I defy your meaningless categories! I have meaningless categories of my very own!

[deird1]

My boss is making us do Myers-Briggs tests so that we can understand each other better. An idea I approve of, in theory.

In practice... I kinda hate Myers-Brigss. Mostly because I've never been able to figure out what I am. (Except for the "I-not-E" bit, which has been completely obvious since I was born.)


I really prefer the personality tests with four categories. You know - the ones that are always exactly the same, but try to pretend they're new and different by giving them funky names. (I've seen "earth; air; fire; water", "lions; otters; golden retrievers; beavers", "heart; mind; body; soul", "red; blue; yellow; green", and countless others.)

Me? I'm a phlegmatic, a yellow, an air, a golden retriever, a soul...

Actually, just "phlegmatic" will do. (Come to think of it, the Myers-Briggs one is just four letters long - maybe that'd be preferable.)

Comments

[bruttimabuoni]

I quite enjoy the whole process of working this stuff out, and especially the analysis of what different character types bring to a conversation. Just occasionally, it has really helped me relate to someone I've previously completely failed to get. (For proper Myers-Briggs being unsure on some of the criteria should be factored in, so you're not just stuck with one label that doesn't fit. I've been thoroughly peeved when that hasn't been done properly - days of seminars spent thinking but I'm not really an otter. Not 100%. Kind of a lion/otter mix.

We had a red-green-blue triangle of types most recently, which nearly breaks your point. But they cheated and also had a Hub type so basically it's another four.

Earth, melancholic, blue [which surprised me] and I-something-something-J, personally. If you want to believe that stuff...