| Questions & Answers |
| Question #1126053291 | Wednesday, 7-Sep-2005 |
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| How can ENFP people reduce their weaknesses? -- Oswald E. Kasaizi |
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| A1 By accepting the fact that they are not weak; they just march to a different drummer. -- I/O |
| A2 Study logic, dialectics, epistemology, the history of philosophy, etc... ENFp's are not stupid they just need to "to know" in order to counter their lack of confidence in this area. One of the best ways to do that is to study what knowledge is. -- ptl |
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| A3 I wonder if a better question might be, how can ENFPs (or any type) increase their strengths? We live in a world that increasingly values specialization, at least if you look at what the business world wants. Public relations probably fits an ENFP better than being a plumber (and we need both). -- econdude |
| A4 I think the trick is to find the right balance between the 8 functions. -- E type |
| A5 The way to reduce any weaknesses is to allocate them first then to start building up confidence around those areas by exploring them much closer and deeper. -- Dr. Zoidberg |
| A6 This is an important question, and I found the one I found on www.personalitypage.com the best so far: when an ENFP goes wrong, is usually becayse s/he's only using Extraverted Intuition, but not checking it with their creative funcion of Introverted Feeling, or use the last in a twisted way. I have found that my life (or parts of it) go wrong whenever I fail or refuse to pass ethical judgement, i.e. which each thing that affects me, I must ask myself: is this good for me, or not, and then behave accordingly! If I don't, if I shut down Introverted Feeling, usually when I execute my hidden agenda (e.g. getting into a womans pants), things start to go wrong. This actullay applies to all types: you typically go wrong when you do not use your 2nd function to support your 1st, leading function. -- pm |
| A7 All Enfp's have to do to reduce their weaknesses is to sack up and quit being whiney little b****es. Sorry for being honest, but I am an ENTP, and this is what I am constantly telling my ENFP friends. Learn how to be decisive. Learn how to make something happen. Stop accepting defeat and settling for less than you know you deserve. In other words, be a lion instead of just a sheep. -- I'm better |
| A8 I would love to help ENFps get less stupid in some areas. Unfortunately, true listening is not one of their strong suits. -- Anonymous |
| A9 Although the term "stupid" is perhaps a little inflammatory, I agree with the A8 statement. As an ENFP, I have learned that I don't always truly listen and this is something I am working on. I also agree with the advice in A7 to learn to be more decisive which I think comes from learning to be more logical (A2) and asking "is this good for me" and, in doing so, showing just as much concern for yourself as an ENFP will tend to show for others. I'd like to hear some concrete examples of how ENFPs can use their Introverted Feeling side to make better and quicker decisions. -- Rosie |
| A10 A7 and A8 are not contributing constructively and barely show any real grounding on their understanding with ENFp's. That's by far the worst advice you can give to an ENFp which is why they will never bother listening to you. To the ENFp's, first of all, this may be steering a little bit away from the main topic but never ask an ENTp's opinion for your problems because they are not very good on the topic of feelings(and usually have trouble finding real relationships). Because of this they can't possibly comprehend the intricacies of an ENFp's emotions and what they need. For starters, if you'd like to improve yourself, start identifying what's truly "good" and "bad" for you. It's not too hard to learn how to judge these kind of things accordingly. This can get pretty subjective as it could be about dealing with habits or even the kind of company you have. ENFp's have a tendency to be heavily influenced by the kind of company they have. Your circle of friends govern the state of your emotions which affects your mind. This may sound a bit harsh but cutting off people who don't really make you feel good about anything or basically those whom you feel emit too much "negative vibes". You don't need people like this in your life and most of the time they are the same people that are making you hold back from being yourself. -- ENFp |
| A11 i, as an ENFP, have no trouble listening. i'm actually quite good at it. the problem is, when i asked for advice, i'm never told something i don't know, so it just gets old, and i finally give up. some advice out there for the fellow ENFP- we're naturally good at understanding people, and if you strengthen that skill, as well as your logical thinking, you'll be able to handle just about anything. -- Anonymous |
| A12 A10 is very correct - ENFp's are perfectionists by nature and will not listen to blatant tear-apart criticism. I'm an ENFp myself and I understand this quite well. The best advice I can give is develope your thinking side, and learn logic and develope rational thinking. Team up with people that think logically (With perhaps a softer emotional side so you won't run into nasty criticism, thus hindering growth) and you can be a very well-rounded individual. -- Anonymous |
