All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ESFJ
The Cavalry

“No one dressed by me ever looks like an idiot.”
Alice Cullen, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn novel

The ESFJ Cavalry is the paragon of group experience, intent on ensuring that all involved have the best experience, and that they personally get to experience the group.  They shine as the bright beacon of action-example, a lighthouse of what to be and do.  Open, warm, in-the-moment and upfront, the Cavalry is a perfect blend of party and poise; an ongoing paradox of sensible bounce, colorful pragmatism, and gentle snark.  To any group they choose to share their love with, the ESFJ Cavalry brings a fantastic *pop!*

Young ESFJs, centered on their family, teachers, etc. as their “culture” and group, love to be obedient, very happy to experience life with the people they love.  Happy to do what makes others happy, an ESFJ may even look EP from the outside; bubbly and happily going-with-the-flow with those they care about.  But even young ESFJs are very aware of how their actions affect consequences in the form of what others think of them, and the pull to follow friends, fads and culture comes young for a little ESFJ.  So the ESFJ has three choices, the most commonly chosen being a combination of the first two choices (the same is true of most types), since the third choice is in opposition to the other two.

ESFJs love to be and set the example for their group.  Though that desire isn’t intrinsically a bad thing, it’s that desire to set the standard of what is the *most normal* that provides all three of their choices.

ESFJs’ first option is to focus on being the *most* normal  An ESFJ taking this first path will desire to be *more* normal than others, to the point of finding themselves of more *worth* than others.  An ESFJ who gets more intent on having the crowd follow them, than on the people in the crowd, can end up self-centered and entitled, and yet constantly in need of the approval of others.  In the end, people following the lead of this first-path ESFJ will be short-lived, either because they’ll end up disliking the ESFJs’ self-centered attitude, or because they’ll want followers of their own and tear the ESFJ down at the first sign of weakness.  In either case, this ESFJ will end up without real friends or real meaning in their lives.

ESFJs’ second option is to focus on being the most *normal* (emphasis important).  An ESFJ who gets caught up in pleasing their group or culture, be it friends, family or faction, will find it all too easy to start sacrificing who they really are in the name of being liked.  Especially in a culture that wants nothing more than looking on the surface at the expense of anything real, an ESFJ can quickly fall into a pattern of trying to look like their culture’s picture of perfect, while neglecting anything real or genuine, encouraging others to do the same.

Both these first options leave the ESFJ feeling fake, shallow and in constant need of approval to feel valid, becoming just an insincere shell who has to suppress their real, magnificent self in order to look like what others want them to be.

But when an ESFJ instead redefines “normal”–when they defy the crappy parts of culture, even defying their friends if need be, stand up and say, “Being real is the new cool!”–an ESFJ becomes a powerful example and influence for good in the world, showing others how to be heroic, meaningful and happy, leading the charge and making life matter, making their own culture instead of following someone else’s.  This is the ESFJ Cavalry.

Though their interests may vary, the ESFJ Cavalry, always aware of the desires and needs of others, is often found in fiction as the perfect host or hostess, super-mom, or as an ahead-of-the-crowd trendsetter.  They combine the parentalness of the ENFJ Veteran, the force of will of the ESTJ Cannon and the bouncy color of the ESFP Morale Officer into a bright, warm, headstrong package.  They’re excellent at bringing together fun, savoir-faire and precision to help everyone have a great experience. With an Extraverted people-awareness to help them understand the needs and desires of others, a Sensor strength of being aware of the moment as they’re in it, an EFJ focus on the meaning behind actions, and a Judger talent for plans to put it all into motion, the ESFJ Cavalry is fantastic at making things memorable, seeing that everyone is taken care of, and that nobody is left out.

With the tendency to bowl ahead and a main weakness in data and conclusions, and yet with an earnest desire to be taken seriously, all EJs have different fears centered around, “No one will listen to me because I’m too ______.”  For the ENFJ Veteran (because I failed to mention it in their post), it’s a fear that, “My good intentions and trying to change people’s lives will never matter because I’m too nice, soft, etc.”  They inaccurately fear that they’re too weak to effect change… and so they feel like bad choices won’t matter either, so Faramir Dilemma seems to them to be about friends rather than consequences.

