If you know anything about personality testing, you know that this is the abbreviation is one of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators®. As you might have guessed, this is, in fact, my Myers-Briggs type.
Through work and on my own, I’ve been through multiple classes (including Myers-Briggs, DISC, and some others) and find that it helps me to understand other people as well as myself.
For those who may not be as familiar, ENFP (“The Inspirer”) actually stands for Extroverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving. In essence, ENFPs are all over the map. Our interests are many and varied which I think helps us in being able to relate well to others because chances are there’s going to be some interest we have in common.
I think being a “people-person” predisposes me to interest in personality types and what they mean. Some shy away from personality tests because they prefer not to be “labeled” and that they’ve seen too many people use their personality types as an excuse for poor behavior.
Personally, I don’t find these to be valid reasons for personality test abstinence. A so-called “label” is whatever you make of it – just like stereotypes. For example, I’m blonde and while that may indeed subject me to some ridiculous stereotyping (”Why did the blonde get fired from the M&M factory?”), I’m not about to run out and dye my hair because of them. I also think that if someone is prone to making excuses for poor behavior, they’re not going to stop just because one of their excuses was taken away – they’ll just go out and find another one. But whatever.
I have been an ENFP my entire life…at least I suspect as much. I took my first Myers-Briggs test when I was about 12 as a result of my grandfather who used to insist that anyone entering the family take the test to see how their personality differed from their soon-to-be spouse (I think everyone came up as exact opposites which made me wonder if they hadn’t, would my grandfather have refused to let them marry?) Anyway, I came out an ENFP. I took the test again at 18, 22, 25, and 30. Each test still showed me as an ENFP, although I watched the scores for each letter grow over time so that rather than slowly becoming more “balanced” between each type indicator as some do, I actually became a stronger ENFP. Today I am a more-or-less textbook case – perhaps I should be studied.
Some of what you can learn about yourself can have you feeling pretty good (e.g. ENFPs are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential.*) Other things you get to learn about are your weaknesses (e.g. ENFPs sometimes make serious errors in judgment. They have an amazing ability to intuitively perceive the truth about a person or situation, but when they apply judgment to their perception, they may jump to the wrong conclusions.*) Hm. Something to work on.
One thing I’ve learned is that, unlike most Extroverted types, my specific combination needs some alone time. This was a relief to discover this after recognizing my desire to sometimes say “no” to going out with people which I thought was supposedly contrary to how extroverts in general behaved. I have also found on vacations that my limit for spending non-stop time with others is roughly 9 days. For instance, on my Thailand sailing trip with 14 other people on 2 relatively small boats, I got up 9 days into the trip, grabbed my iPod, and sat on the bow of the boat for several hours alone that morning without speaking to anyone. I needed that time to get myself recharged and centered – it felt great.
However, I think that results from things like Myers-Briggs or DISC are pretty useless if you aren’t given the direction or tools to know what to do with the information once you have it. At Merrill Lynch, they employed psychologists who conducted team-building workshops which were great. There are other tools and coaches out there who use them to help you discern what career path (or new career) might be a good fit. This is one of the things I’ve used it for – to help give me ideas about where I might want to focus my attentions in the future.
Should I go back to school and become a brain surgeon, or should I consider getting a job at SeaWorld feeding the dolphins? Perhaps I’ve missed my calling as a professional glassblower, or maybe I should go back to being a waitress. Maybe I would really blossom in the paint-color naming department of Sherwin Williams, or do I stick with my current role as a Project Manager for the rest of my working life?
I actually think I will always be a project manager whether in my current capacity or not. Life is full of “projects” (a.k.a. things we have to complete from start to finish) and since ENFPs get bored easily and therefore are generally not good at follow-through, being a project manager now I’m finding is a great help in training myself to finish something I start. That’s great, but the question still remains – What is around the next bend on my Yellow Brick Career Path? If only I had a periscope to see.
So anyone else want to share their 4-letter code? No stereotypes – I promise.
* All quotes referencing the ENFP MBTI® personality type are taken from the BSM Consulting website (http://www.personalitypage.com/ENFP.html)
Have you caught the irony of your “Yellow Brick Career Path” statement? Meaning that you want to end up in Seattle, aka “The Emerald City.” Very interesting, if unplanned!
Also, I was an ENFP the last few times I’ve taken the test, though my “E” is only a tad more than the “I.” And how funny that Ian is an ESTJ. I think Granddad would have approved. 
i don’t know what Josh is on Myers Briggs but I’m pretty sure we were pretty opposite on the DISC test we took in our marriage seminar class. I was an ENFP too but i think now that i am older and know myself better I should take it again. I think, also, i was like K and was very close to the I as well.
