I took a personality test

Who am I? That is the question I ask myself on a daily basis. I took a personality test to find out just how much I knew about myself.

I am delighted to write that this post is in collaboration with Joana (My Gigantic Thought Bubble) who also took the same test over at 16Personalities. She is sharing her own results on her platform, the link is included at the end of this post.

* Image credit goes to thi.de on Instagram, who lets me use his illustrations for this blog. Thank you!

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The test results are divided into eight categories: Introduction, Strengths & Weaknesses, Romantic Relationships, Friendships, Parenthood, Career Paths, Workplace Habits and Conclusion. The testing site differentiates between four general personality types: Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinels and Explorers.

“Intuitive and Thinking”: Analysts are described as being very rational, independent and strong-willed. Being the excellent strategic thinkers they are, Analysts excel in scientific and technological fields. They can however experience difficulties in pursuing social or romantic connections.

“Intuitive and Feeling”: Diplomats have a very empathetic trait and can influence those around them by taking over the role as peace-maker in social environments. Their empathy makes them a cooperative and imaginative person but it can also cause conflicts when confronted with difficult decisions.

“Observant and Judging”: Sentinels create structure, order and security by cooperating, working hard and sticking to their plans even in the face of challenges. They are Most likely found in administrative and logistical areas. Some however find it hard to accept different perspectives.

“Observant and Prospecting”: Explorers have a very spontaneous and convincing nature. They are able to think and react quickly, making them excellent in crises and sales. They do have a history in making risky decisions and acting purely on sensual pleasures though.

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So, out with it already! What are my results? Well, it turns out that I am a Advocate INFJ-A, which falls under the category of Diplomats.

“Quiet and mystical, yet a very inspiring and tireless idealist” 

My preferred strategy of acting and achieving goals is called confident individualism. According to this strategy I like to do things solo, relying on my own skills and instincts to guide me. I have a strong sense of self, meaning I know where my strengths lie and am very confident. This trust in myself leads me to pursue a range of personal projects and ideas but can also mean that I choose to isolate myself, rather than seeking out social activities. Confident individualists tend to be proud of their character, but don’t see the point in proving themselves to others. They value their privacy and keep away from emotional drama. They prefer honesty over everything else and will express their opinions openly. Although this strong self-reliance creates a resistance to stress and emotional security, it can also endanger confident individualists of missing out on opportunities due to a lack of challenging themselves. Their unapologetic and self-assured nature shields them from seeking out other people’s approval while still giving them room to respect other point of views. Being very loyal and honest friends, a friendship/relationship with a type like myself is very passionate, strong and affectionate. Although individualists typically avoid leadership roles and the spotlight, they excel at them nonetheless when necessary.

THOUGHTS:

I was a little sceptical when I first read about the strategy of confident individualism. It wasn’t the individualism that irritated me – it was the confidence. Truth be told, I am not sure about how confident I am these days. I am definitely confident in my opinions, ideas and my actions. I love the person I have come to be and find myself and my interests to be unique traits of my personality. There are however still issues that I have to work on in order to “not give a fuck” anymore. Because sadly, a Part of me still cares what others think. It’s gotten lesser in the last few years but is still present nevertheless. What strikes me as fascinating is the part about the personal projects and privacy. They are 100% accurate. I recently wrote about my fear of getting hurt – I think that is the driving point behind my passing up opportunities. Above all, honesty has always been my greatest policy and I would like to think that this shines through in my friendships. I have come a long way in my journey of self-acceptance. This is something I will never cease to be proud of.

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1.) Introduction 

Making up less than one percent of the population, my personality type seems to be pretty rare. I particularly found it interesting that Advocates are not idle dreamers but actually take the necessary steps in order to achieve their goals. Being very strong-willed and opinionated, they will stop at nothing to fight for what they believe in.

“Advocates will act with creativity, imagination, conviction and sensitivity not to create advantage, but to create balance.”

Advocates are easy to connect with and talk to. As introverts, they draw their strength and energy from solitude (or “alone time” as I like to call it), having a strong need to take their own time in order to recharge.  With their empathetic character, Advocates will often forget to take care of themselves and can often find themselves exhausted an drained. When faced with conflict, they typically will try to avoid it. If personally attacked they will fight back, although their method can seem irrational at times.

THOUGHTS:

I can relate to almost everything, the exception being the part about not being a dreamer – impossible ideas and thoughts will often consume so much of my time even though they are unrealistic as hell. I will however fight for what I believe is right, being the stubborn person I am. Often I find myself so tired from social gatherings and activities that I need to take a few days to myself to decompress. I definitely need my alone time in order to feel like myself again. I hate nothing more than arguments and conflict – when in the middle of a drama I didn’t want to be involved in in the first place, I tend to distance myself or give others the satisfaction of “being right” just so that I can flee the situation. Like the majority though, I too have boundaries. Once someone oversteps, I will defend myself in a heartbeat, often forgetting to take a breath and rationally think before saying anything.

2.) Strengths and Weaknesses

STRENGTHS: creative, insightful, inspiring, convincing, decisive, determined, passionate, altruistic

THOUGHTS:

Creativity has never been a difficult task for me – my mind is flooded by new ideas and thoughts daily. I think that, along with a strong sense of determination and passion, it also helps me make decisions faster and more easily. I think that the insight very much has to do with my open mind and honest persona. Just as easy as it is for me to see past

manipulation, I can also just as easily be the manipulator if I have to convince someone.