Similarly, the ESFJ Cavalry fears that, “I’ll never be truly smart, or anything above mediocre, so normal is the best I can hope for.”  They inaccurately fear that there is no reason to try to be anything more than the best at being average, not realizing that they bring special things to the table of heroism, and that they don’t have to think like other types in order to be a unique type of brilliant.

While the Cavalry is great at planning, they tend to prefer the day-to-day and in-the-moment plans as they relate to people, rather than worrying about the world as a whole, like an IJ does.  They’re happy to help shepherd their group to wherever they’re going, but they tend to care more about the progress and methods used to meet goals rather than the long-term goals themselves.  Whether it’s help looking **fabulous**, following protocol, making spinach puffs or sharing a “cuppa,” a healthy ESFJ is usually there at the ready with their own special way of helping their friends to shine at their best.

An ESFJ turns villainous when they no longer care about how their actions hurt people or when they don’t care that the group or culture they uphold is damaging people right in front of them.  The Dark Cavalry can demonstrate as a self-centered d-bag with cronies or fans, or some variation of a Stepford Smiler–be it a creepy housewife variety, an evil celebrity, or a cheerfully humming robot you’d be willing waste your precious shotgun ammo on, even when you’ve been using it on zombie-like aberrations (no, of course I’m not referring to anyone in particular…).  All just twisted versions of the Cavalry’s innate strengths of warm sociality.

How can an ESFJ be sure they’re doing it right, being the example of what to do and not what *not* to do?  By being real.  By not pretending everything is okay when it’s not, by caring about people even when they’re not following the plan, by being genuine, even when things aren’t perfect.  That’s how the ESFJ Cavalry can be sure to be the shining star of experience, rather than a hollow shell of vanity.

Cavalry or Dark Cavalry, a strong ESFJ is sure to be a powerful influence in the lives of others, compellingly and charismatically setting the standard of culture.

Examples:
Male:  Link Larkin, Hairspray
Female:  Rarity, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Villain:  Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ESFJ, the Cavalry?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ESFJ – The Cavalry appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ENTP
The Swashbuckler

“Never tell me the odds!”
Han Solo, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

The ENTP Swashbuckler does what works.  Adapting their plan, disregarding the rules and following their gut.  They may seem unpredictable because they’ll start fights sometimes, run from them others; be brutally honest one moment and charmingly secretive the next.  This is because they observe first and act later (as all EP’s do) and so they themselves might not know until the moment they decide (after they’ve observed as much information as possible) what they are going to do.  Often, while they figure it out, they’ll be making clever quips and banter.  This is a way to stall for time while they decide what to do, learn more about their opponent and surroundings from the reactions they receive… and enjoy just how clever they are.  And though rules aren’t always their cup of tea, you can be sure they follow their own code, which is usually doing whatever it takes to become the larger-than-life person they *want* to be.

Young ENTP’s start out with an insatiable desire to explore and quickly develop big, flashy dreams about what they’re going to be someday (pretty sure fairy was one of my earliest career goals).  They’re similar to INTJ’s in this way (well… and all the types in different ways), but ENTP’s focus on the way they want to be as a person instead of the things they want to get done.  ENTP’s favorite thing is people-potential so they care a lot more about how awesome they’re going to be and what they choose to do is an after-thought.  But this means since the ENTP loves to explore *all* the options and whatever works, they quickly feel and are often branded “bad” by the world and the people around them.  Often to this an ENTP will reply, “Well, if I’m bad, I’ll be the *best* at being bad!!”  In practice, the ENTP has three choices, much akin to their ESTP… brethren (? cousins, aunts, uncles?).