Good hunting on the yellow brick road. May you run into many friends along the way and none of the wicked witches.
I also think you should be studied. as a text book case.
@Kristin – Haha! I did NOT notice that, but you are most correct. Must have been a bit of my subconscious desires seeping through. Love it.
well i just took a quick online version of the myers-briggs and now i came up as an ESFP…this is the first time i think i’ve ever had a S in there. I don’t know what i am…some of those questions I wanted to say, “can you give me an example of this so that i better know what i think i am in this situation?” but alas, i had to guess.
I don’t trust the online short versions. There’s no way to get something conclusive out of something so abbreviated.
I have been a Myers Briggs fan for about 10 years. The personality typing seminars come sweeping through and I’ve been through a bunch of them, but MB is the only one that really hit the nail on the head for me. (DISC was next to useless in my case.) Glenn and I are both INTJs. Masterminds. Ha ha… there must be something else I could say that would sound a little more appealing, but that’s all I can recall. I am not a very strong “I”, but do I need tons of alone time to do my stuff. Both Glenn and Janelle are stronger I’s than I am. The E in me loves people and can be rather entertaining/witty in a small group. I must say, though, that spending 9 days non stop with people before needing alone time is absolutely unthinkable to me! I need it every single day. G and I are both very strong NT rationals. Intuitive, but with a thinking rather than feeling strength which does not go over very big with the “F” types. They think we are heartless because we can’t ignore facts
Enough of that. I think I would like project management. How did you get started in it? Did you take classes? Is there any book that you could recommend for me to get some exposure to current project management models and theory?
ARGHHHHHHHHH….. I wrote a very long (and great!!!!!!) comment that got deleted when I posted the “I should have said Nancy in Edmonds” comment. I tried to get it back and it’s apparently GONE. It said, in part, that Glenn and I are INTJs–MASTERMINDS. I’m not a strong I, but absolutely cannot in my wildest dreams (nightmares) imagine 9 days straight with people non-stop! We are both strong NT rationals which does not go over very big with the “F” types who tend to think we are heartless because we cannot ignore facts/principles/information
Both Glenn and Janelle are stronger I’s than I am. Janelle was an NF one time she took the test and NT on another occasion if I remember correctly. I know her T/F is stronger F then mine is. Sean is the strongest E of all of us. On another subject, I think I would like project management. Can you recommend a book that would give me a good overview of current project management theory and models?
@Nancy – Good news! BOTH comments came through and I adjusted your name for the first one to be “in Edmonds” per your wishes.
Let me see if I can’t find a good book for you on Project Management – I do enjoy some aspects of it (namely that it changes all the time so I’m always working on something new leaving me little chance for boredom). Anyhow, there are some great PM classes out there offered by PMI and some good books as well. I actually wrote a paper for a class I had last year on project management as a career – I’ll see if I can find it.
Fabulous–thanks. I have issues with boredom, too. Some of what I do on my current job is project based and once I’ve completed a process, organized or improved it as much as I can, I want something new. The salary analysis part of my job is always new and interesting, but some of the annual projects I am responsible for are incredibly boring.
Wow, an ENFP project manager? I’m ENFP, and I’ve tried project managing a couple times, but what got me hung up was the follow-through part. I was great at kicking the project off, coming up with a- and b-level schedules, gathering requirements, seeing the big picture, etc. But how do you keep track of all the details w/o letting stuff slip? Do you have to rely on a more tactically oriented person on the team? Have any tips/tricks?
@Ted Yeah, it’s definitely NOT easy to be an ENFP project manager… The follow-through is certainly the thing I struggle with the most as well. One of the keys for me is, as you said, having great tactical people on my team. Another thing I’ve found that helps me is having a good project plan set up in MS Project or something similar where all of my tasks are laid out which helps keep me from forgetting something. One other helpful tip – I use an email system called NEO (Nelson Email Organizer). This effectively has become my own to-do list and REALLY helps me with the following-up on outstanding items that maybe don’t fit neatly into a project plan, or are not really project-specific. Any of that help I hope??
Writer Bee, thanks for responding. It’s really heartening to hear about a successful ENFP project manager. It’s funny how some ENFP traits seem custom made for great PM-ing (big-picture view, inspiration, and what my friends call my “kum-by-yah-ness”), and other traits, frankly, are significant barriers.
If you don’t mind me asking some second-level questions, how good are you with self-discipline? For example, do you rely on your tactical people to keep you on track with deliverables/deadlines, or can you rely on yourself to keep on track?
