This is all fun and games until your life doesn't play out the way you expected or saw it happening. When Ni fails, depression. Or even sometimes when it succeeds and you realize your motives were crap, also depression. Ni can be an effing curse as a savior function.
Yeah, it really does suck whenever Te-driven Ni fails at its job, especially when it leads Fi to feel betrayed, thus prompting it to seize command of the Ni navigation bridge, which in turn drives the ship of the mind in circles of dispair and overanalysis as Te is thrown into the pits of the boiler room and tries to read its enigmatic captor, all while the ship crashes into things and clogs up life's canal because the already-inferior Se crowsnest got undermanned in the chaos of the mutiny. Also sucks when Ni-Te brings the ship to where it wanted to go, but the destination turns out shitty and Fi starts feeling betrayed... "No pressure, Ni. But you better get this right!" -Fi
It's certainly upsetting to me when something fails in my master Ni-Te plans. Or even in success where I have gone to lengths that ultimately destroy my Fi in the process and lead to the battered Fi to attempt a mutiny.
"I recognized the chameleon and no longer want to crawl on the earth and change colors and be reborn; instead I want to exist from my own force, like the sun which gives light and does not suck light." C.G. Jung, The Red Book: Liber Novus
Thank you so much for this video. It helped me clarify I am an INxJ. Everyone at school sees me as this tough, popular, ESTP kind of person but nobody knows that when I go home I just watch mbti videos and have an existential crisis. I think this is why so many INxJs are into MBTI. They don’t understand themselves. They have conflicting identities. They manipulate but not necessarily in a bad way. They’re faking it till they make it but don’t even realize it. This is an aspect of Ni that I never heard about before, and it’s definitely very interesting. Btw, I really like the way you ended the explanation. It was really cinematic. It’s nice to finally feel so understood. Once again, thank you so much.
This is why everyone thinks I’m intelligent, but I’m not really. I just learnt enough to appear competent, although I give the impression of being an expert.
@@InternetLiJo Tell that to my imposter syndrome. Like seriously, I do wonder if other INTJs feel like sort of imposters? Because we know our limitations, and we know that we appear to be good at something because we're looking at things from a more global perspective than other types do? When we learn something, we want to quickly understand the core concept without too much sensory details, whereas other types try to understand more of the sensory. Perhaps that's why we're good at learning new things?
Be kind to yourself, and accept a compliment now and then :-). As INFJ myself, I suffer from the imposter syndrome too. Stepping outside my own body and kindly looking at myself from a distance helps me.
Dressing like a homeless person for the whole month going to the gym and groceries, but if you're going out with the friends/dating once every full moon looking like a super model...and that's just one example lol
I wonder if this isn’t why so many folks who use Ni as a first function have such a hard time typing themselves? Perhaps they’ve become so good at “portraying” an in order to manifest whatever they’ve been trying to bring into being over time that their essential self has gotten kind of…lost. This was inspired!
That was me. I didn’t realise that was what I was doing until much later in life. But it was always to achieve my end goal. Some of it is so ingrained in me now it seems natural but I know I learned how to ‘human’ a long time ago. Thank you for this video it answered some lingering questions about my function stack. I enjoy your content.
This video deserve an Oscar for explaining INTJs brain in such a metaphoric but yet Poetical way. Fake it until you make it. It is like becoming superman for a few moment Until the prophecy is accomplished like being habited by a force driving you to push over your real weight because of this goal that need to come from spirit world to physical one using you as a channel. You don't even need to search for motivation you become the motivator. And it look so natural to behave like that : imagine my suprise discovering that only few people operate like this instead of everyone as i was assuming before psychology & MBTi. Well done Lijo such a beautifull Brain ........................ hmmm.
started mentally chanting “fake it till you make it” when the scenario was presented and was almost instantly humbled 😅 no one like an INTJ to do that, i suppose - INFJ
This characteristic is exactly why I deeply enjoyed owning a dance studio...choreography, scenery, programs, and the whole recital process was right up my alley.