| A13 hi, i just read a blog on another website and none of those people had professional careers because they either failed entrance tests to grad schools or they lost interest. have any of you on here actually finished college and went on to get your masters degree. one girl actually said she had heard that enfp's are not suited for the academia world. just wondering if anyone has a comment on this as to whether there is any truth to this statement? -- Anonymous |
| A14 @A13: I first started studies in the graphical sector, but failed the first year, partially because I felt too much restrained in my creativity, partially because I just wasn't good enough. The second year I went for teaching, but dropped out due to serious problems in my personal life, and lack of interest. Later, I got the opportunity to do a graduate in informatics, which I attained (bachelor degree) three years later while I was working part time. Since then I've continued studying and got some more certificates. I didn't finish all of the courses I started, but to say enfp's aren't suited for the academic world? It's harder probably, because if a challenge comes along that is more interesting than one we're currently facing, we may drop what we're doing in favor of the new thing. -- Anonymous |
| A15 I agree completely with A6: ENFps help themselves tremendously - and help those around them - when they develop ways to access introverted feeling. What typically happens, however, is that ENFps become so entranced with their dominant go-to function, extroverted intution, that they start to disintegrate and can become *extraordinarily* self-indulgent and self-absorbed. What then tends to happen - as the downward spiral continues - is that the tertiary function, extroverted thinking, takes over and functions in a highly under-developed way by rejecting anything and everything that 'gets in the way' of extroverted intuition. So basically, they become big babies who spend all their time floating from one project to another (or academic path or relationship or whatever) and anyone who comes within 100 miles of their comfort zone is avoided or, if they cannot be, made the object of ridicule and underminded in a variety of ways. This can become very ugly in workplaces where ENFps feel "trapped" (such as some unionized jobs, where the 'fear of leaving' is too strong). In these situations, I have seen ENFps disintegrate quite significantly and become quite evil - a complete turnaround from what ENFps want and need to be. There's a good book called "Personality Type: An Owners Manual" by Lenore Thomson. It talkes about this in more detail and covers each type. -- Anonymous |
| A16 I am an ENFP and have graduated from a 4 year degree in University. I graduated on the Dean's list with a 3.9 GPA. I was shocked when I read this thread. I had taken the Myers Briggs test during a leadership course and was quite proud of my results. I know I can be very friendly with those I lead but I am able to gain their respect due to the fact that I give a rationale for the decisions I make. I guess I can separate my responsibilities at work from social interaction and do the best I can with the responsibility I have been given. I have listened to others and have watched how others make decisions and learned to be decisive. Being indecisive would be irresponsible in my profession as a Nurse leader. -- Janet |
| A17 Is there anything more insufferable than an egotistical ENFP? -- Anonymous |
| A18 An ENFP might benefit in making priority charts and setting deadlines for those priorities. -- Anonymous |
| A19 Recognizing that someone will show you the absolute last straw if you try to play games with them. - ENTJ -- Anonymous |
| A20 I am an ENFP and have since my teens been interested in developing myself (I am 26 years now). Personally, I see the main weaknesses of this type, which affect most the everyday life, being procrastination and not being able to follow through, especially with long-term projects. I realized a while ago that it is useless to consume energy to fight these problems when one can instead find a career/life which has intrinsic motivation i.e. learn to know oneself and then go for what truly motivates you. I took steps to analyze my dreams and discover the true values behind them and am in the process of aligning my life accordingly. I can already see some positive concrete results. I just got my dream job as a HRM consultant trainee (have a Master's Degree in BA), which I would not have gotten without a) finding out what I want/need from my job to be satisfied for long term b) being persistent and c) preparing myself well for four rounds of interviews, IQ test and an aptitude test. However, I do doubt that I would have gone through all that trouble for a goal, which would not have motivated me fully since I am usually very distracted and get easily side-tracked. As a conclusion, know yourself and what makes you tick and the rest will follow. -- sue |
| A21 As an ENFP, I can identify with a lot of what has been said. I got a BS in Finance and an MA in Education, so I have career hopped a little bit. ENFP's need to focus on the process more. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the end result and do not enjoy the process of getting better at new things. This applies to both academia and career and this focus on whether we are "good at something" or "not good at something" without any real effort to find out how good you could be if you worked at it, slows down the ENFp. I am quite embarrassed by the ENFp weaknesses and am determined not to let these weaknesses hinder my progress as a human being. I am also delighted at the ENFp strengths and will capitalize on these going forward. -- jlw |
| *Please note that the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of socionics.com* |
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