Wednesday, October 12, 2016

How to Deal with Your Overwhelming Ne Issues - Warren Buffet's Advice

I keep running into Ne problems!
Mainly that of "overwhelm" ...

Here's a possible way of managing the overwhelm I found just now. 
I'd be happy to hear how you guys have dealt with or are currently
dealing with overly high Ne issues! Thanks!! :D

= = = = =
The Warren Buffett Story

There’s a story about the billionaire investor Warren Buffett that I read about on James Clear’s blog a while ago. It details a conversation between Buffett and his personal pilot, in which the pilot was asking Buffett how to choose his career priorities.

To help the man focus, Buffett told him to go through the following exercise.
Step 1: Make a list of your top 25 career goals.
Step 2: Review the list and circle the top five most important goals.

At this point, the pilot essentially had two lists. List A, which contained his top five goals, and List B, which contained everything that hadn’t been circled.

Now the pilot knew he should start working on the top five as soon as possible. But then Buffett asked him: “What do you think you should do with the goals on List B?”

The pilot replied that these goals were still important to him, so he’d work on them intermittently – while still trying to keep most of his focus on the top five.

Buffett replied, “No, that’s the wrong answer. The correct answer is…”

Step 3: Treat List B as your Avoid-at-All-Costs list. 
These items should get no attention until you’ve completed your top five.

----

Thursday, May 29, 2014

That 'Ne' Thang - ENTP's and High Ideaphoria

Does your & your beloved ENTP's brain just keep producing idea after idea, thought after thought, seeking new connections and combinations, exploration ad nauseum & infinitum towards tireless [im]possibility?

Well. Ladies & gents, welcome to the world of *Ne-Ideaphoria!*

caption: Welcome to the Inside of Her ENTPness's Brain!

Years ago, as I felt troubled by what career path I should be choosing upon leaving grad school, and probably for the umpteenth time in my life, I was recommended by a fellow member in an ARTS recovery group, to take a peek at the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation and their aptitude services.

While I did not book a flight to take their test, I did chance upon that word "Ideaphoria" which has really *stuck* with me ever since...

* * *

I've had a fairly active imagination ever since I was a kiddo, and I was lucky to be trained in the UK where students are encouraged to learn how to explore ideas and develop ideas. Conceptualizing is probably the word I'm looking for here...

And I doubt that most ENTPs with their dominant Ne-function will have much trouble generating ideas either!

* * *

The problem that we are likely to have... is *How the fruit does one go from the gazillion ideas to just The One?!!*

On lucky occasions, the Intuition gives you that gut instinct KNOWING, that something IS the one and only choice, and perfectly fitting choice...

But this Intuition of mine, doesn't always answer me with that kick in the stomach type of knowing... Often times, it sits silent and totally demure and detached from my problems!

* * *

I think this tendency drives a lot of ENTPs to...
a) become serial job holders
b) become serial monogamists/serial daters
c) disorganized households
d) a dozen unfinished projects & hobbies.

* * *

I think one recent & living example of this is probably Paul Allen. He self-professedly calls himself the Idea Man in his memoir. Bill Gates apparently is an INTJ. (source) And together they built Microsoft and became super-billionaires.


So far, I've only read up to the first 2 chapters of his book, (was teaching this today in class), and it was quite an interesting contrast to Richard Branson's book, Screw It, Let's Do It. 

After some digging around though, I found that Mr Branson was typed as an ESFP. (source) I guess, not all 'inventor' types are actually going to be ENTPs!

* * *

OK. So, here are some take aways.

  1. What is Ideaphoria exactly?
  2. What can you do to nurture your God-blessed Ne?


(Oh, *Ne* by the way, means Extraverted Intuition...)

1. According to the article that first inspired me and informed me about *Ideaphoria* this is how they define it;

". . . One possible source for this extra spark might be in the aptitude we call "ideaphoria," the rate of flow of ideas. The high-ideaphoria teacher is one who tends to keep students alert and interested by using alternative methods, examples, and anecdotes for communicating concepts. A teacher with an irrepressible flow of ideas often encourages the students to try creative actions of their own, making each teaching day an adventure for the high-ideaphoria teacher and student alike."

(source: High Ideaphoria and Teaching)

* * *

2. In his memoir, Paul Allen shares that his mom was a voracious reader, reading 5 books simultaneously... (perhaps she was an ENTP herself!) while his dad would be more controlled about his reading, and sticking to one book with consistency.

It was fascinating too, that Paul Allen's entire childhood and youth were completely marked by indulgent reading for subject matters that became passionate focus areas for him.

At a very early age, and I'm talking like when he was like 4 or 5, he was reading about trains or steam engines (sorry, if I got them wrong; detail is not my strong suit) which morphed to learning about electronics and integrated circuits, and by 16, he was already kind of *grounded* in his metier. And he had learned how to be a proficient programmer.

This just reminded me so much about the Five Strengths Test I took years ago.
I clearly remember the word *input* being one that initially puzzled me. How is that even a 'strength?'

Anywho, my point being, some special cases of *luck* aside, I think to nurture your ENTPness, I think one really easy way, one very real and predictable way to get your inborn genius to come alive and manifest, is to ACTIVELY feed yourself some input that stimulates you.

