Saturday, July 26, 2025
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Monday, July 21, 2025
The F vs T Co-trainers Story
This story explores the influence of differences in judgement type (T vs F) . Here I compare myself (INTJ) to an INFJ friend. This happened while we were both in university and before I had delved into MBTI more seriously.
I had asked my friend to help with a volunteer leadership role (as co-leader). She agreed, but we were both very busy in university so we "kind of forgot" about it until the night before the first session. I realized we were unprepared so I stayed up late that evening to create a plan. I was worried we would come off unprepared and lose the respect of the group we were trying to lead.
The next day went well. I introduced us both and did a basic orientation. People seemed to enjoy it, but afterwards my friend started giving me the cold shoulder. It came as a total surprise to me. I had no idea what I had done wrong. I confronted her directly to ask if she was mad at me about something. Turns out my friend was angry that I hadn't included her in the planning process. I tried to explain my rationale (after all, if I hadn't had planned something quickly the night before, we would have had to improvise on the spot and who knows how that would have turned out). Going forward we set up a meeting to plan together before each season. It turned out our "styles" were very different (mine was task oriented, hers was feelings oriented - with lots of group check ins). I think we both felt like we were compromising on our vision of these sessions. It was a learning experience to say the least, but ultimately I think our different approaches and reactions to the situation were a result of the T/F difference. I still feel if the situation had been reversed I would have felt relief that the other person had stepped up and we didn't show up totally unprepared. My feelings would not have been top of mind, and obviously when I made the decision to go ahead with my plan I had assumed (wrongfully) she would have the same reaction. Perhaps at the end of the day, it benefited the group to have exposure to two different styles of coaching.
Admittedly, my task oriented style of training could have used a bit of tweaking to accommodate the feelings of participants (especially once I moved on from university students to special populations and the general public and earned the nickname "the task master"). My INFJ friend eventually became a therapist, and I believe she chose the absolute perfect profession for her personality (she seems to be thriving!). I ended up going back to school and becoming a software engineer (a bit of a pivot from our kinesiology roots).
The S vs N Pool Story
This post is a slightly adapted version of a post I made on Reddit hoping (erroneously) for some engagement exploring practical examples of cognitive function types: https://www.reddit.com/r/mbti/s/VgvCvppnj7
I find it very intriguing, even fun, to analyze various situations in my life and how the different people involved reacted from a personality theory perspective. I'm also a fan of practical examples of theory.
Recently I experienced a situation that to me exemplified sensor vs intuitive preference. I try to take an objective approach in delivering this story in an attempt to avoid "type bias" that seems to prevade many MBTI spaces on Reddit.
The story:
4 adults and 2 kids (including me) entered a swimming pool. The first thing we saw was a posted sign on the hot tub that said "closed for cleaning". The hot tub was empty of people, but still filled with water, and there was a small blue and yellow object floating in it.
No one said anything at that moment. We went on to swim in the cool pool and later sat in a different hot tub. It was only then that a member of the pool staff approached us holding the blue and yellow thing that has been floating in the closed hot tub earlier. The staff member asked if it was ours, then gave it to us. It was a kid's toy - a little blue octopus with yellow tentacles. We said it was not ours but the kids were happy to play with it anyways. The adults immediately started discussing what they thought that thing was when we had first entered the pool. Two of us are N type and 2 are S type. Both N types had thought it was something related to cleaning the hot tub (a pH tester, or a chemical dispenser). Both S types thought it was a pool dart left behind by a kid. I thought it was very interesting how the N type thinkers unconsciously looked for connections between the wholistic picture (assuming the object was somehow related to the cleaning sign), while the S type people studied the detail of the object in the present moment coming to a conclusion about that specific object separately from the things around it.
You can see how both styles of thinking could be beneficial or not in a given situation. In this situation the N types were less accurate in assessing what that object was, making false assumptions, but had it been a different scenario where context was important (perhaps a safety scenario), it could have been beneficial to make the connection. The S type's assessments were closer to reality in this case.
Welcome to INTegrated JuXtaPosition (iamtbot 2.0)
I have left the previous posts intact as a momento. As you can see they're over a decade old, and as you can imagine, a lot has changed. That being said, if you're an MBTI enthusiast like me, you might suspect that the foundational undercurrents of life that brought me here, remain strong. Hence the new name: INTegrated JuXtaPosition. At first, it seems contradictory. Juxtaposition emphasizes separation and contrast, while integration emphasizes unity and cohesion. Together, "integrated juxtaposition,” describes a purposeful bringing together of contrasting elements in a way that forms a cohesive or meaningful whole. In this blog, I will explore life from varying the perspectives (often considering the interplay between the logical me and the creative me, or other seemingly opposite selves), and often through an MBTI lens.
Why blogging?
I decided to revisit blogging because it turns out creative expression continues to play an important role in my life. Even when I attempt to limit social media (due to the endless scroll of distractions), I always seem to find my way back to it in some form, because it provides an outlet for my thoughts. Sure, I could buy a journal (and I have. Many actually...), but the convenience of apps (almost always available at my finger tips) and ease of typing makes it much easier to journal digitally. I have even tried adapting note taking apps as journals, but there's something a bit motivating, endearing (and challenging in terms of writing style) about the idea that someone might come across this and read it, if it's published online. As a late adopter of Reddit, I thought it might be a sort of middle ground between journaling and other social media styles (yelling at length into the void vs. short, concise yelling into the void), but I quickly discovered that's not exactly how it plays out. However, I also discovered a couple intriguing communities, especially the MBTI subreddits where people post interesting questions. I found myself wanting to reply, but realized my answers were much more journal like than "answers", straying off topic onto tangents often. I decided to try using Reddit questions as journal prompts and answer them here.
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