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In this episode Joel and Antonia dive deep into the needs and challenges of the INTP personality type.
In this podcast on the INTP personality type you’ll find:
INTP – Accuracy/Exploration in Genius system
INTPs have a crucial role that they play in our society. That task may seem a little thankless, which helps us understand some of the challenges they face.
Deep down inside, INTPs care more than they let on.
The Driver for INTP is Introverted Thinking (Ti), which we have nicknamed “Accuracy.”
What makes analytical sense? Decision-making process.
Driver = Flow State = the most rewarding thing you can do.
Ti works the best when it is without social obligation.
The opposite of Ti is Fe “Harmony.” Fe is about connecting and social interaction.
INTPs in the survey revealed their greatest challenge was in connecting with other people.
Copilot – Ne “Exploration” – is pattern recognition. Interaction with the environment without being attached to any outcome. A zoomed out process that allows you to explore your terrain.
Podcast Introverted Intuition vs Extraverted Intuition
When Ti and Ne are combined it is a fascinating combo of zooming in (Ti – surgical approach to data) and zoomed out (Ne – an overall view of patterns).
Together, these cognitive functions create radically new ideas.
Creating patterns and frameworks and architecting new maps and models requires them to be a bit destructive – like Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
Ti works the best when removed from the social bias component.
Emotional connection influences info.
INTPs often show up saying things that other people don’t want to hear, which is their gift to the world.
They are the great destroyer of outdated paradigms or untruths.
INTPs will always look for the strictest vetting process in their chosen field.
We are such social creatures we don’t appreciate it when people call us on our BS/Belief Systems.
We make extraordinary technical strides when we overturn the social norm.
INTPs break things down to their fundamental nature and depersonalize them.
Sometimes frameworks only get so far, and they get stuck because they run out of new frameworks for ideas.
The copilot process for INTPs is Extraverted Intuition, which we have nicknamed “Exploration.”
Exploration gives INTPs access to bigger frameworks and increases their territory, so they have more structures to hang fresh data on.
It is imperative for INTPs to grow their Exploration process.
The alternative is to stick with what you already know. If you don’t take in more territory, your framework may be radically off because you are missing a vital piece of info that’s just outside your existing territory.
Exploration allows INTPs to go out and experience things. Travel is essential to INTPs.
Going outside their comfort zone is imperative. All growth happens outside the comfort zone.
Sometimes we graft our identity to old pieces of info and INTPs overturn the things with which we identify.
But the INTP must first go through the uncomfortable terrain of change and challenge before they can do it for others.
INTPs need to be students of experience, life, and interaction.
The Survey revealed the INTPs struggle with a lack of motivation.
The INTPs that have the greatest motivation have decided they are going to bring their gifts to the world.
The more somebody rests on their laurels and holds back the more they feel a lack of inspiration and motivation.
The 10-year-old process is Introverted Sensing, which we have nicknamed “Memory.”.
Memory often means doing the thing that is known and comfortable. Finding a familiar context and staying there perpetually.
Frameworks don’t expand with Si. So, INTPs double down on Ti and continue to clean slice concepts and data until things become absurd. Without the input from Ne, they keep dividing until there’s nothing left.
Emotion is the seat of motivation, which is an INTPs blind spot. If INTPs double down on their thinking process, they avoid the emotions that will get them motivated.
Emotion is about finding the meaning behind things.
Exploration helps expand frameworks of mind and increase the narratives with which INTPs work.
Why does the data matter?
Ne gives meaning to the data. Without meaning, there is no motivation.
To see the narratives of our lives we need to zoom out.
Get outside yourself and explore beyond your comfort zone.
INTPs can have belief systems.
INTPs love absurd humor. Monty Python. Sketch comedy.
Even falling in love is nothing but a narrative.
INTPS who do the best are the ones who connect with other people through contribution.
INTPs can appear cynical because society doesn’t always honor their gift of radical honesty.
The natural state of an INTP is to be childlike and approach life with wonder and curiosity. Then they get the message that they are unacceptable which leads to cynicism.
Nobody can sustain a feeling of brokenness indefinitely. They either become depressed or resentful.
“You are not broken.”
“You are okay.”
We are seeing more and more media acknowledging the role of geeks and people who influence our technological world.
We see their contribution, but they are harder to reconcile in our day to day life.
We love truth. It reverberates through our spinal cord.
Society is getting ready for entering into a space of radical honesty, but it still means pushing people outside their comfort zones.
Modern technology is forcing us into a state of transparency; most technology is invented by INTPs.
The more INTPs show up as doing their job of being radically honest, the more we will head toward transparency as a society.