The first choice an ENTP has is to willfully rebel against other people, turning their cynicism over others’ unreasonability into an enmity of their own, resulting in disobeying rules and belittling others in order to justify their own wounded emotions and ego rather than out of any thought-out reason for doing so.  An ENTP choosing this spiteful path quickly loses their charm, only “beloved” by those trying to justify themselves in the same emotional areas.  Also, an ENTP who feels the need to lick their own wounds in this way is really requiring affirmation from the very people they hate, and ends up feeling even less confident, validated or good, the more that they fight.  This is the kind of mush-mouthed insecurity that ENTP’s roll their eyes at in other people.  Though they might be appalled to recognize they are taking that same kind of wimpy tack, sometimes wallowing is too comforting to give up without kicking and screaming.

Alternatively, it’s quite tempting for an ENTP to just fit in, label themselves bad before anyone else can, and spend the rest of their lives paying penance for everything they like, are and enjoy.  They may or may not be good at looking normal, but it’s likely they won’t be.  Whatever an ENTP might try, there will always be that desire to be just a little more flashy, have just a little more fun with the things that they love.  ENTP’s who suppress their desire to explore the world and to understand anything and everything it has to offer, may feel like it’s the right thing to try and please everyone, but, you see (and this was a recent eye-opener to me, believe me) the ENTP cannot care *about* others, as long as they care *what others think* of them.

Be it through cultural, family or peer pressure, if an ENTP is constantly trying to prove who they are, they won’t *be* it; end of story.  An ENTP that is worried about others’ opinions, even for good intentions, will be too afraid to let down the shield that protects their hidden vulnerable feelings.  If they need validation of who they are from others, they won’t feel free to be the royal-rainbow they truly are and will constantly be resenting others for not seeing them well enough, causing them to be cynical and close people out more.

But as they own themselves, even when others don’t appreciate their larger-than-life childlike bombasticism (Is bombasticism a word?  It is now!), then they are able to truly care about what is going on with others and help them shine in their own unique way.  When they choose to explore the world with all the spontaneity and confidence they already possess and yet feel guilty of, an ENTP can become a lighthouse of color, blasting out joy and self-assurance to everyone around them, unafraid of those who refuse to see the bright light they are.  As the very ENTP Tony Stark (Iron Man), puts it in The Avengers, “You’re tiptoeing, big guy.  You’ve gotta strut.”  This is the ENTP Swashbuckler.

The league of ENTP Swashbucklers is a who’s-who of charming and well-intentioned con-artists, thieves, smugglers, troublemakers, trolls, and seriously big hams.  How can all those things go with well-intentioned?  When a Swashbuckler breaks rules right and left, why do we still find them charming?  ENTP’s are cheaters whose out-of the-box thinking is based on whatever will reach their end goal; they excel at applying and adapting the tools in their observed arsenal to whatever new and unusual situation they might come up against.  Why can the Swashbuckler work outside the rules and establishment and yet still be so obviously good-hearted when other types doing the same action might come off creepy and self-justifying?  Because, in line with their greatest strength of character judgement, the Swashbuckler is excellent at seeing, understanding, and changing their own intentions.

Even if society shuns them or makes them feel like a bad person, deep down a Swashbuckler knows their intentions are good, that they are worthwhile, even if no one else can see it.  This helps instill in them a confidence that can’t be taken away, an intrinsic sort of thing that’s needed when others look down on them for not coloring in the lines.

All EP’s get told from birth by society that actions are a moral thing; make the wrong choice and you’re a bad person.  EP’s who naturally suck at choosing what action to take based on their intentions, often make choices that don’t reflect who they are at all and though they’ll probably notice quickly that it was the wrong choice and hopefully learn from their mistake, the guilt they’re given means the lesson their likely to learn is “you didn’t do it right; that makes you bad.”

In addition, ENTP’s have to work hard to be good at physical action, especially when they think too hard about specifics, rather than *being* what they want to look like.  A plan of action may make complete sense in an ENTP’s head, but when carried out, physics and their own bodies just aren’t on their side.  (Cue memories of trying to ride down the stairs in a laundry basket because I “thought it’d be cute.”  For the record, it was… it just hurt more than I anticipated.)  Like ENTP Socrates talking about the philosopher falling in the well, when an ENTP gets thinking about something, physical awareness may go out the window.  Thankfully, the Swashbuckler learns quickly to adapt to the mistakes they’re sure to make and can almost always fix a ploy gone awry.