This is what I admired about my wife, a teacher. She could be in front of people all day, day after day, and make it work. I can be "on stage" for a day at most, and then I just don't have the capacity to do that again for a while. Pretending to be a social person is a lot of work.
My Ni has been scary accurate to the point where I am making mental notes of its exactness. This is heavily, heavily in regards to any interpersonal and/or social dynamics. It scares me how true these outcomes are in my aloof, daydreaming, constant state. I've noticed it isn't even guessing, it's just a mind that funnels and sifts through patterns of behavior, human motives and the chain that runs long with human existence. It's been a handful of times that I have had sunken feelings that wives were going to cheat with their husbands, or had divorce in their hearts; shortly to realize it came to pass. Or close friends run into something you have already seen coming. It may be hard to explain the Ni feelings on predetermined outcomes, but it gets so real, we meander, going down the endless path; picking up our pace through all factors of a given situation or dynamic. I'm willing to wager there are times we feel another's emotions, before they have gotten the chance to be felt by the individual. It's a rush of connectivity When Ni-Fe takes on a universal language, and even wholly puts themselves inside another's soul. At that point, you emulate that persons whole being, aching to understand what is in their complete framework. Then the slap on the face; when people think you are oblivious to what is going on.
As an INFJ I try to mascarade Te often when talking to my boss; with time I understood that if I charge in with my usual thought process it'll feel as if we're not talking the same language. 😅 He wants the relevant facts / arguments to make a decision, not my overarching ´hunch' or idea about something (Ni guides me a lot in my work but it's difficult to communicate and justify it) ! But trying to Te often translates into me listing the data I have and not falling into what it could mean (and what's still unknown could mean), I think it's more of a strict Ti-Se practice than true Te !
your ability to take abstract ideas and articulate them in the most understandable and concise way is pretty incredible. literally every video i’m like “wow that was so well said and explains my entire life” lol. I’m sure it helps to have time to plan out the videos and talking points, but thanks for doing the hard work of bringing it all down to the sensory world and making it accessible for others :) I relate to this video a lot - learning certain skills just enough in order to achieve an end goal, then taking what I’ve learned for another situation in the future. all the time!!
Interesting... intj here. And yes, I've always thought it was easy to "step into a role" and be adaptable. That was Ni the whole time 😅 Thanks for the vid!
Ni is the fairy godmother of the functions. I would turn it on and off all day just to mess with people. CEO > Couch potato! Italian Barista > teen with attitude problem. 😂
This is a fantastic perspective on Ni. I also find myself in projects doing the same thing: getting a clear cut picture of the ending, and finding whatever means to get it to work. A lot of people I work with have some uncomfortablility about the means of getting there, and it's probably because they don't envision the same ending product that I am seeing in that moment. This also explains my tendency to "skip over" certain peices of a project because I find them completely unnecessary/meaningless in relation to the final outcome. EVERYTHING has to have meaning. If it does not mean anything, it becomes insufferably bothersome that the effort to include something like that was made. I suppose I understand what you mean by Ni being a "chameleon" because it uses/substitutes parts of a framework with ease, and does so in accordance to the theme/message by the end. It's also interesting how you elaborated on Ni using the other functions for utility, not as a switch to each one. This demonstrates Ni's natural ability to take on new perspectives for an overarching purpose, which is like being an actor for the play you happen to be writing. I feel that much of Ni's use of the other functions is just to take on a different perspective that suits the larger, more important perspective. Every little piece has a directly connected contribution because of the linkages through the perspectives that Ni snakes itself through. This video has shaped my idea of Ni, and I now have an easier way of explaining it to other people. Thank you.
