The INTJ At Their Worst

Because of their love and natural pursuit towards scientific excellence, ambition, visionary drive and wisdom and originality, they can leave gaping holes in other areas of their life. INTJs naturally struggle with attention and can spend much time away from the real world, just drawing, thinking, and mulling over information. At times, this may cause friends and family members to feel invisible and ignored by the INTJ.

Because INTJs feel very responsible, they often deny themselves fundamental needs. They may struggle to take time to personal hobbies and joys, and may ignore their own feelings in order to meet work and career expectations. INTJs often push themselves hard and force themselves to have a cold exterior outwards. What’s worse is, many INTJs have trust issues, and struggle to commit fully to a project or in a relationship.

Because they are naturally guarded, they can appear testy and distanced from other people, going in with shields raised. Other times, they can seem inauthentic. If they go in more aggressive to get what they want, they may sometimes forget to check in with themselves and be real with other people. They may hold up a fake persona in order to get and protect what they want. But if they are not careful and aware of this, this persona can start to crack, and make them look really ugly.

Beyond that, INTJs can struggle with a nervous and easily shaken temperament. It’s not uncommon for this type to deny or ignore obvious facts and clear information. They may pretend not to see what is going on around them, because they get so invested and obsessive about their idea of the future. It’s really important to this type to know that eventually, they will be able to create a world that mirrors the world of ideas they have inside. They may appear pretentious and may hold delusions of grandeur of themselves, believing they are somehow bigger, better, or smarter than other people. They may need to develop a degree of modesty to ground themselves.

The INTJ At Their Best

With all that said, INTJs are deeply conscientious people. Once you have their trust, you can trust that it will stay with you. INTJs only commit if they are truly sure about something. Their greatest fear is being betrayed and putting all their energy and effort into a project that will fail and lead nowhere. What I have come to learn about INTJs, is that they are deeply intelligent and brilliant people. They literally see the world differently than any other person in the world.

With INTJs, I see a personality type that can attain an almost surreal level of perfection and excellence in their craft. Truly able to push themselves, they take extreme amounts of responsibility, and are very easy to rely on. If an INTJ says “I’ll handle it.” you can trust you’re in good hands. INTJs like to be studied and well-read and will hoard knowledge about a topic.

Beyond that, they are able to be highly critical and scientific in their approach. They will not just believe in something because they have been told to, but because they have actually tested the subject and confirmed it to be correct. In their ideal state, I see INTJs as personality types that will test the boundaries of their knowledge. Challenging themselves to keep their eyes open, and to try new things.

Pushing themselves to learn new skills and to experiment and test out different ideas. INTJs need a healthy push and challenge from the tribe. If people around them can challenge their ego and intellect, and provide them with healthy challenge and intellectual stimulation, they can rise as true Innovators. People that rose to the occasion to do something truly excellent and unique.