I recently took an online Myers-Briggs Personality Types assessment, and it came back with my type being INTJ – Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging – aka, The Mastermind (by David Keirsey’s temperaments) or The Architect (if you’re using the NERIS type explorer).  This wasn’t too surprising to me, I’ve taken the assessment at various points in my life and gotten the same thing, but, what was surprising to me this time, is where I fit on the more fine-grained scale, as this has shifted dramatically over the last 13 years…

Back in 2005, the last time I took a personality test, I was just getting started in graduate school, just started a romantic relationship, and was generally in a very transient situation.  Looking back, it’s not too surprising to me that my personality type information was very defined and strong – I felt that I had to have a well-defined sense of self, because that was a lot of what I had to rely on.  That’s not to say that I felt abandoned by my family and friends, I definitely had not, but there was a certain amount of self-reliance I had built up in college and in moving away to a new place.

I think too, that it is a reflection of my archetype – much of my strengths during that time came from my rational abilities.  Various aspects of my personality type provided the coping mechanisms I needed to deal with the flood of emotional issues I was dealing with, while the adaptability and contingency planning got me through some difficult and dangerous situations.  Doubling down on these strengths then only made sense – If it’s working, why change?

My life now though, is far different than it was then.

The most telling thing to me is how I’ve been affected by the people around me.  In particular, my partner from 2004 through 2016 (and spouse from 2011-2016) is an INFP.  In the intervening years my IN aspects have remained stable, while my TJ aspects have moved closer to the middle.  This speaks very obviously to their effect on my life – those aspects of my personality that we had in common were reinforced, while I was more willing to compromise on our differences.  Not only that though, simply being in a long-term relationship with anyone requires a level of empathy that I didn’t really need before; it shouldn’t be surprising that I shed some of those old defenses that weren’t serving me any longer.

There is also a definite change in my environment too – between being in a stable, longer-term relationship, having a consistent job, and having some control over my living space (rather than having new roommates thrust upon me every year), my life in total is much less chaotic.  In this kind of environment, my needs are very different – being able to recognize and adapt to my emotions and the emotions of others is far more important than deflecting and protecting against those emotions.  Even looking at just my job: I work closely with a lot of people, and I supervise a lot of different people, being too cold would have stunted my ability to do as much good in my workplace.

Lastly, I’d like to think that I’ve matured as a human being in the last 13 years.  While a personality test isn’t going to measure this, how I perceive it may.  I now know that a typology test isn’t going to tell me who I am and provide an ideal of what I could be, rather, it’s yet another tool in my toolbox to understand myself and become a better person.