Self- Assessment Using The Myers Briggs Type Indicator Test
For this assignment, I am tasked with writing a paper in regards of MTBI, or the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, which is a self-assessment test, to highlight how people see the world around them, and their decision making. Before starting this assignment, I partook in the Myers Briggs test, and for the purpose of this assignment, I’ll be discussing the result I achieved once finishing the test, demonstrating a strong knowledge and good understanding of MBTI as an overall framework in understanding myself, in regard to a professional context. Also, I will be exploring my own strengths, weaknesses, how I communicate and work with others in a professional environment, and finally, what implications that my MBTI type may have on my chosen career.
On the self- assessment, I felt I was more aligned towards that of an ESTJ; Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. However, I learned from my results that I was in fact an ENTJ; Extroverted, Intuition, Thinking, and Judging. From reading this MTBI types description, I was not surprised, as I felt it described me perfectly. I wouldn’t describe myself as one to shy away from a leadership role, but I would rather seek it out readily, as I see myself as very decisive, planning out my work in the long term, and very well informed in a task that I’ve been asked to perform. Using this as a base to build upon, I shall go on to describe my strengths that I may face as an ENTJ. Being an ENTJ entails being quick, and very decisive. An ENTJ assumes a leadership role with open arms and is ready for the challenges that follow in that position. They also are very quick to see illogical ideas and find a more straight forward way of thinking, and plan for the end goal of a project with long term goals, and a way to easily reach them. ENTJ’s are also very well informed and try to expand their knowledge anyway they can.
If there is anything I enjoy, is a challenge. Be it big or small, I find great achievement in setting down my time and my resources to a reach a goal. A major part to play in reaching that goal, is planning and efficiency. I normally break it down into smaller, weekly goals, which must be completed to move the task forward, and to stay on complete schedule: “Due to their keen awareness of organizational connections and strategy, they think ahead and can often anticipate problems, develop long-term plans”.
I believe strong charisma, and by being very logical, is one of my main strengths. Working on some daunting projects, can dim moral and in turn, slow down work production, which leads into the overall planning and efficiency to drop. I try to invigorate and breathe life into others who may be struggling, which will in turn, bring about better results. Examples of this can be taken from when I was part of a team creating an animated short, in which I would constantly compliment peoples work, be it little or big, as it would encourage them to continue, normally at a better capacity. In regards to reaching my end goal, being logical is one of most important things that I can be, not just as an ENTJ in the workplace, but overall in everyday life. I have no problems when it comes to reaching the best fitting and time effective method to complete a task, as I know I’ve other things to be working on. Now, having given and explained some of my strengths, I shall now delve into my challenges and weaknesses.
One of my prime examples of a weakness that I have, is ignorance. I’ve very straight forward attitude in regards to ideas and planning; Either my way or the Highway. When I have a planned formed in my head that can solve a problem, I tend to speak out against any other ideas, or in some ways, to discourage it completely. It’s ironic in way, that as an encouraging person, I can also be quite the opposite when my ideas aren’t shared. Along the same lines of being ignorant at times, I also can be quite defensive, and sometimes rude or emotional when it comes to my thought process, especially my work. I tend to treasure and grow attached to my own work, which gives me cause to make mistakes. I’m not one to shy away from constructive criticism, but I always walk away with some sort of resentment towards the help I receive. However, I’ve now begun to take on this criticism as being helpful, not being a hindrance. I believe I’ve a mentality in which I can be my only critic, and everyone else can have no say, which can be harmful to my work at times. In this next section, I will be discussing how I communicate and work with others, after previously talking about my strengths and weaknesses. I’ve always regarded myself as a very open person, when it comes to talking and communicating to people in general. I’m rather straight forward and tackle a problem directly, instead of wasting time that can be used for more important things. I always try to have some sort of knowledge of a topic when talking to a fellow member, as there is no point in trying to talk about something I’ve no knowledge in. An example of this would be during my second year of college, when I was in a team of four other of my classmates, in which we were asked to create and produce a short-animated film. One of my team mates had a query into a certain piece of software (Adobe After-Effects) we were using during a small conversation, and during my own time I researched and read up about the problem they were stuck on, so when we next conversed during a team meeting, I was able to show and discuss different methods of how to resolve the problem.
