Article for APT Canada by Jack Falt, INFJ
I certainly gained personally from all of my training, and I learned that even if I had some of the answers to the problems of others, that very few would listen to my advice. Instead, I learned to listen to other people, and sometimes I could slip in a bit of helpful counsel. Now I am within a few months of officially being a senior citizen. I’ve come to conclusion that to be very effective, you have to try to become all that you can be. If you help others along the way, that just a bonus.
The exciting thing about the field of psychology is that there are constantly new practical ideas coming out. NFs have a built-in urge to discover new ideas about the self. Other temperaments need to activate that hidden NF inside themselves to keep discovering what is out there.
For some, temperament and type are only a small part of their working world. For others their main focus is on these worlds of preferences. I wish I knew back then what I know now about personality. As someone who has always been greedy about getting all the books possible on any subject that interests me, I have been collecting and reading practically every book that is on the market on type and temperament. Writing book reviews on these books and related materials has given me the added impetus to get at the reading right away rather than setting it aside for later.
Now I must confess that my type and temperament work falls into the expensive hobby category. I do have an ongoing group that studies these topics and do a few workshops each year; but I don’t make a full time living from these endeavours. So I have more time to indulge my hobby of reading and attending conferences and workshops.
Each year I am discovering new ways to apply type and temperament to all aspects of life. Look on my web site (http://trytel.com/~jfalt) to see the list of topics I have found so far.
One of the members of my group sets a goal of spending 10% of his gross income on his professional development that includes going to conferences, taking workshops and reading books in his field. It sounds like a worthwhile plan to me.
This newsletter is one way to help keep you abreast in the field of Psychological Type. Another is to attend the Ontario Association for Applied Personality Type (OAAPT) November Conference. Order a few books from a distributor of MBTI® books. Set aside the time and money to attend one of the many excellent training programs that are offered here in Canada. Consider taking the Personality Dimensions® or the Temperament Research Institute Methodology™ Class course to learn about the value of temperament and how it is the foundation of the motivation for our behaviour and an immense help in finding our type ‘true fit.’
The next time you are in Chapters, that old guy browsing in the Psychology section could be me!