Being ENFP · 10. Juni 2005

ENFP is short for "extraverted, intuition, feeling, perceiving". The Jungian functional preference ordering is: "extraverted intuition, introverted feeling, extraverted thinking, introverted sensing". It characterizes the way I experience and interact with my environment. It is one of 16 so called "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)" for personalty types. The ENFP is also called the "inspirer". ENFPs are more extraverted than introverted, are more intuitive than sensing, more feeling than thinking, and more perceiving than judging. The most important word there is "more". There is no such thing as 100 percent with personality types. However, I found the Jungian Type Indicators to have the highest affinity (at least for several people I observed) as opposed to other typology models. When I say I am more feeling than thinking, that does not mean I cannot think. I have learned to use my mind in excellent ways. I just don't only use it for mere logic. It rather means, that I use feeling in a more important way than I use logic, to come to my conclusions. Or better: I use feeling before logic. It is more natural for our minds to work on feelings than on logic. But that would make the content of a completely different paper.

Extraverted

Now what does it mean that I am extraverted. Some of you who know me are probably tempted tosay: "No way, I know her as a rather introverted person." Let me take a little time and explain to you where this misconception does come from. You might have met me in just one of those moments where I am actually thinking or merely day dreaming. Day dreaming also plays an important role in my process of thinking. Being extraverted means that in many situations I might act first, and think about the consequences later. One day my mouth will be my death. Or I might only act, and don't care about thinking at all. My instincts tell me, when I go overboard. Most of the time, at least :) It also means that I do not like to be cut off from the outside world. A computer, compared to a computer with a small chat window in the bottom left corner, where there are people hidden behind, even if they haven't been saying anything for hours, are two competely different things to me. I don't get too much energy back from dealing with computers. I have learned how to handle them pretty well and I can make a living of it. I do like to use a modern tool for communication though.

It also means that I like to make new friends, and get to know interesting people. I get more energy from being around interesting people than I get from being by myself. If you have anything interesting to offer, mention it, and I am sure we will have great conversation coming up. Being extraverted also means that sometimes I am revealing a little bit too much detail about myself. Live with it and respect it, that I found you trustworthy enough to share it with you. Being extraverted does not mean, that I am your every day entertainer. But I openly address anybody who openly addresses me. And please don't mistake my being shy for introversion. It also might baffle some of you, so I repeat it in this place: I am a shy person. You just won't notice this in just about any situation, I have over 30 years of experience catching up with the way the world works.

Intuitive

Being sensitive means, that common sense is so uncommon, that long ago I stopped caring for it. Common sense solutions are often not worth a single thought. I have better means for understanding a present situation: my intuition. My brain is good at making out common patterns both in real world objects and abstract figures. I don't care about too much detail, in fact, I seldom care about detail at all (with every single pro and con I take from it.) I am bad at memorizing names (one of those icky little details), but I would never forget any interesting person. Upon meeting again I come up with almost the same feelings I had we parted last time. Even if I haven't met or heard from you in years don't expect that my attitude towards you has changed in any way, or that I even would forget you. A single NMI (for non-geeks: non maskable interrupt) will recall you to my memory right away. I often have those NMIs. Chances are extremely high that I have thought of you within the last two or three months, even if we had no sign of each other for years. Passing away also won't save you. I also learned how to mask my NMIs in a very effective way, which gives me very good skills in concentration.

Being intuitive also means, that I don't dismantle the world piece by piece just to put everything in little, labelled drawers. I like to improvise on my imagination. There often is an interesting way of doing things. Theoretical understanding of how things work is helpful. But it is more helpful to "feel" the context. I can also work on "fuzzy" input. I work all pieces of input I have intuitively together to one impression. This impression is the main driver for my actions. Some may call this acting by the stomache, I call it life. Maybe this is, why I have a strong link to asian philosophy. I have studied, as a hobby, asian philosophy for more than 15 years now and am finally at the point, where I can rationally explain to a westerner, why the 5 elements must at least be 5, and why can't it be 6, and how all the fancy stuff around them works and why. Just for the same reason I can explain the lack of sense in dimensional thinking, or the relationship between buddha and systems theory.

It does not mean that I do not menatlly live in the present, or that I do not make any good use of my experience. It simply means that the intuitive way has been born into me, and hard work with meditation and martial arts helped me "getting me back on the ground and into the moment I'm breathing". Well, whenever I can live up to it.

