I used to be super into personality typing, but as time went on, I found nothing actually beneficial in it.
Back in high-school, one of my teachers had us take an MBTI personality test. The results told me I was an INTJ. As I read through the explanation of the INTJ type, I was amazed by how detailed and accurate it was in its description of who I felt I was. I later took another similar test, and it said I was an INFP. Since tests are never prefect, I figured it would probably be a good idea for me to read more about the MBTI types and figure out which type I was the most like. I eventually decided I vibed best with the INTP type and started doing as much research as I could about it. I discovered some weaknesses that INTPs often struggled with, and was grateful for the new insight. I can honestly say that reading about the weaknesses of INTPs has guided me through some beneficial introspection and self-development. This helped to kick-start my already budding interest in personal development and psychology. I’m truly grateful for the new insights I gained during my fascination with the MBTI system.
Besides the new insights and boost in my growth as a person, there weren’t really any other positives. I initially thought that I could use the MBTI, Big 5, and other similar systems to understand people better, so I set out on a quest to categorize everyone in my life into the 16 types. I felt like knowing the personality type of a person would help me better understand where they’re coming from, and how they think. What I eventually realized is that after gathering enough information about a person to confidently place them into a category, I already knew them well enough that reading a description of their personality type gave me no new insights. The only time knowing a person’s type would actually be useful is when I first meet them. In that specific situation, knowing their type would help me get a basic idea of what kind of person they are, and how they view themselves. Thing is, if I were to keep hanging out with them, it wouldn’t take me long to learn that by observation alone. Thus, the only true benefit from the MBTI is the push it gave me to understand myself better. But now that I’ve already received that push and have started on the path towards getting to know myself better, the MBTI and all the other personality typing tools I used have nothing more to offer me.
In short, I recommend personality typing to anyone who is young and hasn’t really taken the time to understand themselves more deeply yet. I would warn them however to make sure they take the descriptions of their personality type with a rather large grain of salt, to leave personality typing in the dust once they’ve started to become more introspective, and to not bother going down the road of trying to learn about other people through their type descriptions. After years of strolling merrily down that road, and truly believing that I was increasing my understanding about others, I can say that after some serious reflection about what I actually learned about others, I didn’t actually learn anything substantial, true, or worthwhile. The first month learning about personality typing was insightful and beneficial, but the rest of the time I spent on it was a waste.
If you truly want to understand yourself and others better, consider applying the following techniques that have done a much better job of helping me: learn more about journaling and do it often; seek to expose, accept, and change the hidden contents of your subconscious mind; interact with people with a mindset of embracing their uncategorizable complexity; try to guess the possible things people are thinking; and explore religion. A note about that last one: even if you aren’t religious, you have to admit that it’s been around for a pretty long time and would probably have collected some thought-provoking insight over the years.
That’s my take on personality typing.
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