In the past, honesty brought death.
We can’t have real harmony without radical honesty, and we can’t have radical honesty without the need to connect with others.
The 3-year-old process is Extraverted Feeling (Fe), which we have nicknamed “Harmony.”
Healthy INTPs can become almost worshiped. They show up with so much credibility. They haven’t rejected Fe, they made it part of their aspiration and decided to use it to make others happy. Their intent is positive.
Podcast How To Love Yourself
Agape – Principled love. We are all in this together.
INTP men/women at the top of their game have many admirers.
Sometimes by solving problems for themselves, an INTP can find a way to solve for a larger demographic.
Female INTPs feel isolated because most women are Fe dominant, and men are usually looking for women to behave a certain way.
Spend more time in your copilot and understand why you struggle to fit in. Then go and find the context that will appreciate you for your gifts.
INTP women are polarizing. Birds of paradise. Not everyone’s going to love you, but some will and they are looking for you.
Pay for the privilege of finding your tribe. Conventions, Seminars, Cons, etc.
Online communities. Reddit.
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98 comments
Thank you so much for this! I finished this podcast in tears. I look back over my life and am remembering the times where I didn’t fit, where I stood out as odd and even as a teenager I was especially quick to call out and challenge and question teachers and authority. I have always been referred to as weird, book-smart, bitchy, cold, intimidating, shy, and awkward. I never could relate well to other girls and still have problems now as woman and and felt like they were ridiculous. I have had people tell me I have unusual wisdom for my age and a spark for life. I see the relationships I had and still have that thrived and I was and am the most comfortable in the ones that embrace my awkwardness, find it endearing and push me out of my shell, push me to be more social and proud of my accomplishments and skills and that I need to show more of myself to the world. I definitely have the latent emotion and have that box of hurt in my brain that has never really been opened or understood until now. I feel like my data grid has been realigned and things fit where are supposed to go and everything now makes sense. I am not broken. I am not made to fit into the social norm and I am not wrong for having no desire to do so. I am necessary and needed and desired in society. I will own my awkwardness instead of trying to stifle it. I will share my thoughts and not worry about how they will be received. I will encourage my drive to explore and to learn and experience EVERYTHING. Thank you thank you thank you!
I enjoyed listening to the podcast, thanks for creating it.
I would like to mention that for me, as an INTP, a deep dive into learing about someting new and interesting to me supplies a major dose of motivation and happiness. I suspect this is true for other INTPs as well. It probably isn’t obvious on the outside, to others, but it feels wonderful on the inside.
That’s an interesting thought Joel,
…And as an introvert I ask myself the same questions when I feel “forced” to adapt in a way that I internally do not benefit from (as a simple example- small talk at parties leaves me feeling empty and at least to date has not led to any long term, beneficial relationships, so…what’s the point?)
I would say the benefit for extroverts would be the same as for introverts, yet reversed- to open yourself to a person or world different from yours in order to grow your least developed functions. Of course, if you’re an extrovert who isn’t interested in doing that, then I suppose you’d have no reason since the world is already designed for you, and there are tons of people available for you to relate to and interact with comfortably (which is not the case for many introverts, in particular the INTP). I feel though that many introverts sense this which could very well be a reason why we sometimes can resist adapting to an extroverted world- we feel like we end up loosing a part of myself within most of our interactions, while you’re left intact and energized by most your interactions. This of course isn’t the most mature way to think about it, but we’re human too (contrary to popular belief, lol)and sometimes you just can’t help but feel this way. It’s terribly one-sided and what we get from extroverts is generally a “tough luck, life’s not fair” response. Why is what introverts have to offer not viewed as something to be valued? As an extrovert, why wouldn’t you want to adapt to all types? Why should introverts find value in extroverts, all while not feeling valued by extroverts? It’s almost like being in an unhealthy relationship, where only one person is blending, changing, adapting to the other, while that person is not valuing or feeling like the other has anything to offer them…and you’re stuck in that relationship with absolutely no other options.
Hi Molly,
Late reply, but I just felt the need to respond as an INTP, a female and a lover of theology. I agree with everything you said and we are out there if you know where to look! The program you were involved in sounded like so much fun. I’m a big fan of the Puritans with Jonathan Edwards being a favourite. I’ve often felt that I was born into the wrong era just because the minds I love reading most have been gone for 300 years. There is something about feeling your mind stretch and click when trying to comprehend the writings of men who were on another level. Just one of the best feelings in the world – how very INTP of me.
Thanks for the comment, Ramya! Make sure you are getting out and exercising your Copilot, too. :)