Feeling

Now for the most difficult part: Feeling. Many of you would probably say I'm more of a thinker than a feeling person. Being extraverted doesn't mean that you can spot just about any feeling on my peel. In fact, many of my feelings just aren't any of your business. The sad truth is: There is hardly anything more rewarding than sharing my feelings with my friends, but our splendid society knows no reward. I do hate "lawful" feelings, or false affections. Also be sure, that my feelings towards you influence each and every decision that I make that is connected to you. Does that make me being not objective? No. I can differ between those decisions, that need objectivity, and those I make on the grounds of care. The latter ones are easily made. The ones that need objectivity require quite a bit of energy from my brain.

Being a "feeler" also means, that I am sensitive to the needs and reactions of the people around me. Pretty well I am aware of that. And it hurts a lot, if I see the people which I care for unhappy, or even in trouble. I want to help. I want to help make things better, people happier. I spend quite a lot of the energy I have on this "chore". Many times you won't even notice that. Because when I see you and see that you're in trouble, I am more kept up trying to cheer you up and make you forget, or bluntly try to focus you on the future. Maybe I am doing this because it is my way of coping with things, and might not fit onto you just as well. But I assure you the minute I feel you appreciate my attempt you will notice all emotional depth that is hidden behind it.

A word on conflicts: I am not a person of compromise, I am a person of consensus. Having a compromise is like having two halves of two hardly fitting pieces mangled to an even worse solution. I like consensus, the solution, where everybody contributes, can find himself, and is willing to put effort in pursuing the solution. Personally, I don't like conflicts. Sometimes I try to find ways around them, or avoid them. But I have learned that there are necessary and unneccessary conflicts, and that the necessary conflicts need to be solved as soon as possible, and might not be put off, since they always come back, and cause a lot of trouble on the way. But I want to live in harmony with my surroundings.

Perceiving

Being a perceiving person I take the outside world "as it comes". Things happen, albeit any planning, and I have to adapt to them, to integrate them into my life. I feel comfortable about moving into action without a two year draft, and to plan on-the-go. I like to have variety in my life. I seldom stick to one thing, which I do all day long, day in and day out. There are so many things in the world to explore, so many experiences to be made. Life is too short to waste it to one particular thing at all. Although I like to multitask, when I concentrate on one thing, then I am a great enthusiast and pretty much forget about everything else around me. Please do not take this too personal, I do not do this because I lost interest in you. It is merely because of the fact that unfortunately at one certain point of time I can only do one certain thing at once, and I am quite good at that. Raise your activity level above the level you estimate my attention being at at the moment, and you will get the attention from me you are looking for, even if that means grabbing my shoulder and shaking a bit while you're calling my name.

It also does mean that I am naturally tolerant of time pressure. If I have a big and creative job to do, I need to be in the right mood. That one special mood, that makes my thoughts fly. Yes, I work most efficiently with last-minute-panic. Just give me enough time to come down from my adrenaline levels once the job is done and you will be pleased with the result. I work rather well while being on adrenaline. On the other hand side, I do not really work very well while being on caffeine. It only stimulates my body, not my mind. Being a perceiving person also means, that I don't like to cut down my own flexibility, or do things that might interfere with my own flexibility. So deep, that I would call it a fetish to play my mind with flexibility and restriction. It also means, that going out to explore stimulates me a ton more than maintaining standard routine. I am still searching for the loved person to help organize my life. If you can live with that, be sure there are a lot of things you can bring that I can live up to.

Important Reading

Now that you know this, let's have a look, how the "world wide web" characterizes ENFPs, and what hints and clues they give, when you are dealing with them. First of all, here are a couple of links:

MBTI Tests:

Relationships

A word on relationships. The "best mate" for an ENFP is said to be an INTJ ("The Scientist") or an INFJ ("The Protector"). Unfortunately the latter one makes up only one percent of or population, so that would literally be finding the needle in the hay stack :-) Anyways, I find the quest on the needle well worth exploring just about any haystack around. On the other hand, I can hardly believe a -P getting along with a -J on regular day-to-day basis.

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  1. I have tested as an ENFP many times but my enneagram keeps changing,it has changed from a cross between a 3 & 7 down to a 2 (helper).