A different take on the same sort of ideas: I'm a certain person with Group A, but someone else with Group B. I put on the face that works best for me in a particular setting. This causes incredible stress when I have to deal with more than one group at a time. My friends meet my family, for instance, and I have no idea how to behave. I have to drop back to baseline until I can construct a new persona encompassing Group A+B. I lose the script, to further your analogy. I'm only myself when I'm alone. I don't know whether that's an Ni/chameleon thing or a psychological condition.
i think it's the dynamic of Ni-Fe i consider myself INFJ-t and your scenario is quite typical for us... we want everyone around us to feel comfortable (=Fe), thats why we want to adapt. and Ni makes this adaptation possible
In short Ni means information gathering process that focuses on patterns, perspectives, hidden meanings and future implications ( my dominant cognitive function INFJ )
INTJ here. You nailed it. It's so fun playing all the roles and pulling all the pieces together for the sake of the project/goal but once it's done, those parts may or may not be used again.
this explains why I used to act like an infj (without even knowing) and after the social events I'd feel like I was faking something lmao. now I know I'm actually an intj (even though sometimes I think I feel like I'm not similar to other intjs in some topics, but that's probably because I'm young and my cognitive functions are still in development, and also bc now im getting more comfortable with being who I am). thanks for the video! you're always helping me to understand my personality better
OMG, I am not directing a movie but I am an entrepreneur. I am playing every role that I know needs to be filled. You are reading me like an open book. I am definitely faking it, hoping everything will work out.
Are u an INTJ? How do you play the marketing role coz I absolutely suck at it as an entrepreneur myself I feel like that's my only hurdle, having to meet people
@@lulu7304 Marketing, as I defined it, is different from sales. Marketing is the stuff you spend on social media, TV or newspaper to attract people attention. Sales has to do with meeting people face to face to persuade them to take an action (usually to give you money). As an INTJ, I studied both, built my own framework with plenty of setbacks and painful lessons before I really “get it”. But here is a quick overview. Most problems start before sales and marketing. Make sure whatever you are selling is actually solving somebody’s pain or evoking a strong emotional reaction (e.g. I have to buy that Ironman figure, or Rolex, or LV bag, or Tesla). Then find your market. This usually is where INTJ is good at. Our intuition should give us a clue. Then you need a way to target those people. Where do they normally interact? The answer is usually social media in today’s world. But it doesn’t have to be if what you are selling is local, like your local restaurants or churches. Then the fun starts. Either marketing, where you spend money or sales, where you meet people face to face, you get to test out your theory. In the real world, do these people actually want what you have to sell? Because before this point it is all in our head. What do real people say? Start small to gather data and feedback. Fine tune your pitch. If you have done your homework earlier, where you have located your target’s market pain points, the pitch should be intuitive. We are INTJs after all. Then it is all rinse and repeat. Feedback reveals pain points. Fine tune pitch or even products. Gather more data, etc. The whole process is very systematic and data driven after your intuition kicks start the whole thing. As an entrepreneur, the best part is I have control of everything. Maybe I need to fine tune the pitch, or the product or find new market. I can, and needs to be, very flexible. If you are hired, sometimes you are tasked with doing something close to impossible. The equivalent of needing to sell black and white TV. Sure would there be a market out there for it? Maybe, if you look really really hard and it probably still isn’t economical to sell to them. The obvious answer is to change the product. But if you are in sales, what are you going to do? Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck with whatever you do.
@@lulu7304 A side topic on personal growth. When I was much younger, I absolutely respect data. Perhaps obsessively so. I was trained as a scientist, maybe that had something to do with it. I would constantly push back by asking “How would you know?” But as I grow, with much more experience under my belt, I now trust my intuition a lot more. The thing with intuition is that you have to have plenty of experience for your brain to work with. But if you do, it can be trusted and can work wonders. Let me give you an example in marketing. There was a time in the past when orange juice was not a thing. Then a marketing legend (forgot name, Se is still not my forte) came along to suggest a campaign to tell people “A glass of orange juice a day will keep you healthy “. Obviously it takes many more oranges to make a glass of orange juice. The growth was explosive. That insight was obviously intuitive. No amount of data could get you there. So I think dominant intuitives can absolutely shine in marketing. You just have to get experience in to prime the intuitive brain for it to work.
Oh my gosh! This is how I started a business and planted a church. It will also start a nonprofit because the vision is world peace 🤷🏾♀️ the poor and needy cared loved. People assume I have all these skills when I actually go learn so the vision becomes visible.
