! Get more subjective. And don’t go right for Google to apply your Google-fu to find the world’s best pre-existing framework, tucked inside a PDF on some website employing weak file download obfuscation. Make your own, make it apply just to the very specific problem that you have. Then make it scale into a world-class framework meriting its own PDF later if you’d like.

I have shared this with other INTJs and it absolutely activated them. I keep a bunch of text files in a folder called “Frameworks.” Under that I have a Work folder, a Family folder, and so on. In “Work” there’s a text file with my own framework for having a great day at work. And another one for dealing with stressful meetings. In my Finance folder, I’ve got one for investing. You got me? See how that might help you? Try it out. You could google up the answers, but don’t, this time. This is better. Refine your ownframework, by yourself.

[Also, I think lots of INTJs use or have used Ti already. Maybe you, have, too—when I read about this concept in 8 Keys to Self-leadership I said, “Oh, it’s that thing I did that one time in order to get better at bowling.” Well, now I do it a lot more.]

#MBTI #INTJ #Ti #Introverted Thinking #cognitive functions

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