WEAKNESSES: sensitive, extremely private, perfectionistic, always need to have a cause, can burn out easily

THOUGHTS:

I am pretty sensitive when it comes to criticism and confrontation and other people’s opinions can still influence me when I let them get to me. I don’t necessarily think that being a private person is a weakness – I like to keep my personal life to myself for a reason, often only sharing details with my closest friends. I admit though that I sometimes take that privacy to an extreme, building a wall around me as I go. Through that I sometimes shut people out. Trusting new people has never been a strong suit of mine and it definitely has an impact on my relationships with people. I recently wrote about my difficulties with putting my faith in people. As to always needing a cause; I think what describes me more accurately is my constant need to find something, a new project, to do.

3.) Romantic Relationships

THOUGHTS:

TRUE!

4.) Friendships

Advocates tend to bond with people with whom they have more than one thing in common. Getting to know an Advocate can be very difficult and a long process, as it takes a lot for them to open up. Only a sense of security and comfort will get them to trust new friends. Meanwhile, they can quickly spot and sort through people in order to find the perfect friend. Oftentimes Advocates can be too perfectionistic in their approach of finding someone who shares every interest with them. Those high expectations can cause other types to feel exhausted and fed up.

Oftentimes, Advocates will find themselves in the middle of unwanted attention, as their influential traits can often come of stronger than they would like. Above all, Advocates search for honesty and authenticity that mirrors their own. Once trust is established, Advocates are the perfect candidates for life-long and even long-distance friendships filled with warmth and care, as “quality trumps quantity every time”.  Predictably, Advocates prefer to have a small circle of close friends, choosing to deepen the bonds of their already existing friendships rather than making new ones on a regular basis.

THOUGHTS:

I don’t know what’s more scary – the fact that I’ve never felt so understood or the fact that EVERYTHING IS TRUE. I felt so vulnerable reading all of this. My friend group is very small, something I wouldn’t have any other way. I’ve known the majority of my friends for 4+ years and I am so thankful they chose to stick around and get to know me. I take friendship very seriously and expect my friends to do the same. I have amazing people in my life – I love them so much I would get a friendship tattoo with each and every one of them. They are my family, my support group, my safety net.

5.) Parenthood

THOUGHTS:

I can’t really say much about myself as a parent yet, but I hope that I do a good job at raising my future children. I hope that my children will learn to be independent and strong and that they embrace themselves the best they can.

6.) Career Paths

“Advocates crave creativity too, the ability to use their insight to connect events and situations, effecting real change in others’ lives personally.”

My personality type often find itself drawn to expressive careers like writing, music, photography, design and art. It’s important for us to have a career that allows personal growth and expression, but because we sometimes have so many interests (that often point in completely different directions) it’s hard to find a path that suits us because it means abandoning the other options.

“Advocates often pursue expressive careers such as writing, elegant communicators that they are, and author many popular blogs, stories and screenplays.”

Oftentimes this means that we will take on leadership roles or make ourselves independent in order to gain a sense of freedom. Our work has to connect with us on a personal level to feel important and worthwhile.

THOUGHTS:

Let me just say, I actually laughed out loud when I read that my type is drawn to writing and art – could this be any more like me? I mean, I’m writing two blogs and am working on some short stories and ideas for a book. I’m not sure if I want to pursue writing as a profession, as I get so much joy out of it as a hobby and I’m scared that will go away and feel like a chore. The university courses I am taking starting next year do put emphasis on writing among other things though and allow me to develop my writing and put my foot in the door (should I want to). As for different directions and the struggle of only choosing one – I already know that this will be an issue for me. The further education I am pursuing at uni gives me a lot of career options to pick from and right now, all of them seem alluring.

7.) Workplace Habits

Once again, I can’t really say too much about my workplace habits if I’ve never had a job. This passage, however, stood out to me because in a way, this describes exactly what I was looking for when I applied to different universities:

8.) Conclusion

THOUGHTS:

One of the thing’s I’ve always been proud of is the fact that I have made so many of my ideas a reality. Reading that this is supposedly in my nature is… oddly reassuring. In fact, this whole test made me feel very accepted and understood. I often find it difficult to come to terms with some parts of myself because they often drastically differ from what a normal teenage girl should like to do. That’s also why my friends are such a precious gift to me – they give me the confidence that sometimes goes missing when in self-doubt. I really feel like this test read me like an open book, which is a pretty weird feeling to be honest. I like to keep that air of mystique because I don’t want to give too much of myself away. In my opinion, some things are just meant to be kept private and only shared with the closest of friends. And finding people to confide in and share the most intimate of details… well, that takes time.

Reading about my supposed self after completing the test was one of the strangest feelings, especially when a lot of the descriptions scarily proved to be accurate. Needless to say, I am extremely impressed by the exactness of my results. It was almost like peaking through an objective lens and seeing my character more clearly. I am proud to call myself an Advocate INFJ-A. I recommend taking the test for yourself over at 16Personalities and would love to hear about your results!

16Personalities also offers a great overview and detailed descriptions of all personality types, so if you would like to read about them without actually taking the test, click here. If you have already taken the test, don’t forget to read about the site’s theory. They discuss historical, scientific and psychological backgrounds and offer even more depth to the different personality types.

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Once again, I would like to thank Joana for joining me in this small adventure of self discovery and would like to encourage you to check out what she had to say about her own results. Click here to read Joana’s results!