- It would help if I hit the record button.
There we go.
(laughs)
Today's video is brought to you today by
the color bright red.
So today's topic is going to be one (slurps)
that I see a lot of.
I get this question asked a lot,
or people just say it without asking the question.
And I feel like it's gonna upset some people,
me addressing it, even though it's the majority opinion,
so I don't know why it should offend anyone.
But, what I see a lot of times is people saying,
"Can you be two Myers-Briggs personality types?"
And because of my channel being INFJ,
a lot of people are like, "Can I be INFJ and INFP?"
And some people, the people who really get to me,
the ones who make me wanna take a crowbar
and throw it through my computer monitor are like,
"I'm an INFJ/P."
And maybe they mean, "I'm not sure what I am yet,"
but I think they actually mean they think they're
so special that they are a blend of the two.
And the answer is, no you cannot be two types.
I am sorry, you can't be!
Just snap out of it!
You can only be one type.
Now this video is going to explain why.
Now look, lemme first start off by saying,
if you don't wanna take personality typing seriously,
and look, I don't take it that seriously,
but I take it somewhat seriously.
If we're going to bother looking at this at all,
let's look at it for what it says it is.
But if you don't wanna take it seriously,
if this is just a fun thing for you,
if this is like horoscope in the newspaper,
fortune cookie, fortune cookie fortune, that's right.
If that's what it is to you, sure,
you can be as many personality types as you wanna be.
I don't care.
But if you wanna take this somewhat seriously
and like get something out of it,
you can't think that you're two personality types.
The other thing I see a lot is,
"Can I change personality types over time?"
The answer to that is also no, you can't.
I'm sorry, I know that you want to develop
into a, you know, ENFP 'cause they have more fun
than INFJs do, but you can't.
This video's gonna be about why you can't be two,
why people think that you can be two,
and how even as you develop as a person,
that doesn't mean you're changing into
another personality type.
And I'm sorry to be so belligerent.
The thing is, though, anyone who is serious
about personality typing and Myers-Briggs,
go to any of them,
go to Personality Hacker, go to Stellar Maze,
go to Objective Personality and say to them,
"I think I can be two personality types," or
"I think my personality type changes over time,"
they will laugh in your face.
That's how ridiculous it is, okay?
I feel like this is a long intro to a video. (laughs)
Why people think you can be two types
or why you can switch between types as you age
or whatever (pours drink).
First let me pour...
some diet brown into my cup here.
Part of the reason that this misconception exists
is because of a, it's the fault of Myers-Briggs.
Is that, well it's also the fault of you all,
but, the perceiver of it is that it kind of gives
this false impression that when you are a type
you are stuck in this very strict box
and that there's no overlap between the boxes, you know.
And that's what the stupid like Vox video
and everything says is like,
"Myers-Briggs wants to put you in these boxes I or E, T or F
and the thing is people just aren't like that."
And it's like, yeah,
but that's not really what the system is trying to say.
It's saying, "What do you kind of perfer? One or the Other"
and plus the letters don't really matter that much.
Well, I mean, they matter but the functions matter more
than the letters.
The letter is a code to tell you what the functions are.
That's a whole nother video entirely,
but that's the first problem is that
you get this false, this idea of these false dichotomies.
If you are an I type that doesn't mean that you are
shy necessarily, it just means that you're first function
is introverted.
You could a really extroverted person
and still be an I type.
Just because you are a T type doesn't mean that you are
a mathematician, you could be a poet
and you didn't even know it.
The other ting is the test, if you take the test many times
you might get different results
and it seems like most people do
and that gives you the false impression
that you change over time because
you answer the questions differently,
but the test is flawed.
So, just because on one day you get 60% F
and then on the next day, or two weeks later,
or whatever, you get 55% T,
does that mean you suddenly switched personality types?
No, it just meant that on one day you answered the questions
one way and then on another day you answered questions the
other day.
The test isn't measuring your personality type fluctuation.
Especially with INFJ and INFP, I think the problem comes up
because it's really easy to fluctuate between J and P
on those tests
and a lot of people don't understand that the J vs the P
isn't like it's own separate thing,
it's not it's own separate dichotomy,
and I think that's actually the biggest flaw of the test
is the J vs P dichotomy 'cause it's just not,
it's not accurate for every type.
Ultimately, I think what it comes down to
is people, if you get too far into Myers-Briggs
too quickly, you begin to think like different types
are different species or something.
It's like their not, we're not that different.
