3 Major Weaknesses of the INFP and How to Overcome Them
The INFP Myers-Briggs personality type is one of the most passionate, empathetic, and sensitive of the 16 types.
They act as quiet crusaders, championing the causes they care about most.
But no type is without flaws;
Our faults make us who we are.
These failings can either make or break us.
The key is knowing what they are so you can work on overcoming them.
The key to overcoming them is knowing how they are
affecting your life and a choice to take action.
Major Weakness #1: INFPs Struggle With Structure
I’m sure almost all INFPs can relate to this:
We suck at structure.
From managing our time to organizing our ideas,
we can’t seem to get this right.
Keeping our lives in order always seems just out of the INFP’s reach.
What makes INFP struggle with structure?
The F in the INFP’s 4-letter code means they prefer Feeling decisions.
Decisions using Feeling are based on how it affects others or whether or not a choice matches your inner value system — your beliefs.
Unfortunately, when you prefer Feeling, it means you don’t prefer Thinking — deciding based on objective criteria.
And when you don’t prefer something, it tends to be your weaker side. Try writing your name with the hand you don’t prefer.
If you’re familiar with the theory the MBTI is based on — Jung’s cognitive functions — INFPs do not prefer the extraverted Thinking (Te) process.
At a basic level, Extraverted Thinking is a decision-making process that helps bring order to the outside world, i.e., your room, your workspace, your computer files.
How to Overcome This
1) Adopt a proven organizational system.
When I adopted the Getting Things Done approach to productivity, it changed my life.
I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t implement this system.
If you’re struggling to get your life in order, check out this book.
2) Stick to — and maintain — your new organizational systems.
Now here comes the hard part: sticking to your system. You may get off to a great start, but turning your new system into a solid habit is where it counts.
Even if you only manage to stick with one concept from this book, the result will be transformative.
3) Ask a friend who is good at organizing for help.
(Bonus points: If you know any ENTJs, ESTJs, ISTJs, or INTJs)
Picking the brain of a natural organizer will help you build your own organizing muscles. If you happen to know any of the types listed above, they prefer organizing the outer world (extraverted Thinking).
Weakness #2: INFPs Are Sensitive to Criticism and Tend to Ignore Feedback
I gave a 7-minute recorded presentation in college. The professor gave feedback on the recordings and two classmates were filling out a feedback sheet as I presented.
I struggled to look at the what they said about my presentation.
It made me feel uneasy.
By choosing to ignore their constructive criticism. I lost valuable information I could’ve used to improve my future presentations
INFPs tend to be highly sensitive people (HSP), we experience stimulus from the world with our volume knobs turned up to 200%. This means criticism packs and extra hard punch to us.
How to Overcome This
1) Be aware of how you react to criticism and feedback.
Knowing how you respond to feedback is the first step. You can’t change something you don’t know about.
2) See feedback as a data point.
Take in feedback as if it were simply a data point on a graph.
INFPs tend not to see things in an objective way.
But imagining the feedback as data helps to re-frame it objectively.
Otherwise, we tend to see criticism as a personal attack.
3) See constructive criticism as a gift.
View criticism as a means to improve yourself.
The person giving it to you might have something of true value. But you won’t know it if you reject their gift from the get-go.
Weakness #3: INFPs Tend to be Too Idealistic
We dream too big.
We imagine a picture-perfect image of the
future with no idea how to get there.
This isn’t always a bad thing.
But when it’s time to make that dream a reality, we can become overwhelmed.
The weight of our own grandiose vision crushing our expectations.
I wanted to make a video game.
A game that teaches the player about their personality type.
The game would be amazing. It’d be immersive, teach the player in a creative way — through gameplay and story — about the 16 personalities.
And best of all, this would be what I do for a living.
Then, reality came crashing down on me:
I didn’t know anything about making video games.
How do I even start?
The closer I looked at my dream, the further away it seemed.
How to Overcome This
1) Do a reality check.
What you really want?
How badly do you want it?
What would it take for your ideal to come to fruition?
Realize that few things are ever perfect. When you check your ideals with reality you can set expectations that aren’t-so-high.
The higher your expectations, the greater the fall.
2) Break your dream into smaller segments.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
Your dreams will seem overwhelming when you look at it as a whole. Instead, see what are the major pieces to accomplishing your dreams are.
Break the pieces into sub-pieces.
Then take it one step at a time. One day at a time.
3) Remind yourself daily why you want to make your dream a reality.
It’s easy to lose sight of what you want.
Set daily reminders of your goals on your calendar, phone, post-it notes, whatever medium that works best for you.
From that point on, commit to taking one step towards your goal each day.
Ask yourself each day, “What’s one small thing I can do to further my dreams?”
Conclusion
We INFPs are a unique bunch.
It may seem like we don’t fit into what society considers normal.
And we don’t. We wrestle with finding our place in the world.
But don’t let that discourage you.
We each have something of value that is
begging to be unleashed onto the world.
Isabel Myers, co-creator of the MBTI, believed in
the value of what her dream had to offer to the world.
Imagine a woman in the 1960s with a dream.
A dream to help others grow and develop through self-awareness.
Now imagine that woman — against all odds — accomplishing her dream.
She created the most influential personality assessment in the world.
That woman was an INFP.
Like her, you also have a unique gift to give.
How will you overcome your weaknesses?