ENTP’s are obsessed with understanding people and the way they tick, starting with themselves.  They intuitively feel and understand just how gorgeously complex and multifaceted people are and (whether they realize it or not) spend their entire lives trying to enjoy that complexity.  This is done in various ways, the most notable of which is poking it with a stick.  And by that I mean trying to shock and awe it out of its safe little cocoon by making it feel uncomfortable so that it does stuff.  Why do ENTP’s (ETP’s in their different ways) like to say things that are shocking?  What’s one reason (of several) for ENTP’s huge enjoyment of their own sex-appeal?  Well, in addition to enjoying their own complicated selves, which they are very keen on doing, ENTP’s love to make others squirm in order to observe and enjoy them.  People are funny, have so much more going on than they’re aware of and often take themselves much more seriously than they should.  ENTP’s love to poke at those kinds of insecurities to see what comes crawling out from under the rocks.  This isn’t malicious, it’s merely an attempt to understand, enjoy and utilize people to their fullest.

The Swashbuckler doesn’t do things halfway; they either don’t do something at all, or they make an ENTP-shaped hole in the wall.  This means that individuals often either love them or hate them, and either camp is likely to find them strange.  There is a wide range of “cool” versus “awkward” with an ENTP, both of which might demonstrate in the same person depending on the audience.  (Why, yes, I fall into both categories.  I’ve gotten fairly used to having very little filter system between my brain and my mouth.  Now I know how to own it.)  Though even a beloved Swashbuckler is likely to wish more people truly *knew* them.

In a group, though an ENTP has decent vision and can lead in a pinch, they’d much rather just be in charge of their own actions.  Naturally skeptical and needing to be won over, they’re unlikely to follow someone in a plan or mission if they don’t see the merit of the pursuit or the leader hasn’t won their respect as a source.  But when someone with vision, like a healthy IJ, earns their trust, they’re happy to concede the big-picture reins so that they can be free to focus on the parts they love; loophole exploiting, verbal sparring and self-aggrandizing… for the good of everyone, of course.

Though Swashbucklers that exemplify what it means to be a “lovable rogue” (seriously, most the examples on that page are ENTP’s) are more common than rule-abiding ones, an ENTP only becomes a Dark Swashbuckler when they have bad motivations and don’t care.  Villainous ENTP’s may be just as charming, adaptive, personable and witty, but just like bad actions shouldn’t define a good ENTP, good actions can’t define one with bad intent.  Dark Swashbucklers don’t care what kind of person they are in reality anymore, so long as they achieve their goals toward *looking* great on the outside.

The constant struggle with worrying that they’re bad may make a well-meaning ENTP worry that the path to Hell is paved with good intentions.  But if a Swashbuckler constantly returns to the *why* behind their actions, they can realize that the path to true heroism (and awesomeness) lies in who you are deep down and that if an EP focuses on who they really want to *be,* they’ll figure the action stuff out eventually.

As Swashbuckler Miss Frizzle says, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.”  It’s the only way ENTP’s can really explore the world, people and themselves.

Swashbuckler or Dark Swashbuckler, a strong ENTP is likely to go big or go home and will do whatever it takes to reach their dreams of greatness.

Examples:
Male:  Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly
Female:  Disney’s Mulan
Villain:  Dark Helmet, Space Balls

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ENTP, the Swashbuckler?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ENTP – The Swashbuckler appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ISTP
The Weapons Specialist

[Calmly tied up in a chair being interrogated by Russians, getting a call offering an extraction]
“Are you kidding?   I’m working.”
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, The Avengers

The ISTP Weapons Specialist is the master of… mastery; the specialist of specialism.  They excel at falling in love with something and immersing themselves totally and completely in it, using their bodies and minds together as a precision instrument at whatever speaks to them.  Their body is their world-discovering device and nothing will get between them and that adventure.