We have more in common as human beings
than we have different because of our personality types.
Personality type differences, yes, they're very real,
but it doesn't mean that like
suddenly I can't relate to you on any level
because we have different personality types.
Like you're still gonna find a lot in common,
you're gonna have a lot of the same strengths
and weaknesses as people of totally different types,
you're gonna have recurring things in your lives
that are just part of being a human being.
And so, you have to really know what to look for
in the differences between the types,
because I feel like a lot of people just anecdotally
think like, "An INFJ would never do this,
an INFP would never do this
and if you do one of those things you're not that type"
or you know, "An INTJ always does this"
and it's like whoa whoa,
there's no always, there's no never,
stop using that words,
stop using that words when you talking about Myers-Briggs.
You can have elements of your personality type
that mimic other personality types.
So for instance, like a traditional INFJ has within them
a miniature EJ within them, a miniature ENFJ
because we have the same functions
but we are imbalanced in a different way than they are,
it's difficult to explain right now but just trust me,
it makes sense.
So you have like these sub personalities within you,
you still just whatever personality type you are
but, there are dynamics of your functions that kind of
mirror or mimic the dynamics of functions in other types,
which is why it can seem like, "Oh maybe I'm two types"
but you're not.
I don't know how to segue into it,
so why don't we take a quick commercial break.
(bouncy music)
- [Timmy] Hey check me out, I'm Two Type Timmy.
I've got two personality types 'cause I'm so special.
Yeah, I'm Two Type Timmy, yeah look at me go.
I've got, I'm INFJ
and I'm INTJ,
yeah.
Oh crap, who are you?
- [Thurman] Hey, I'm Three Type Thurman.
I've got three personality types,
check me out I'm really cool.
I'm hoppin' on one leg 'cause (laughs) I'm really cool.
- [Timmy] No, I wanna be cool,
why aren't we even looking at each other.
- [Thurman] I don't know. This is pretty dumb.
Check me out, I'm goin' up this hill.
- [Timmy] Bye Three Type Thurman.
- Thanks for sitting through that.
The other thing is there's a lot of different types
of each personality type,
like it's not just you're an INFP,
so you're exactly like all the other INFPs.
It's not like that.
So imagine...
imagine this excellent analogy.
You're in the grocery store down your favorite aisle,
the soda pop aisle, and, or the Coke aisle
if you live in the South,
that's what they would probably call it.
You have your Cokes on one side
and your Pepsis on the other side,
that's like the INFJs and the INFPs for example,
you're never gonna find a can that says Coke Pepsi.
Their, their (laughs)
You can't have two of the same in one can.
They're both brown, they're both fizzy, they're both sweet,
they're both in a can but they're not the same thing,
they're two totally different things, okay?
Do you follow me so far?
Now, here's the other thing is that,
within all the Cokes there's like 10 different Cokes.
You've got Coca Cola Classic, Diet Coke,
my favorite Coke Zero, you have Cherry Coke,
you have Vanilla Coke, all kinds of stuff,
there's all these variations but it's all Coke.
In that way, you have a bunch of different variations
of what an INFJ could look like
and they might seem different but they're all INFJs.
Do you see what I'm sayin' playa?
You might have a Cherry Coke and a Cherry Pepsi,
they might seem to be the same 'cause they have cherry
but they're not, they're two different things.
And so, as you grow older, gain experience
and prove yourself,
some people have said,
some of my commenters have said,
"I think you can change types as you get older
and as you work on stuff"
and I see where you're going, like it's not totally crazy,
like an INFJ is gonna want to work
on their Extroverted Sensing, their Inferior Function
and that's what every type should be doing.
You should be looking at what's your Inferior Function,
and working on that, getting better at it.
So say you are middle aged
and you're a self improvement guru
and you've worked on your Extroverted Sensing
as an INFJ to the point where you're really good at it,
so suddenly does that mean
you're Extroverted Sensing dominant,
does that mean all the sudden that you're actually
an ESTP, that you've flipped your personality type?
Or maybe it's less dramatic, let's say over time
you focus less on your feeling and more on your rationality,
your thoughts, did you all the sudden change into an INTJ?
No you didn't, you are just an INFJ who got really good
at his or her Inferior Function.
Because no matter what you do,
no matter how good you get at that demon function,
it's still your demon, it's not your savior function
and you can totally concur it and be a master of it,
but it doesn't, you weren't born that way,
you weren't born like an ESP who had it first
and it's not natural for you.