Speaking of team meetings, they were a prime example of how I work with others. During our first team meeting, I made the point of how we should split our meetings up into sections for different team members, and that we should also set moderately strict weekly deadlines for each of ourselves in regards to the project, as to stay on top of work and not be falling behind schedule. For this reason, our meetings were relatively short, to the surprise of lecturers. I would talk casually to my friends outside the meetings, but during a meeting, I’d be solely focused on what needs to be done and be entirely work focused. In the end, we had a very successful team, and next to no problems or issues throughout the project’s timeline. In the next part of this paper, I shall be discussing the impact of my Inferior Function, and ways in which I can manage it.
Upon completing the MBTI and adding up my scores for my result, I was rather surprised to see that J (Judgement) was my Inferior Function, as in this category, it is about organization, planning and decision making, something that pride myself on. However, from doing some further brainstorming, I found some ways that I can manage this better. As I’ve previously mentioned, I prioritise in reaching the end of a task by planning. However, when it comes to juggling several different things at once, I begin to slip up, and hence become sloppy in my time keeping due to stress. A way that deal with it, is to take a step back from everything, and look at what exactly is happening. A solution is to put the more urgent goals first, while still working on long term projects, but not as an urgent priority. This in turn reduces stress and allows for the projects that are due sooner to be worked on with full potential, instead of allowing for rushed work, that isn’t of top standard that I can produce. As an ENTJ, Judgement is a quintessential part of me as a person, so there trying to manage this as my Inferior Function is vital for me to progress with myself not just as student, but for when I move into the work place: “Making the inferior more conscious requires understanding the nature of our inferior function according to our type, including the ways in which it can be grandiose, selfish, defensive, and destructive.”
The final part of this paper is the discussion of the implications of my MTBI type with my chosen career path. On completion of my course and receiving my degree, I plan to work in the Animation Industry, more specifically as a Storyboard Artist. A Storyboard Artist is an artist that takes a script/ concepts and makes it into a fully visual story. It is one of the most crucial parts of a production, as it the first time the story is being visualised and is how the director/producer see the film. This career holds a lot of responsibility, as it entails working with team of other artists, to visualise the production from paper to a fully developed visual story. There is little room for error, as it requires constant pitches and presentations to the Director, Producers and other important parties. An aspect of being an ENTJ, is that I can work quickly and efficiently, to re-correct mistakes in my work. This is vital for being a Storyboard Artist, as there will be constant fixes, new ideas and reiterations throughout that part of the production. Another positive implication of being an ENTJ in regard to being a Storyboard Artist, is that of being a leader in a team. Collaborating with the Producers, Storyboard artists must lead their team towards their final goal, making constant, frank decisions to push the project forward. As I’ve previously mentioned earlier in this paper, I readily assume the role of leader. Even though it would a completely new experience to anything I’ve previously done, I believe that my charisma and strong work ethic would be a very positive aspect for me to bring to my chosen career.
Some negative implications of being an ENTJ in my chosen career, would be that of having to go through with illogical ideas and in turn, wasting time. I know that as part of being a Storyboard Artist is to constantly correct boards and scenes to the Director/Producers content, but I would rather have it done in less than a handful of attempts, instead of spending a copious amount of time on the one part. One of my main weaknesses that I’ve mentioned, is being too sentimental and attached to my own work. Yes, I admit that I’ve grown to see this as being helpful, but in this career path it involves constant changes, and even to completely start over. When I’m personally proud of something, I find it very difficult to let it go, or to be disregarded. So, that may be one strong negative impact of MTBI Type that could affect me in my future workplace.
In conclusion, having openly discussed my MTBI Type, as well as my Strengths, Weakness, my Communication with other people, and how being an ENTJ can positively or negatively affect me in my future chosen career path, I can say that I have a better understanding of myself in a professional context. I’ve been surprised in some of the things that I discovered that I have strengths, such as that of being a leader. However, I do have things that I must work on, that won’t hopefully hinder my future relationship with my fellow work mates.