Young ISTPs explore from birth with lots of touching, running, biting and questions of “What will happen if I do this?” to help them discover the enormous, thrilling world around them.  They’re likely to be curious and excited about seemingly menial things that pique their interest and some details may be extremely important to them, while details that types around them feel are important aren’t such a big deal.  As they grow older, their specialized excitement and journey-enjoying adventure seeking may wear on the patience of adults who want them to aim their talents at more “serious” pursuits.  Also, young ISTPs, who at first may have been chattery, goofy and even boisterous in childhood, may be treated by other children like the things they like and care about are uncool or unimportant, driving a young ISTP who would rather be alone in their discovery than lose it, to be more quiet, withdrawn and snarky in their humor.  In their pursuit of experiencing the world, those experiences become their friends when they feel they have none.  This gives the ISTP three options.

The first is to give in to their cynicism of the world and cling to themselves as the smartest SOB on two legs.  At times, the ISTP will feel like they’re the only one who really understands what’s going on in the world.  They’re great at applying their past experiences to their current ones and seeing what others miss; things that to them seem obvious.  Plus their natural ease at drawing character judgments from the things they’ve seen is likely to give them jade-colored glasses.  It’s easy for an ISTP to go the way of Dr. House and take a sort of sadistic joy in rolling their eyes at humanity.  Even if it’s not to that degree, it’s easy for an ISTP to become self-righteous about their cynical point of view and not even want solutions to the stupidity they see around them, finding safety in the idea that the reason they don’t have friends isn’t their fault, it’s just because everyone’s a moron… which as an ENTP, I have to admit, is truer than I’m happy about.  But an ISTP who takes this course ends up not only further estranged from others (which is what they tell themselves they want), but both hating themselves and losing any joy they had in exploration, both of which were what they were fighting for in the first place.  The entire world is left meaningless to them, not exactly in an ennui way (don’t worry; art film INTPs, you’ll have your turn), but more in a “bite me” sort of way.  Appreciation of the world and the way they used to touch it, feel it and taste it, is just gone and they’re left a shallow, hateful shell.

Just because an ISTP doesn’t feel like part of the group doesn’t mean they don’t desperately long to be.  When they’re willing to give up the breathtaking and thrilling things they’ve found in their adventures because they’d rather have friends than be themselves, the ISTP takes choice number two.  ISTPs are terribly charming, when they want to be, and when they settle for the life they’re “supposed” to want instead of the life of calculated risk-taking and discovery at which they so excel, they can appear like that’s what they wanted all along.  But these ISTPs end up regretting giving up what turned out to be not only opportunities for experiencing the world, leaving them clinging desperately to memories of experiences they once had, but also end up feeling like they gave up the very essence of who they were.

Finally, though it may be the hardest thing they’ve ever done, an ISTP can defy both their cynicism and the way they feel others expect them to be and choose to find joy in the world again.  They can choose to hope that others will see them and appreciate their skills and gifts if they’re just them, even if “them” isn’t a popular notion.  ISTPs who choose this third road end up excelling at whatever they pick to love.  Brilliant and dauntless, this is the ISTP Weapons Specialist.

The ISTP Weapons Specialist is often found in fiction as the dark and snarky hero who may cling to the social sidelines until their sure-to-be-impressive skills have a chance to be spotlighted.  Or they may be the dry-humored, skeptic team member, ready to tell the others when their plan is bone-shatteringly stupid or the aloof bounty-hunter or expert at a rare and ancient art that you call when no one else will do.  They’re excellently cast as the relatable bad-a and when writers need a kick-butt girl, the Weapons Specialist is one of the most common choices (along with ENTJ, interestingly enough) because they’re able to be hard-core, while still having a hidden quirky, soft side.  Their Introverted Perception combined with their Sensing makes them masters of the moment, the details of what’s going on right in front of them which they’re able to make use of in a laid-out Thinking way.  But, like all TPs, they have an unconventional eccentricity to the way they do things and a love of flying in their own direction.  The Weapons Specialist is happy to stay out of your way, provided you stay out of theirs.