Makes sense. I've been bored at work lately and have foreign co-workers so I decided to study their language. So the plan is to talk to people and maybe once a day ask for the translation of something into their language. I don't know why, but this actually turns me into an extrovert some girls even think I'm flirting with them when I actually just want to learn their language. When this program isn't turned on I go back to my usual self with an RBF
Funny how many Ni are film directors myself including. Now throw in being a glass lizard and man there’s some stuff to work through! You gave me a lot to reflect on this one.
I totally get it. I tend to do that a lot. I think it's why I surprise people when they spend a lot of time around me. If they first meet me when I'm using my ability to temporarily seem like I'm more extroverted, or silly, or sensitive than I naturally am in order to achieve some goal, they're surprised when I don't act that way all of the time. Several times I've had supervisors who have told me that after I'd been on the job a few days, I seemed like a different person than who they interviewed. They were impressed by how well I worked, but my personality seemed to have changed. When I was a kid, my mom would say that I'd be a great actor because I could pretend to be someone else very easily.
Also today my best friend told me she loves when I express my opinion (for example in class) on topics which I do not even know much about. It is so satisfying being able to use words in the right way.
The movie plays out and if it’s a hit. Believe me there will be many sequels and re-enactments. A family story to be Resurrected for generations to come. Only thing is the actors with switch roles.
The abstract Chameleon Effect explained in a more concrete manner for non-Ni doms. Love it. Lol, halfway in the explanation all I could think of was your clip of Se mocking Ni. "'Just do the thing Se, do the thing.'" 😂
I tend to play being able to hold a conversation on anything. Not that I have to know everything, just how to have the conversation enough so the other person can talk. However, that can be exhausting. And then there are people who want to talk to me all the time in conversations that either exhaust me or bore me. And then there are people who think they know me as a result of these conversations. Lol I just realize I dig my own grave with this. Lol
I find this to be extraordinarily true for most things in my life. Great observation on this one! It’s funny, I tend to do projects, upgrades, things like that myself rather than hire it done. I always know what it should look like in the end (of course) and along the way I do my best to complete each step to perfection. I am also my own worst critic in that regard, because I know the shortcuts I might have taken to complete a step that’s invisible in the end result. But I know I did it, and it leaves me somewhat unfulfilled. The Ni perfectionist is a thing? All I can tell you is that while the chameleon is leaving the set of the movie, he’s already thinking about how to make the next movie better. It can look on the exterior that I’m a guy that can do anything I put my effort into, but inside it’s exhausting because I don’t just want to “make the movie”, I want it to be Citizen Kane...
We picture (pick) the final scene because of all the possible endings we believe it to be ‘best’ final one (problem solution). But because we can’t run through in real life all the possible permutations to find true best one, we must choose one that through experience and knowledge tells us is likely to be a least a good solution and is likely to be in the top maybe 10% of all good endings. It is in our ‘deep’ think periods in which we review all the ancillary variables (lighting etc. ), experience, knowledge, outside info to test and simulate what combinations will get us to that preferred ending. Because of our inability to know and experience all, that weaknesses in the plan emerge but still we are by leaps and bounds better than most types at getting a preferred final scene.
This is so brilliant, as an INTJ this is exactly how I did anything from exams to becoming an attorney to getting my current job to impressing people to my creative pursuits and competitions 🙌 I just figured out what was 'good enough' to get the desired result and how the end product is supposed to look; I feel like a bit of an imposter because other people 'live' the field and I would just jump in there and impersonate them
Wow! Rarely my ni vision or last moment safe plan or real life big plan or future catastrophic predictions came literally like this, felt like i use my almost all or my cognitive for making this plan ! And then ni became unconscious again result of Having 2 infj friend & finally one intj may be Thanks again intj brain, (from entp)
If I directed a feature film, no one would understand it probably. Heck, most people can't keep up with what I'm Saying, because I tend to speak in metaphors, much less understand what comes out of this Ni rock atop my shoulders...
