An Online Journal - by Clake and Klake

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by Clake and Klake

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Saturday, February 23, 2008

Personality Types
posted by klake at 11:05 AM

El-ka blog recently posted a link to a Myers-Briggs personality type quiz referenced in a Slate article about the personality types of the presidential candidates. I have taken this quiz before, but I forgot what type I am and was bored at work so I went ahead and answered the 64 questions that sort you into your introvert/extrovert intuitive/sensing thinking/feeling judging/perceiving type. I am an INTJ, which is often called the mastermind or scientist.

As I read through descriptions of my type, such as this, or this, I felt that it was quite accurate, and the INTJ type is a pretty close description of how I relate to the world. INTJs like to consider all possibilities when solving a problem, and are quite willing to adopt an unconventional solution if they have decided it is the best answer. Although INTJs love problem solving, they often have trouble expressing their ideas, which they cling to tenaciously once they have declared them superior. INTJs have problems grasping social rituals, and think that people should make sense. This combination of independence and analytical thinking could be extremely annoying, but most INTJs are pretty protective of their thoughts and are unlikely to share their opinions with others so no one knows their true snobbish thoughts. I don't think this is a very flattering description of me, but some aspects of this description fit quite well with how I think and interact with the world.

Seeing the way I deal with problems and interact with people made me realize something. As some of you may know, I still am very disappointed with my wedding. It did not turn out at all how I wanted, planning it greatly strained my relationship with my mother, and for 5 years now I have been thinking of it as the biggest failure of my life. I suppose this may sound melodramatic and people tell me that it was lovely, but I can't help but think of it as a disaster.

Reading about my personality type makes me realize that there is no way I could have collaboratively planned such a complicated, socially significant event with my mom and been satisfied with the result. My stubbornness, defiance of convention, and inability to communicate my ideas simply made planning with another person impossible. Add to that my natural frugality and the difficulty of planning an event 90 miles from where you live while in college and you have doomed failure. This may sound like a pessimistic conclusion, but I feel quite freed. For the first time in years I feel like the failure of my wedding is not my fault. Well, I suppose blaming my personality rather than blaming myself is rather a cop-out. But I feel better knowing why the planning failed.

Which makes me think, with the mountain of wedding books on the market (there are 10 linear feet of them at the IC public library, and I seriously read all of them while wedding planning – which screams INTJ) there should be one that assesses personality type and gives wedding planning advice based on the result. Mine would read something like this:

INTJ
Elope. Seriously. The inefficiency and foolishness of traditional weddings will drive you mad. You will develop all kinds of unconventional ideas that will make your mother gasp in horror. Planning a wedding will consume all of your thoughts until you walk down the aisle, as you try to find the absolute perfect solution to each problem. Save yourself the headache and strained relationships and book a cruise to a cute little island somewhere to tie the knot on a beach. You will be much happier making travel arrangements than researching every last possibility for wedding favors. And don't forget to tell your sweetie you love him. You really should do that more.

Comments:

I think you should submit this to a wedding magazine. It is smart and hilarious (and touching).
# posted by Kate : 3:19 PM

I may be the same type, but I think eloping is the best idea for anyone.
# posted by freckles : 2:12 PM