Like all IPs, ISTPs may fear being second-rate.  IPs introversion and solo world-exploration may make them feel out of touch with others, not “cool” enough etc., and their perception rather than judging may make them feel like they’re not pushing forward and having the effect they’d like to in the world.  ISTPs especially, in their concrete, ST way, may feel the need to defend how experienced they are.  Since their natural specializing means they favor depth over breadth of topics, they can’t possibly be experienced in every area; there just isn’t enough time or energy (or enough giving-a-crap).  The Weapons Specialist shouldn’t hold themselves to the same standard of competence in other areas as they do in their sphere of interest and they can end up demeaning their own amazing know-how as well as others’ talents and skills, if they do.

The Weapons Specialist likes to do their own thing, have their own interests and explore them in their own way.  They like to go on their own adventures and they can usually take-or-leave anyone coming with them on that adventure.  Whether alone or in a group, they’re going to do the exact same thing, in the exact same method.  As long as you don’t get between them and the adventure, they’re cool with you.  Of course ISTPs can still form deep attachments; in fact, because of their loner quality, the Weapons Specialist will usually take their close relationships *very* seriously, whether or not they want to show it.  A Weapons Specialist who struggles with sharing their emotions with their friends or loved ones may even grow colder to the person they care about, afraid of acting “stupid and emotional” (which they tend to have a *very* low tolerance of, in themselves especially) or opening up and getting hurt.  But the Weapons Specialist is sure to be an essential and treasured member of a group who comes to know them for who they really are and appreciates their tireless resolve and unexpected wry humor.

Dark Weapons Specialists are misunderstood creatures who grew cynical as the world betrayed them.  Though those characteristics are common in a lot of non-evil ISTPs, a Weapons Specialist goes Dark when they choose to disregard their specific experiences and what they know through those experiences in favor of gratifying their own feelings of hurt.  They were screwed by the world so they want to screw it right back.  For a wronged Weapons Specialist, there is a conscious choice of either choosing to fight injustice for the good of everyone, or choosing to fight everyone for the safety of themselves.  But even a Dark Weapons Specialist who is harboring sinister intentions will be excellent at what they do; harming their foes with a thin-bladed finesse in whatever manner they choose to specialize.

Weapons Specialist or Dark Weapons Specialist, a strong ISTP is sure to excel at whatever they choose to care about in a powerful, persistent, utterly determined way.

Examples:
Male:  Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Female:  Princess Merida, Pixar’s Brave
Villain:  Gollum, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ISTP, the Weapons Specialist?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ISTP – The Weapons Specialist appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ESTP
The Spartan

“Time for some thrilling heroics.”
Jayne Cobb, Firefly

The ESTP Spartan is a champion of individualism and loyal to the core if you’ve won their favor, which is based on your respect and acceptance of them.  The Spartan loves themselves… as well they should.  They’re funny, charming and observant with an unperturbed hunger for life and adventure.  They also love other people and champion others’ individuality as much as their own… almost  Where ISTPs love to use their selves to experience the world; ESTPs love to use the world and others to experience the exciting thing that is their *self!*

But from a young age the combination of loving to experience life, being and planning in the moment and the desire to keep the parts of themselves they love, makes the ESTP easy to call dumb and shallow.  Young ESTPs are often not fond of sitting for long periods of time, abstract concepts or being asked to change… all of which are huge factors in the Western school system as well as most places of religion.  The ESTP isn’t shallow, nor are they stupid; instead they care deeply about people and groups who they feel can see the best parts of them and do not want those parts to change.  As the ESTP goes through life, they have three options.

The first option, which in our society is taken more often by female ESTPs, is to change and become a part of the sea of mundanity they see around them.  ESTPs who choose this path can be quite good at being unassuming, normal, non-threatening and just charming enough to make friends… but the ESTP who rejects their true self soon discovers the excitement, adventure and self-confidence they could have had is slipping away from them, leaving them feeling unsatisfied and lonely as no one sees them for who only they know they truly are.

