INTJ

A few weeks ago I took one of those personality tests to determine what type of person I am, and was astonished by the results. Almost every description it gave fit me perfectly, and goes a long way toward explaining why I'm so strange.

A few highlights ( from http://typelogic.com/intj.html):

"INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. What prevents them from becoming chronically bogged down in this pursuit of perfection is the pragmatism so characteristic of the type: INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake.

"Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.

To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense."

And some from http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html:

"INTJs focus their energy on observing the world, and generating ideas and possibilities. Their mind constantly gathers information and makes associations about it. They are tremendously insightful and usually are very quick to understand new ideas. However, their primary interest is not understanding a concept, but rather applying that concept in a useful way.

"INTJs are natural leaders, although they usually choose to remain in the background until they see a real need to take over the lead. When they are in leadership roles, they are quite effective, because they are able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren't working well. They are the supreme strategists - always scanning available ideas and concepts and weighing them against their current strategy, to plan for every conceivable contingency.

"Other people may have a difficult time understanding an INTJ. They may see them as aloof and reserved. Indeed, the INTJ is not overly demonstrative of their affections, and is likely to not give as much praise or positive support as others may need or desire. That doesn't mean that he or she doesn't truly have affection or regard for others, they simply do not typically feel the need to express it. Others may falsely perceive the INTJ as being rigid and set in their ways. Nothing could be further from the truth, because the INTJ is committed to always finding the objective best strategy to implement their ideas. The INTJ is usually quite open to hearing an alternative way of doing something."

Well, those are the positive hightlights anyway. You can check out the websites to get the real dirt on the personality type. I thouhg it was also interesting to see the list of other notable INTJs (fictional and otherwise). Here are a few:

Dan Aykroyd
Augustus Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus)
Jane Austen
Raymond Burr
Chevy Chase
Hannibal, Carthaginian military leader
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rudy Giuliani
Donald Rumsfeld
General Colin Powell
Lance Armstrong
Richard Gere

And fictional characters:
Gandalf the Grey (J. R. R. Tolkein's Middle Earth books)
Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis

What personality type are you? There's a free test you can take here:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Then do a Google search on your four letter type to find out who you are.