    I find I am having trouble working in heavy industry (have worked in the rail & mining service & repair industry) which is really mediocre,basically they like everyone to have low energy levels and to be able to “box people in”.

    To a lot of them (who have been ESTJ’s),I guess I am seen as a Bart Simpson (rascal & troublemaker),only because my personality type naturally has the _N_P part of the Jung description.

    I think it has been the same in other companies where there has been “damage” done because people have tried to “bully” me into thinking their way,management has had to go into damage control and pick up all the broken pieces so that it won’t hit a nerve with the corporate sector of the industry.

    I have been to a career counsellor and it comes as to a shock that I am totally in the wrong profession, I should be in sales , hospitality or gaming as these jobs require a work hard ,play hard ethic and require you to have good people skills.

    It isn’t important to be nice in heavy industry , also emotion isn’t needed , I get bored & lonely because I have to work on equipment by myself and most of the people I work around are thinking , sensing types who are in a spot where you only talk about the job on hand (the job is tedious), How boring !!!

    Note but , my way has been developed from working in small business where the pressure was extremely high,going into a mediocre large business made others look stupid.

    A lot of the other types were ESTJ’s, I work with a couple now , some think I am too trusting of others only because I like to have faith in people,I do tend to act spontaneously without thinking too.

    But after reading up on an article involving the speed reading of different types,now I naturally get on better with the more “feeling types” who tend to be in customer service , hospitality ,etc (I am talking about males & females),they have good “people skills”, a lot that I have met have been either ESFP’s,ISFP’s and possibly ENFP’s.

    However, in heavy industry they have mainly been ESTJ’s (males)with fewer “F” types,found the ESTJ’s were harder to get to know as they weren’t very open and naturally tended to lean towards “logic” when discussing things , saying what they thing rather than how they feel , they don’t respond to an ENFP’s warmth.

    Out in the world but , I have been able to touch say an ESFP with my warmth and we don’t appear to be that different , but I know my thought & speech is a little more on the intuitive side naturally, I can speak like a sensor but it isn’t natural.

    The ESTJ’s were chatty but mainly used logic which bored me to tears,thinkers wonder why I am quiet around them , the feeling types I don’t have to say much to but still get the warm feeling inside from just purely relating to them from small talk.

    I was picked on at school for being a bit of a girl or wimp but realistically if I was wound up enough I was very volatile (perhaps it’s because an ENFP type is female).

    In my younger days (primary school) when I got bored with hanging around males I hung around females who always saw me as a nice person,unless it was a “blokey ESTJ female” which I had run ins with.

    Perhaps it is because I have the rich verbal ability of a female but I exceed most males I know in mechanical/spatial ability as well,if I associate with more “F” types I am a very talkative person,just babble on with anything.

    However,my employer said to his client who I work for that I am a good speaker before placing me in a job.

    I found extraverted Thinkers have a louder voice,are blunt & straightforward and aren’t naturally in tune with other peoples feelings,a lot of them see no problem in using people.

    At school I tended to go around to different groups or people and see what was in it for them as I got bored with the same people all the time,most were ESTJ’s (males).

    Out in the real world I associate with a wide range of different people which has been an exciting adventure , the employer I mentioned, I had him speaking to me like we had known each other for a while when in fact I had only known him for 1/2 an hour.

    I tend to quickly get to know people and size them up even if some types find it hard to get to know me,some types blatantly hate me , many ESTJ’s hate my happy, perky nature as it annoys them, some absolutely hate the things I like , I have had one in the workplace say ” I should punch some sense into you !”.
    — Russell Booth    Sep 3, 13:42    #
  2. I am an iNTj male and I absolutely loved reading this page. It makes me want to find an ENFP female. It really does. There is some sense to all of this. Now if I could only figure out how to do that.
    — Gary    Mai 5, 06:48    #
  3. Being INFJ and figuring out new ways of doing things sometimes really does create some challenge.
    — Dana    Mai 9, 11:23    #

  4. Funny, but I am an ENFP male raised in a very manly environment…so I ended up really well-rounded. Would love to find the INFJ or INTJ female.


    — Will    Apr 8, 23:40    #

  5. Being an ENFP myself, I love your statements here, especially the ones on 5 elements and system theory. Cheers!


    — Leonie    Apr 6, 12:27    #

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