I’ve found it tough to self-police, and though I’ve used something that looks similar to NEO– it’s called “Getting Things Done”, a different Outlook add-in– it’s all too easy to “hit the snooze button” on task reminders. However, when I get all fired up and really get back into the GTD process, it’s amazing how things unclutter and clarity descends on me…until 2 weeks have passed and my brain is squirming to move on to something else.
Is sticking with a routine challenging for you as well? How do you get around that?
ENFP too
I’m 19 and love writing and have written a 180 or so page story so far but I’m atrocious at maths. You need 8 English credits and 15 math to get into university or at least the one I applied at…I think there are polytech ones that don’t care as much but I got about 50 English credits and 8 maths credits in 5th form, which I dropped in 6th…and by 7th form knew I had to do some maths to get more credits but always the procrastinator, (in the sense of putting off things i DON’T like, ’cause I do the projects I have to like in school all year long..) I put off the maths assignments until the end of the year where I passed some of the easier ones (my friend was in the same boat, also the creative sort) and we both ended up passing a few math assignments, without getting the last credit we needed for uni. Everything left to choose was algebra and things that we foreign to me…I applied at a uni anyway, as I was choosing a Communications degree and pointed out that I had so many English credits…and you don’t need maths for communication…but I was rejected, so I’ve spent this year applying for jobs and not getting any. On the upside my unemployment this year has enabled me to write a hell of a lot on my novels. The biggest struggle is being indecisive, ENFPs like their options so open ended that making a decision almost feels suffocating, as if you’re imprisoning yourself. Arrrgh. I can’t choose because if I knew what I wanted to do, I could have been doing something with myself this year. I could have been studying for a trade, applying at other universities instead of accepting the first rejection I get, but even so, I would still have no idea what degree to go for. It’s so annoying. I want to be so many things and then I don’t know what I want to be at all.
It’s annoying (probably to others too) that we can try something once and be very good at it…making choosing something even harder to choose. For instance, I began a screen play after looking at the screenplay for The Shawkshank Redemption, just to see the format, and then applied the format to my own screenplay. Easy enough, I thought, but when I told my dad he was shocked that I hadn’t needed to buy screenplay and script writing software. A few days ago I decided I wanted to see how well I could dance like Michael Jackson, who I loveeee, and I’ve never really tried dancing in a stylized way, apart from the type everyone does at clubs and stuff…I had a MJ hat and cane (walking stick) to dance around with and use to my advantage…everyone was shocked, and it didn’t matter that I didn’t have mesmerized steps planned out because MJ said so himself dancings not something you think about, you just do. You feel the music. He said he can tell when dancers are thinking. Anyway so now shall I be a writer or a dancer, an actor, a screen writer, maybe something like … a Marie World dolphin feeder too that would be fun or a psychologist…or a… hmm….
Hey you may want to check out http://www.enfpforum.com Lots of great ENFPs there.
Hey, I just found your post on project management and I’m chuckling because it’s so much like me. I’m considering doing some project management courses, because I am full of the same tendencies – big excitement over the start of a project, love making things happen, brainstorming, but hate when the bills and the paperwork and the mundane details come along. Still, I think that PM can be applicable and helpful in so many areas – as you mentioned, as an ENFP we need to have a solid plan of attack, or it’s easy to get either bored and overwhelmed by the details. I’m also looking at some marketing or communications classes – always need my options, ha ha!
I read Lulu’s comment above. She may never see this comment from me, as she wrote back in Oct 2009, but I’ll say it anyway: don’t get discouraged! It can be frustrating to feel paralyzed because you can’t seem to choose between the options. And other people don’t always understand – they may think that you are procrastinating or that you are “wishy washy” because they neither share nor understand the challenge we may feel in making that key decision. I like to turn to other friends who have a good logical analysis skills and decisiveness, who can help me clearly outline my options, weigh some pros and cons and eliminate the distractions.
Also, most 19 year olds don’t know what they want to do! Don’t beat yourself up too much. Think of this year as a “Gap year” and explore! Also, talk to people who do some of the career options that you are considering. At some point, just go for something that sounds like it could be fulfilling for a while – doens’t have to be for the rest of your life – and that meets some other goals for your life, ie does salary matter to you, travel as part of the job, security, adventure, what? There’s no wrong choice – just different paths to explore. Some people start in marketing, get on the job experience and move into sales, then later retrain for something else. You can always switch paths.
PS I meant to say at the start that I’m ENFP too, although my E is pretty close to the I. I too derive energy from being out and about, but I’m rather shy in groups and parties and don’t like to be the centre of attention. But I do like to interact with others at work, gain a lot of excitement at generating ideas and projects, can’t file paperwork away to save my life and get bored if my work doesn’t involve variety and challenge.