"You only have to pull it off to be good enough for this movie." That would be Te, not Ni. Te just wants things to be "good enough," and just wants the job done.
I always try to put the “set in stone” idea to dominate even life itself. Trying to control everything and be responsible for my outcomes... yet that’s not realistic completely. But I still try it anyway because “what if it works?”... 😄
Wow, i found MBTI 4 months ago. My first thought was: Hmm, so i know how to talk different to every people, i know how different people act because i analyzed people since i was a little kid. It was so clear: The INTJ/INFJ would be very good at acting like others. So i startet thinking of starting to make Videos how you can turn your personality into all different Types (like how to be more Extrovert/Feeler etc). And it was easy to choose an Title "The Chameleon Theory"...but my inner perfectionist says: "NO WAIT, you need to learn more about MBTI cause you would blame yourself as fxxx". Now i see you did the Chameleon theorie and its crazy because both we are INTJ and choose the Same "Theorie"..THATS The IN Power haha
Yes we have the ultimate toolbox. Real cool, the way you put it. I always used to think what I had wasn't good enough but I somehow still made it, every single time. Always saw it as a deficiency, but I guess we can see it some other way as well. :D
That was perfect! The best explanation I have ever heard. Infj here building a bookcase to store books of original historic sources for my grandchildren to find after I'm dead and gone so they can really know the truth of what happened in the world from writings written as things were actually happening so they can prevent problems for their world. When I'm using SE for projects like this, I love researching, gathering materials but when the hands on project begins, I want it done yesterday. It becomes a chore, but I'm really really satisfied when the project fulfilled my purpose, and I'm done with it.
I've been called hypocrate cuz of this 🤣 like: u are One of those type of weirdos One never know how could react Nor behave in some kind of situation...🙃
Salam, it's true LiJo. This is why Ni doms seem so mysterious; they silently build up things towards the final scene which is usually kept to themselves.
by the way, as i remember Dave from OPS said that the first function is always a blindspot, so sometimes it is hard to even understand consciously that we are doing this work with Ni, i guess
Absolutely true. I had no idea what I was doing with Ni for at least a year after I got typed. Then I started understanding what I was doing (all of the time) that was that function. Then I got scared because I realized I could never just turn it off. It is constantly running and making decisions for me.. which is low key terrifying.
Is this really an Ni-only trait? I ask because, I know I have Ne (darn thing won't shut up...ever...), but if it's for the sake of my Fe, I feel like I can fake any of the other functions. Though, I believe I am Ne Dom, because, again, it won't shut up and it's always running on autopilot 24/7...
A perfect explanation for us with Ni. I've even thought of the chameleon comparison a few times myself, or jack of all trades. But, as you said, once done with a task, it all gets swept aside and I blend back into the background once my role is done. Though, I've been getting a bigger and bigger role at work, which has been exhausting.
Not being able to throttle off being in that "on" state (for example with work) can be exhausting. At the end of the day, we don't want to play the chameleon, but Ni tells us we have to.
@@InternetLiJo, this is so very true. Doesn't help that I tend to loathe those who try to assist me. Not because I don't like the assistance, but because of the effort needed to get them on the same page as me so that they aren't a hindrance instead. This makes me highly productive, but I get worn out to the point of exhaustion by the end of my day. :( Possibility of improvement in a month or so though. Promotion coming up that should help me get away from dealing with the customers as much.
@@priestofavalon in the short term, getting that help is annoying. But in the long term it’s better to teach others and lower your expectations. Not everything has to be amazing to work - sometimes your resource is more important. Delegation is a skill that can be tough to learn. I am sure you will do amazing in your promotion though
As an INTJ this NI explains where I can do everything and do endup doing everything.... the super woman to fill the gaps. It is exhausting especially when it becomes expected. Delegation and educating others is key. Hopefully they are capable but then we need to manage expectations. .... still exhausting when they know you can be super woman!
Idk if i have Ni but i just know things cause i see patterns and i just know it. Like when i watch a crime show and i see a pattern where the person who acts the most good always turns out bad