You had to work at it to get there.
Let's say for example, you join the Blue Man Group
and you paint your face blue
and let's say that there's a race of people
who actually are born with blue skin,
just because you got really good
at putting paint on yourself to look blue
and everyone believes that your blue,
you're not like the person who was born blue.
You know what I'm sayin'?
This is not a perfect analogy,
but that's where my mind went first.
Blue Man Group is a very good show by the way,
if you ever have a chance to see it, go, just do it.
Anyway, I don't know where that came from.
So, the whole goal of the Myers-Briggs personality typing,
from my perspective is,
to see what your demon functions are.
So for INFJs, that is typically TI and especially SE,
and so you need to focus on that
and become good at it and become balanced
so that you're no longer just living in
the Introverted Intuition world all the time.
Ultimately, if everyone like really improved themselves
and became balanced, everyone would kind of have the same
ability in their function stack,
but you're Inferior Function,
even if you learn how to use it really well,
it's never gonna be your natural function,
it's never gonna be your dominant function,
gimme a break.
(laughs)
Like can we get real here?
I think more likely you, as you grow,
maybe you realize that you've been wrong about your type,
and that, 'cause it's very difficult
to see your dominant function,
if not impossible.
Perhaps there's just this illusion
that you're changing type as you're discovering
more about yourself
and you've really just been the same type all along.
The thing is, you're function stack really affects
your life and like the patterns in your life,
and the things that you ignore,
and then the things that pile up and cause hell.
The H-E double toothpicks to you.
See I'm gettin' edgy, guys.
An INFJ is always gonna have really bad recurring problems
relating to Extroverted Sensing,
even if you become good at it,
that's what your Achilles heel is gonna be.
Meanwhile, someone who is SE dominant,
is never gonna have problems coming from Extroverted Sensing
it's always gonna be from Introverted Intuition.
And INFJs are never gonna really have problems
stemming from that, except when they overestimate
their abilities, which is kinda rare
because hey, that's where we are all the time.
And that's, I think this is also why it's important
to just acknowledge you are one type, only one type.
You're that type forever,
because,
it defeats the whole purpose
if all the sudden you're two types,
or you switched types,
then suddenly you have a really different thing
to work on in life.
Like I,
am pretty sure, from what I'm learning,
once you find out your type,
you can kinda predict all the problems
you're gonna have in life
and you can look back and you can see in your life,
oh man I've had all these problems that are basically
stuff that happened that I caused
because I am this personality type.
And if you're gonna make this absurd thing
that I'm INFJ and INFP,
suddenly where are your problems coming from,
from both of those personality types?
I don't see how it's possible, you have to be,
you gotta pick, you've gotta pick one or the other.
I mean it's not really so much you picking either,
it's like you are one or the other.
And it's good to figure that out because
then you can see where are my problems in life?
Where is it my fault that I'm causing these problems
because I am neglecting my Inferior Function
and relying too much on my dominant function?
That's really why you need to,
if you think you can be two types
you need to drop it 'cause it's not gonna help you.
It's gonna be detrimental to you.
Now if you think you are two types,
I think that's a sign that maybe you kind of have an idea
that you're one or the other
and I think you just need to search your soul
and ask your friends and family what they think.
And, you know, consult a professional
and pick which one you think is you.
Okay, so going forward, so many people ask me about
INFJ vs INFP that I think I need to make a video series
about it.
So this is the first one to just clear up you can't be both.
So, I don't know how regularly I'm gonna do it.
Maybe once a week, maybe every other week, I don't know
but I'm gonna start making videos about INFJ vs INFP.
There's some of the differences, how you can tell maybe,
and hopefully that can clear things up.
And it's not gonna be an easy series,
'cause I'm not just gonna say,
"Oh INFJs are good at this, and INFPs are good at that"
that is gonna be a waste of our time.
I'm gonna be like, "INFJs are bad people for these reasons,
INFPs are bad people for these reasons"
(laughs)
not that you're bad, but these are your weaknesses,
this is where you're screwin' up
and maybe through that it will be easier to see
because so many times when it's like,
"INFPs are so nice, and INFJs are also really nice",
it's like how do I tell the difference man?
Maybe the best thing is to just say all the bad stuff
and then when you feel more embarrassed
then maybe that's your type.
Thanks so much for watching, I appreciate it.
Leave a like if you'd be so kind
and I'll see you here again real soon,
probably like Friday or somethin'.
'Til then stay cool and attractive.