The second option, which in our culture is taken more often by male ESTPs, is for the ESTP to resent those asking them to change and therefore insist that *every* part of them is good, even the parts they themselves don’t like.  A resentful ESTP ends up bitter against people (who as EPs they naturally love observing and interacting with) and in a constant struggle to prove their self worth, even defending their mistakes as “just the way life works” or “just the way they are.”  This ESTP will end up hating themselves and feeling like everything they saw and loved in themselves maybe wasn’t so great after all.

The ESTPs final option is to reject others’ poor images of them, embrace fully how much they love themselves and try to become the best version of all their favorite parts.  An ESTP who has taken this final path becomes even *more* themselves because the ESTP has been honed into just what they wanted to be all along.  For lack of better words… a creature of pure awesome!  This is the ESTP Spartan.

The Spartan is one of my favorite types to write and watch in fiction.  The confidence, vivacity and intense passion for life that Spartans exude is contagious.  They can certainly be protagonists, but are often cast as side-characters because their memorable personalities and sensible wise-cracking can lighten a heavy epic’s mood.  Often authors (myself included) will create an ESTP character as comic relief, only to discover their usually unnoticed inner world demands to be written and our little ESTPs overcome feelings of being unwanted, second-rate and struggling with the difference between growing up and becoming someone else.  The Spartan will tell their own story… they will not be quieted.

EPs are people explorers, obsessed with people, their motivations and how they act and interact.  With a T “bite” to their humor and an SP ability to notice what’s going on right in front of them with intense perception, Spartan humor is most incisive in its literalness.  Get an ESTP Spartan and an ENTP Swashbuckler together in a room and their banter is likely to jump from literal to abstract and then back again, each flipping their observation of the other on its head.

Like all EPs, the Spartan will have the most difficulty knowing the right action to take based on their good intentions and observed data.  ESTPs in particular will be quite comfortable with their physical action, but have a more difficult time understanding the abstract, long-term effects their actions will cause.

The Spartan is usually happy not to lead the pack.  They despise being told what to do unless they deeply respect their leader (as masters of understanding intentions, they hate not doing things of their own free will and choice) and would rather not be responsible for others’ actions (their own actions are hard enough to decide on).  If pushed into leading, usually by a circumstance calling their loyalty into action, the Spartan will usually say, “Hey I’m going to be out in the front doing this, follow me if you dare.  It’s your life.”

A Spartan is turned to evil not when they make a wrong action; EPs are notorious for mistakes that end in “Oops!”  But a Spartan goes from mistaken to villainous when they don’t care anymore what their intentions are and take action based on self-centered motives that ignore others’ good intentions in favor of their own, which they know intrinsically are wrong.  This could last for five seconds or a person could choose to be a Dark Spartan the rest of their existence, it all depends on how much the ESTP lies to themselves about their own intentions.  But a Spartan who is honest at heart should, with practice, revelling in the good parts of themselves and rejecting the unhealthy, have all the tools they need to choose the action that will best help them be happy.

And in fact, the Spartan’s self-confidence is not a villainous trait, as so often the culture tells them it is.  Enmity is a Dark Spartan’s weapon that, although it may not look like it at first glance, is in direct conflict with a Spartan’s self-confidence.  Confident Spartans don’t feel the need to pit themselves against others or ignore the intentions of others because they don’t feel the need to prove their own self-worth.  The more truly self-pleased a Spartan is, the more they’ll be able to enjoy others for who they are as well.

Spartan or Dark Spartan, a strong ESTP is sure to determined, individualist and memorable.

Examples:
Male:  Captain James T. Kirk, Star Trek
Female:  Rainbow Dash, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Villain:  Gaston, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ESTP, the Spartan?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ESTP – The Spartan appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

INFJ
The Paladin

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship…but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!!”
Aragorn, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Film

The INFJ Paladin is heroic to the core.  They have an incredible sense of scope and justice and desire above all to show others through example how to be heroic themselves (as quite aptly put here).  They go on their own unique quests through life, hoping to inspire others to do the same.  They long to be heroic, but usually don’t believe that they’re anything special, so they believe and preach that anyone can be heroic.