And if you're the parents of a wonderful, smart, bratty ENTP child, that's something you can do too.

* * *

OK. So... Here's my lil shpiel on ENTP's and their crazy idea generation abilities! Also known as that 'Ne (extraverted Intuition)'/ Ideaphoria... and what you can easily do to keep that beautiful God-given spark alive... :-)

xoxo

Her ENTPness


Are You Really an ENTP? (Short Answer: Don't Believe the Online MBTI Quizzes)

Dear readers,

Thank you for the positive responses, dear friends! :D I'm very excited to share more with you on my ENTP by ENTP blog!

Before I jump into detailing what joys and troubles life throws you just because you are an ENTP (with some ADD tendencies), let's first of all establish that you or your loved one is TRULY an ENTP.
caption: Question everything... Leave no stone unturned.

Back in the day, and I'm going back to year 2002 now... I was really miserable working for a corporate advertising company in my city, and I started spending chunks of time building a 'raft' so to speak, to unstick myself from the Dilbert Situation. 

I decided that a) I would start saving and finish the deadly credit card cycle, and b) have an inner compass to be able to leave a job that so many locals coveted me for.

I found online help from recovery groups, and Barbara Sher's web board (LOVE!), and read the What Color is Your Parachute, and somehow ended up taking my first ever MBTI quiz. I think my company did tests but they used DISC instead. 

* * *

So, that year, when I first took the MBTI online quiz, I came out 'INFP.' I was doing so miserably at my job, and I felt like a big time loser every day. I didn't have good boundary skills, I didn't know how to say no, and I didn't even know how to take very basic care of myself, physically OR emotionally. 

I just felt like a soft crawling thing without a shell. Like a snail without a house.

* * *

Then, I succeeded in leaving the coveted but actually very hellish & soul-killing job, to find myself in the teaching industry. Which is where I ended up building my decade long career. And when I wasn't sure about going to grad school or not, I think I had another phase about career choices, and took another MBTI quiz online.

I think I took a longer one that time, and I might've ended up with either an ENFJ or something like that, and I didn't really think much of the MBTI test itself. Obviously, the test must be 'faulty' as lots of people say these self-administered, self-perception based tests usually are.

* * *

By the time I left grad school, my dad hooked me up with a local & official MBTI agency, and I was able to get tested with them, using the official set of MBTI diagnosis questions!

And that was me in like my late 20s... Maybe 28 or 29, I think. And whether it is from the 'age' I was hitting, or the set of questions that differed, I have tested ENTP very consistently from that point on.

* * *

OK. I admit I am not a professional AT ALL, on this MBTI thing. But somewhere between 35~55% of the members I know in the Facebook MBTI groups perenially ask for feedback on which type they might be. They often ask how to distinguish one type from another, some settle on identifying themselves as ENFX or XSTX, or they take quiz after quiz, all of them online, trying to find out which side of the fence they fall in.

Well, I just wanted to clear this up, before I got started on the other topics!

Thanks for tuning in!

xoxo

Her ENTPness


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Welcome~ to ENTP by ENTP! :D

Hi people!
I am starting yet *another* blog... This time, based around my *musings* about this fascinating world we live in, and also about little things I'm having to *teach* myself... as an ENTP.

* * *
For all you busy, squirrely ENTPs and other ADD/ADHD readers, skip ahead to my future blog posts that are selected specifically for you! I read in one very insightful article that ENTP's need 3 'Ions.

1. Stimulation
2. Inspiration
3. Validation

I will also share some 'ADD' related organizational issues I've been working on, if you are into the problem/solution in that arena.

* * *

Other reasons you might want to read this blog:

1. You are a mom who has an ENTP son or daughter, and they are not acting like how you want them to be. (I was raised by an INFP mother, and she often tried to get me to be more like her. Please don't do that. ENTPs are minorities, so I think we need to let the world know, especially parents know, how we function and what we need.)

2. You are an adult/young adult ENTP, and want to embrace more of your unique traits! Yes, when I first joined the big ENTP group on Facebook last year, my self-esteem went through the roof. I was no longer faulted for being myself; unlike my INFP Mom, and the way my local culture tried to get me to 'conform' to ESFJ/ESFP ways, other ENTPs LOVED ME and CELEBRATED ME, JUST AS I WAS!!! It was like finding my own Mothership, at last! And that joy and celebration is something I want to spread... :)

3. You're an ENTP woman or man who is unlucky in love. Or you are in a relationship but you need a few tips here and there. Recently, I've had two ENTP men reach out to me for love advice. *Eye roll & clasped hands* Wowe, how did THAT happen????? A few months after I joined the big ENTP group, I met my boyfriend. I was finally able to turn around my unlucky love life, into a cozy & creative partnership. And I would like more ENTPs to be able to *be themselves* and have a *fulfilling Love Life*.

4. You are none of the above, but you just can't get enough of us. You have an ENTP neighbor, and a dog, but you still need more. My blog will be here for you. :D

OK!

Let the fun & interactions begin!!! 

xoxo

Her ENTPness @ENTP by ENTP