Today’s very logical and informative segment is on the INTJ personality: The Architect. INTJs are Introverted- (N) Intuitive- Thinking- Judging. If you find yourself constantly asking someone, “Are you angry?”, they might be an INTJ. I can relate to this personality because my second eldest child is an INTJ. I am an INFJ. Remember, that one letter makes a HUGE difference personality-wise. INTJ’s represent 2% of the population. 83% of INTJs are male and 17% are female. Let’s delve deeper into these Architects.
INTJ personality traits
INTJ personalities are logical, critical, determined and like to pursue competence. They also like to be around other competent people, so they’ll spot you as a poser right away if you don’t know what you’re talking about. INTJs can be curious about everything, but don’t expend a lot of energy pursuing them all. They are way more interested in designing functioning projects than gossiping. When you’re around an INTJ, you might think they hate people, but they don’t. They just don’t appreciate things like laziness, incompetence, and self-serving behavior.
Strengths and weaknesses
INTJs can come off as cold (thinking) and antisocial (introvert). They also have a tendency to have “RBF” or “Resting B***** Face”. These Architects are actually pretty creative. However, they tend to channel that creativity into strategic planning versus painting sunsets. INTJs are confident in their rational thinking. They couldn’t care less about silly notions like tradition and social convention. Once they come to a conclusion on something, they become intellectual mountains that cannot be moved. These hard workers are open-minded, independent, calm and task-focused.
Alas! Our Architects have a few personality drawbacks. First, they can be arrogant and judgmental. We’d be arrogant too, if we were so confident in our thought processes. But this can turn people off, as well as their anti-romantic and overly-analytical ways. They hate blindly following rules so expect to explain why things are done to an INTJ.
More about INTJs
If you want to talk about your feelings, INTJs will not be your natural go-to’s. Remember they’re INTJs…so they’re Thinking, not Feeling. Does this mean they don’t emote? Of course not! They are wonderful shoulders to cry on, especially if you want someone logical to talk to when you’re feeling irrational. But don’t expect them to cry with you when you’re emoting. Since they need a lot of personal space, they may not be comfortable huggers. So if that’s what you need when you’re crying your eyes out, you probably need a different personality type to run to for comfort.
Common phrases for INTJ personalities might be, “Yeah…I knew that was coming!” (intuitive) and, “Yeah, I know” (thinking). And my personal favorite, “Well, actually….”. All this while they stare at you with their penetrating eyes and RBF.
Famous INTJ personalites
- Michelle Obama
- Augustus Caesar
- Susan B. Anthony
- Elon Musk
- Colin Powell
- Sir Isaac Newton
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Mr. Miyagi
- Gandalf the Grey
- Littlefinger
Elon Musk:
It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”
In movies, many villains and misunderstood heroes are INTJs. They’re not aloof and disinterested…they’re intellectual and intense.
I hope you’ve been enjoying this series on MBTI personality types. I have found that it’s important to understand the people around us as best we can. This is especially true for those in our Inner Circle who don’t share the same personality type with us.
Have you taken the MBTI test yet? Are you an INTJ? What is your day-to-day experience like?
Author’s Note: After reading this article aloud to my husband, we both agreed that it would be AWESOME and HILARIOUS if our INTJ daughter drafted this article herself. And then wrote about me, the INFJ 😉