Ever since INFJ children play in the backyard or hear stories at night, they love archetype, meaning and the potential they see all around them.  It’s not until they’re a little older that Hercules Syndrome strikes and suddenly adults and peers around them say “who do you think you are?”  Our society doesn’t like meaning, but would rather run to anything else; from celebrity romances to keeping so busy we can’t hear ourselves think.  It’s all the grown-ups’ equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and singing.  So the little INFJ has a choice… they can keep seeing and enjoying meaning, patterns and finding higher purposes in the world and be ostracized for it, or they can cloak themselves from the world (as INFJ’s are the best at doing) and put on a mild-mannered face that doesn’t bother anyone.  When they choose to keep their head down they can be perfectly good at looking like everybody else.  When they choose to own who they are even if they think no one will ever truly know them and accept them, they become the quintessential “unlikely hero” protagonist.  This is the INFJ Paladin.

It would seem that the unlikely hero is perhaps not so unlikely considering how many epics have these creatures at their core.  Farm boy swept away on a world or galaxy-spanning adventure?  INFJ.  The young man accidentally chosen by the evil lord himself?  INFJ.  Disney princess who just wants to go out and see the world, but needs to learn to stand up for herself?  INFJ.  (Yes, I mock my INFJ about this brutally.)  Something about the combination of traits–the collectively focused and lonely introversion; the intuition to have enormous scope of view; a capacity to understand others’ feelings and the judgement to do something about it–makes the INFJ perfectly cast as the misunderstood young man or woman who still has a pure enough heart to do something about the sorry state of their world.

INFJ’s have a tendency to try and swoop in and save the day, even when the save-ees don’t want them to.  This isn’t out of a self-supposed superiority, as often suggested, but because the Paladin is afraid that if they don’t save the day no one else will care enough to do so.  This probably comes from their IJ tendency to make blanket character judgements, their introverted loneliness and their Hercules Syndrome suggesting to them that saving the day is strange so no one else would want to do it.  All the IJ’s have their own variation on “I have to do this because no one else will.”

The Paladin may feel like next to no one wants or understands them, but when they keep at their mission, which they’ll do whether or not anyone is following them, eventually people will see that the INFJ is good and their goals necessary; the other types like to rally around the Paladin as a figurehead of their cause…even though this usually makes an INFJ who hasn’t mastered their Hercules Syndrome feel terribly guilty.  They never wanted anyone to get hurt for them, they were just doing what they *knew* was right.  But as their friends have to remind them (often ENFJ’s, ENTP’s or ENFP’s), it’s not the INFJ they’re fighting for, it’s the good of all of them.

When turned to villainy, the INFJ is *creepy*!  There isn’t really any other word for it.  Dark Paladins are the best of manipulators because they are incredibly intuitive about people and can apply their mild-manneredness to going under the radar as long as they need to, manipulating others who would never suspect them.  Because they are so good at this and *know* it, pure-hearted INFJ’s often wonder if they are secretly evil and manipulative at heart, like one day they’ll wake up and realize they were bad all along.

But INFJ’s are masters of principle and can tell when their deeply-held values are incorrect.  Though they may make individual mistakes of especially character judgments, the INFJ Paladin wants to understand and course-correct to achieve their overwhelming goals more efficiently.  Even the Dark Paladin will want to hold to principles of good and right because INFJ’s know that applying correct principles *works*, even if the Dark Paladin wants to use it to their own selfish ends.

Paladin or Dark Paladin, a strong INFJ knows to trust their principles and rely on inner strength to achieve their world encompassing goals, whatever they may be.

Examples:
Male:  Harry Potter
Female:  Rapunzel, Disney’s Tangled
Villain:  Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on INFJ, the Paladin?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: INFJ – The Paladin appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.