Myers-Briggs

For my seminary class on Servant Leadership this summer, we’re taking a lot of self-assessments to better understand our spiritual gifts, aptitudes, temperament, etc.  This is in hopes of understanding our ideal areas of ministry service, but also to develop an awareness of how to interact with others who are and aren’t just like us.

One of these tests is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  I took this back in my freshman and junior years and FPU.  Both times I registered as an extreme ISTJ (Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging).  I remember so well because a fellow ISTJ at FPU that I also ended up working with in our first job out of college was shocked at how extreme my scores were in comparison to hers.

MBTI really seeks to avoid pigeon-holing people into a certain temperament type, but rather give general tendencies of one’s temperament, and that includes a list of potential careers that might suit that MBTI profile.

I took the test again last week.  I was just barely still an ISTJ per that test.  My “I” (introvert vs extrovert) and “T” (thinking vs. feeling) scores were still pretty weighted, but I was just off the center line on the other two categories.  The book we’re reading recommended following up the assessment be reading the eight classifications to affirm our calculated MBTI profile.  Surprisingly, my “I” and “T” scores were the ones I wasn’t so sure on anymore.  The descriptions of the other two (that calc’d in the middle range) seemed to describe me pretty well.

So I decided to look up the “what-if?”  MBTI offers a lot of descriptions on the 16 various profiles that exist.

Portrait of an ISTJ – Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging – The Duty Fulfiller

ISTJs have one character trait which puts them at a definite advantage in terms of career success - Perseverance. An ISTJ can do almost anything that they have decided to do. However, there are areas in which they will function more happily and naturally. An ISTJ will do best in a career in which they can use their excellent organizational skills and their powers of concentration to create order and structure. ISTJs seem to fit extremely well into the Management and Executive layer of the corporate business world.

Possible Career Paths for the ISTJ:

Business Executives, Administrators and Managers

Accountants and Financial Officers

Police and Detectives

Judges

Lawyers

Medical Doctors / Dentists

Computer Programmers or Systems Analysts

Military Leaders

Portrait of an ESFJ – Extraverted Sensing Feeling Judging – The Caregiver

The ESFJ has two primary traits which will help define their best career direction: 1) they are extremely organized and enjoy creating order, and 2) much of their self-satisfaction is gotten through giving and helping others. Accordingly, they will do well at tasks which involve creating or maintaining order and structure, and they will be happiest when they are serving others.

Possible Career Paths for the ESFJ:

Home Economics

Nursing

Teaching

Administrators

Child Care

Family Practice Physician

Clergy or other religious work

Office Managers

Counselors / Social Work

Bookkeeping / Accounting

Administrative Assistants

I know that no temperament test is a complete or true picture of whom one is, but I found it pretty interesting that I’m probably more attracted to the breadth of the careers in the ESFJ list than the ISTJ list.  Blew my mind a little.  Maybe I have more extrovert tendencies in me than I thought.

Officially a Seminarian!

I received the acceptance e-mail last night.  We had just finished karate class, and I was hanging around the dojo to get some reading caught up for the class I’d been taking before I needed to head over to church before AWANA.  I checked my e-mail on my phone, and the words “Congratulations on your accept…” were in the subject line of my inbox.

I’m kind of floored.

I knew I had a pretty solid application, but ever since I submitted it last week, I’ve been questioning if I’ve been pushing this too much in my own selfish desire to have a master's degree.  Classic self-doubt.  So I had started praying that if God didn’t want me heading down this path, that I wouldn’t get accepted.  Not to brag, but I felt rather confident that He was the only reason I wouldn’t get in.

So I was really in this limbo of not knowing where my life would be taking me for the next few years.  But when I saw that e-mail, I suddenly felt peace.  I don’t know everything that’s coming ahead of me, but I have a plan now.  And the Type-A part of me loves having a plan.

This is going to be an awesome crazy ride!

The Internal Struggle

I'm trying to wrap up paper #4 for my seminary class before I leave for Mexico on Friday.  This one is to be written about the purpose and function of the tithe in the OT.

I geared my direction of the paper around not utilizing sources outside of the Bible and our assigned course commentary, just like I have in my previous three papers.

I'm wrapping up page 5 (it has to be between 7 and 10 pages), and I just hit the point where I'm seeing the potential discussion points swell, and how much my paper would be enhanced by researching some outside sources for inclusion in this paper.

But I would need more time than I have before I leave to expand it and make sure I maintain cohesive quality.  I so desperately do not want to ask for an extension on this.  I've done very well in the class so far, and I know I could probably get one if I sent the prof what I have and say that I want to make it better, but I think I care more about not having to ask for an extension.  I would rather this professor remember me for not being an inconvenience to his schedule by asking to turn a paper in a week and a half late and writing a mediocre paper, than writing a stellar paper and interrupting his expected work flow.

Okay, now that debate is resolved in my head.  I get distracted very easily.  Back to writing.

Seminary Papers

I hate writing papers.  Hate is too soft of a word for my feelings actually.  Oh, to go back to writing technical accounting memos that did not have a required length and where brevity was celebrated.

I sit here trying to wrap up paper #3 (of 5) for this seminary class, and I’m just spent.

I must acknowledge, though, that my professor for this course has been amazingly helpful.  He’s given feedback on outlines, advised me mid-paper, and showed a great deal of compassion.  At the beginning of the course, when I expressed my trepidation over the papers in our “get to know you” online class forum, he responded, “I'm not expecting publishable-quality composition. I hope this isn't a generational thing about learning, but I feel that it is important to be able to think through a given topic (any topic, not just biblical), then put those thoughts down on paper in a coherent, concise, and well-written (English composition--grammar, spelling, sentence construction) manner….I'll work with you on this!”

That explanation of his purpose of assigning papers (for our benefit and edification, not just as an arbitrary assignment), was immensely helpful to me.

And I must admit that I am learning an incredible amount more about the God and the Bible through writing these.  I’m getting way more out of these than any paper I wrote for my bachelor’s degree.

But it doesn’t make me like the process of writing them.  Five pages down, two to go.  I want this done before I hit the road for Orange County tomorrow so I can enjoy that free of this dreaded assignment.