The Mastermind

As many of my long-time readers know, I'm an INTJ personality type (known both as "The Scientist" and "The Mastermind"). You can read my earlier synopsis of what that means by clicking here.

The bottom line is that the few INTJ's out there (less than 1% of the population) are very often misunderstood. I feel like I should join a support group or something.

Recently I've been reading up on some additional sources of information about INTJs and have found some great stuff. It fits me pretty well.

Here's a good snippet:

"Masterminds do not feel bound by established rules and procedures, and traditional authority does not impress them, nor do slogans or catchwords. Only ideas that make sense to them are adopted; those that don't, aren't, no matter who thought of them. Remember, their aim is always maximum efficiency."

Or there's this:

"Problem-solving is highly stimulating to Masterminds, who love responding to tangled systems that require careful sorting out. Ordinarily, they verbalize the positive and avoid comments of a negative nature; they are more interested in moving an organization forward than dwelling on mistakes of the past."

I even found a likely physical description of a Mastermind:

"Masterminds have a characteristic ascetic face. There are two reason for this. Firstly the facial structure itself is often reminiscent of ancient portraits because of its angularity and composition of the features, like cheekbone and eyebrow arcs. Secondly their facial expression is often accepted as emotionless and severe. Their face is usually pale or bloodless. Males often have a short haircut.


In many cases INTjs are slim. Their stomach is usually placed ahead of the chest giving them their characteristic posture. Their gait is somewhat unsure, wavering slightly. Sometimes it seems like they are not sure where they are going. This becomes more obvious in moments of excitement. Their clothes are not usually very striking. INTjs do not like to attract excessive attention to themselves and most of the time they stick to simple clothes, often wearing the same style and composition for a long time."

And some generalizations about diet:

"They are often indifferent to food and its presentation. It can be simple but must be fresh. When involved in something interesting they can completely forget that they need to eat. In everyday matters INTjs are modest and are happy to have a minimum degree of comfort."

Anyway, I guess this post is more for me than for anyone else. I need to reassure myself every now and then that there are other people out there like me, even if nobody understands me.

Of potential benefit to people who know me, I found a list of ways to deal with INTJ's:

1. Be willing to back up your statements with facts - or at least some pretty sound reasoning.


2. Don't expect them to respect you or your viewpoints just because you say so. INTJ respect must be earned.


3. Be willing to concede when you are wrong. The average INTJ respects the truth over being "right". Withdraw your erroneous comment and admit your mistake and they will see you as a very reasonable person. Stick to erroneous comments and they will think you are an irrational idiot and treat everything you say as being questionable.


4. Try not to be repetitive. It annoys them.


5. Do not feed them a line of bull.


6. Expect debate. INTJs like to tear ideas apart and prove their worthiness. They will even argue a point they don't actually support for the sake of argument.


7. Do not mistake the strength of your conviction with the strength of your argument. INTJs do not need to believe in a position to argue it or argue it well. Therefore, it will take more than fervor to sway them.


8. Do not be surprised at sarcasm.


9. Remember that INTJs believe in workable solutions. They are extremely open-minded to possibilities, but they will quickly discard any idea that is unfeasible. INTJ open-mindedness means that they are willing to have a go at an idea by trying to pull it apart. This horrifies people who expect oohs and ahhs and reverence. The ultimate INTJ insult to an idea is to ignore it, because that means it's not even interesting enough to deconstruct. This also means that they will not just accept any viewpoint that is presented to them. The bottom line is "Does it work?"
   
10. Do not expect INTJs to actually care about how you view them. They already know that they are arrogant with a morbid sense of humor. Telling them the obvious accomplishes nothing.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite deep thoughts: "A man doesn't automatically get my respect. He's got to get down in the dirt and beg for it."

PS - The pictures on the side are of other suspected INTJ's, not just random pictures I found. The first picture isn't suggesting that ALL the ghostbusters were INTJ's; it's just Dan Akroyd (I liked the Ghostbuster's picture better than the one of him just standing there).