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Are you as fascinated by assessments and quizzes as we are? (I mean, we created a quiz, so obviously we love to nerd out on this stuff!)
It makes sense that most of us are so attracted to personality tests — there’s something innately satisfying and powerful about feeling understood and not alone. When you see a result you resonate with, it immediately makes you feel seen and heard, which is something every human craves.
So, in the name of understanding ourselves better and using that knowledge to pursue a life that feels good, we sat down with Leslie McDaniel, a fellow certified coach and expert on one of the most popular assessments ever: The Myers Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI.
(If you’ve never heard of the MBTI, or don’t know your type, that’s just fine! You’ll likely walk away from this episode with a clear idea of your results, without having taken the assessment yet.)
We got into …
- How the MBTI came to be (it was created by two women in the 1940s!)
- What the results measure, and how to understand the 4 spectrums: Introvert/Extrovert, Sensing/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling, & Judging/Perceiving.
- Common misconceptions that people have about their results (we were guilty of some of these!)
- Why it’s so important to understand your personality type, and how you can use it to pursue a life & career that feels aligned with who you are (rather than contrary to who you are).
MORE ABOUT LESLIE
Leslie is a certified professional coach who helps INFJ women bring their vision to life. She believes that few things are more powerful than someone at ease with her strengths, gifts, and quirks as she confidently lives out her purpose.
With a unique combination of creative skills and experience, Leslie brings a multi-perspective approach to helping others with the accountability and support they need to move forward. Her knowledge as an MBTI®-certified practitioner helps INFJ women understand their personality, celebrate their strengths, and claim their potential. Leslie serves other INFJ women through individual coaching and her weekly email, The INFJ Life.
You can get to know Leslie and check out her coaching offerings on her site, and connect with her on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
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It’s a 5-ish week course (with a mix of pre-recorded videos, workbooks assignments, and live Google hangouts with the two of us) that helps you figure out what to do with your life. Think of it as the “AP Life” class you should have taken in high school, but never got the chance!
If you’re on the VIP list, you’ll be the first to know about our early bird pricing and the handful of free coaching sessions we’re going to be giving away!
LINKS
ISTJ here. To answer the burning question: I could (and do) eat the same thing for lunch nearly everyday. When I eat away from my desk, it’s at the same handful of restaurants. I’m not rigid and non-spontaneous; I’m focused and not easily distracted by an overabundance of options. I haven’t adopted Silicon Valley’s “I’m wearing the same clothes everyday” mentality. Yet.
I love the distinction you made about not being rigid; you’re just focused and not easily distracted. That’s a great quality to have! And hey, there’s always time to adopt a Silicon Valley uniform. Give it time! 😉
So it’s fuuny, I just finished cleaning out open tabs on my iPad and one of them was my MBTI personality test! I’m an ISFJ Defender. And after listening to the description of the SF I now understand a bit more why there are days when I don’t feel like what I am doing matters at work even though I know it does.
That’s really interesting, Jen! That’s a really good thing to keep in mind as we work to figure out what you want out of your career in the future!
I’m an ISTJ, married to an ESTP. I think that in terms of relationships, it’s interesting to see where things are the same and where they’re different. I think that matching middles and differing outsides is a pretty good match (lol, confirmed by our 13+ years married, I hope).
That’s a cool observation, Anna–that matching middles provides some necessary alignment in terms of how you approach the world and process information, but that the differing outsides gives you some balance and variety. It seems like it’s working! 🙂
THANK YOU for this episode!! I am a fellow INFJ so every point you made totally hit home. I went straight to Leslie’s website and signed up for her newsletter! I’ve been taking career aptitude quizzes a lot lately, but never thought about how my MBTI could help in my career shift. Really hoping to work with you ladies and Leslie!
We love connecting with fellow INFJs! 🙂 Isn’t Leslie great?? So glad this episode helped you think in a new way about how your MBTI profile can help with your career change. Thanks for listening!
No surprise to Rachel, I’m sure, but I’m an ESTP. This episode was interesting to me, though, as it’s always a good reminder that the MBTI isn’t an absolute defining thing. I find myself accepting, understanding, and living my type more and more these days…without care for how that is n cessation perceived by others.
As always, thanks for these awesome podcasts! Xo
That type makes so much sense for you! I can’t wait to talk to you more about this! 🙂
Hey, Larry. Thanks for clearing up that question! I also love how you define it as “focused and not distracted.” Would you say that you also have a strong sense of tradition and/or connection to things you’ve previously done? Those who prefer sensing over intuition tend to like the similarity and familiarity of what they’ve experienced in the past. Do you feel that also plays into your decision to eat the same thing and eat at the same restaurants? Thanks for reading!
Hi, Jen. Thanks for listening and I’m glad to hear the SF information resonated with you as an ISFJ. It makes sense that you may find it difficult to feel as if your work matters on days when you aren’t able to connect it to helping people in practical ways. You could consider challenging yourself to identify even the smallest aspect of those days that does help others in practical ways. Take care!
Hi, Anna. Glad to hear your ST connection is working out for you two! Having the same middle two letters can make our communication easier since you’re both taking in information and making decisions based on the same kinds of things. Thanks for reading!
Hi, Julia. Thanks for sharing that you enjoyed the episode, and thanks for signing up for The INFJ Life. Yes, understanding yourself through personality type can certainly help in making career transitions. Thanks for listening!
Hi Leslie, Thanks for sharing your views during the podcast and for responding. Yes, exactly! My strong sense of tradition is probably the larger factor in my repetitive actions. Change for its own sake is something I am (almost) never interested in. I don’t have any problem with making changes for good reasons though.
I would like to be on your newsletter list. Thanks