ENTP Me

There are various little tests we are given in workplaces etc. that are interesting to do and show how well we know ourselves and occasionally surprise us with the results.

Last year my workplace decided to try Myers Briggs testing and I came out as ENTP, which when filtering through the delicate language distills down as arrogant, argumentative know it all with no consideration for the feelings of others. My reaction was to think 'Like I didn't already know that and like I would care.' I think it may have been right.

There are various reasons why I was actually pleased with this, some of them are the pictures I saw when googling ENTP. There were pictures of the fictional character I most resemble, the Joker from Batman, with captions like 'I'm not crazy, I'm not' others with just text saying 'ENTP I'm not crazy, I'm just smarter than you' or 'ENTP I'm awesome, you're not' etc. You get the idea, we're the shy, retiring, modest type.

So with so much charm, is there anything wrong with being ENTP? And what does it take to get the most out of one?

Well the answer to the first is pretty easy. We seem to scare the living excrement out of a number of people, tending not to concern ourselves with the prospect that not everyone will want to be spoken to and many are happy being in their shell. As my son has picked up on saying occasionally modesty is for the imperfect, maybe it's not a good idea for me to teach him charm and confidence.

In terms of how to get the best out of us I would say my wife does well, largely because of her ISTJ, take no nonsense attitude. Many of the images for hers were quite dull or along the lines of 'ballbreaker' which she can be if riled but often isn't, the far more appropriate was the image of a woman and caption saying 'Excuse me sir, you seem to have a problem, what with your brain being missing' which covered it perfectly. Most of us don't suffer fools gladly but she takes the award for making it very clear to anyone who can count above their IQ that they are being tolerated against her better judgement. It can be very amusing to see people who have considered her patient with them and her face very much expressing that they were too stupid to even notice how much she had to dumb down to them.

There is of course a history to why I like being ENTP and why I am more than happy to see my son is so confident he will joke about being perfect in a manner that shows confidence rather than nervous avoidance of issues. When you have been brought up and nurture at home and school in a manner that makes you feel you are of little value then gradually build up confidence to the level where it often spills into arrogance, you find yourself being very proud to be considered occasionally arrogant and sometimes confused when others don't.

We all need to be made aware how special we aren't occasionally to keep our feet at least close to the ground but I am far happier with over spilling confidence than as the person who either wanted to die for some years.