Due to its complexity, most introductory Myers Briggs personality type web sites and workshops do not even bring up the concept of TYPE DYNAMICS. However, the key to getting off the fence is looking at two and three letter combinations. There is a tendency to get caught up in the four dichotomies rather than the whole type.

       One of the reasons there is no inventory that can accurately determine your type, is that behaviors have more than one driver. I've given you some specific examples on the checklist pages -- all "T" types want data and value data, but it is only the "ST" types, not the "NT" types, who naturally acquire information from their environment via detailed data. Similarly, both "S" and "J" types go step-by-step so to speak. However, "S" types become aware and recall information step-by-step, and "J" types live step-by-step.

       You can see how it is difficult to write questions that describe behavior in a way that is unique to each dichotomy. So, don't ask yourself, "Am I an S or a N?" You'll go around and around in circles. Ask yourself about your whole type, "Am I an ESFP or an ENFP?" Before asking a professional for assistance, check out some of the "diagnostic pearls" below:

• Confirm Your Temperament
  
  If the types you are waffling between belong to two different Temperament categories, you need to first sort out and become confident with which of the four temperaments best describe you. In other words, if you can't determine if you are an ESFP or ENFP, don't obsess on the S/N checklist -- clarify whether you are an SP (ESFP) or an NF (ENFP). SF can seem similar to NF, but SP is very different from NF.
• The E / I Dichotomy
  
  There are 13 items on the E / I dichotomy checklist. In my experience, three of these are far more telling than the other ten combined: voice volume, voice speed and facial animation/body language. A minority of people are not obviously E or I to those familiar with personality type, and that's where the extra questions can be helpful. I cautioned you about asking someone else to confirm your type. However, often your friends will have a very clear impression of whether you are E or I based on how many times they have to ask you to speak up (or shut up), complete your sentences (or ask you to slow down), how easy it is for them to read what you're feeling, etc.
• Natural Resistance to Type
  
  Some types naturally resist being "put in a box". Introverts can fear they will lose their sense of privacy, if others can guess at their inner workings by knowing their type. Some Sensors find personality type too "theoretical", and until they can see the practical benefits, resist learning more about type. Feelers sometimes worry that putting people in "boxes" will take away their individuality. Thinkers sometimes consider personality type as too subjective to be a science, or dismiss it because there is no test that can objectively and reliably categorize people by type. Perceivers may have difficulty believing there are only 16 options for all the people in the world. Ironically, discovering where you are resistant to the concepts of personality type can help you validate your type.
• "I don't want to be that type!"
  
  I haven't always been so sure I wanted to be a redhead, either. Sure, I could dye my hair, but that takes a lot of work, right? The same is true with personality type. We all use all the preferences each and every day. We just do so with a different frequency, a different skill level, and a different ease. You don't always have to move through the world in your natural way. Many of us don't, especially in relationships and at work. It's just that it usually takes more energy and time to do things in our non-preferred way, and that often keeps us from joy.
• Pay careful attention to how you define terms.
  
  Often, the reason we aren't happy with our natural type is the street language definitions that we've come to associate with words such as "introverted" or "structured." Being a Myers-Briggs® "introvert" doesn't mean that you're not social, or can't behave in an extroverted fashion whenever you want, do it well and enjoy it. It only means, that it's more natural for you to focus on the internal world, and the inner world gives you energy.
  
  Here's an example. I had a friend who didn't want to be an "S". She associated going "step-by-step" with the words "rigid" and "uncreative". She also believed that if she wasn't an "N", it meant she didn't have good spiritual intuition. She was a natural storehouse of itsy-bitsy data on every person she'd ever heard about or met, constantly making spontaneous comments like, "Ice dancing? Oh, I think Janet's friend Susan -- you know the one who just moved to Idaho and lives next door to a retired school teacher? -- She now teaches ice dancing." Her career ideas all had practical, personal service bents to them -- a classic "SF" trait. When she realized that "step-by-step" didn't have to mean "rigid", and that preferring Sensing didn't mean she didn't have good spiritual intuition, she smiled and accepted her natural preference for "S", and became more comfortable with herself.
• The "Missing" Types
  
  When people don't strongly identify with one of the sixteen types, they often start doing math calculations, trying to find "missing types". Mathematically, 2⁴= 16 types, but Myers-Briggs® personality type is not just a mathematical combination of four letter pairs. As explained in Step Two, J/P references N/S and F/T. So, if you don't think you fit well with any of the types, it is likely that you've acquired behavior that contradicts your natural type, either through experience , acting on your more strongly held values, or through dysfunction. For instance:

1. Strong socialness is often misread as Myers-Briggs "E" or extroversion. The "E" in Myers Briggs does not measure how social someone is - it measures whether being social takes energy or brings energy. I have coined this friendly group of "I" personalities "social introverts" - they get their energy internally ("I"), yet strongly value friendships and relationships, so they invest energy in being more social than other "I" personalities;
   
   
2. A strong value of analytical skills can mistakenly be categorized as natural "T" ability. This mistyping is more likely to happen among "F" women who have attended graduate school or entered professions requiring an objective decision making style;
   
   
3. Co-dependency, a psychological trait associated with children and spouses of alcoholics and other dysfunctional family situations, can distort F/T measurement, and a perceived need to control the world around you and/or obsessive-compulsive tendencies, can shift J/P measurement; remember, Myers Briggs can be accurately applied only to psychologically healthy individuals;
   
   
4. Stress predictably alters E/I measurement - extroverts can become recluses when raised under chronic stress, while introverts sometimes become very outward so they don't have to think too much about what is going on in their lives. Also, as we mature, we like to do things differently, even when our natural wiring is opposite (see Type Dynamics). So, take time to re-discover who you really are under all that learned behavior.

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