Introduction

Recently, I thought about MBTI and how it related to our motivation and drive in general. Like most people, I believe that MBTI should not be taken as the final answer to people personality or typology. It is not a religion and definitely not science based, but it is to be expected, since it's object of work is something we barely have any knowledge about: the human mind. With that being said, I also believe there is a reason why it's so popular: it resonates with a lot of people. Everybody can say they're getting they are either getting energy from group gatherings or those gatherings deplete them and they need a few days indoor to "recharge".

We are not 4 letters

Firstly, I want to say that I believe we are not 4 letters. We can think of them as a spectra in 4 dimensions with unbounded domain. Basically, the introverted vs extroverted, intuitive vs sensing, thinking vs feeling and judging vs perceiving. But, we should remember that these are just approximations or projections to 1D of much more complicated multidimensional mental process. And they are also not orthogonal, because, that'd mean that in theory the number of people would divide uniform, thus there'd be about ~12.5% of people in each 8 possibilities. But, clearly that's not the case [1].

These axes have a theoretical maximum value for each person. For example Io/E: $$max_p(IE) = max_p(I) + max_p(E)$$ We can think of this as infinite potential, since it's easier to assume that, but we must always remember that each of us has a physical theoretical potential. Again, for simplicity: $$max_p(IE) \approx \infty$$ So, in order to get the maximum introverted/extroverted value, we need to maximize each of the two factors: introversion and extroversion, both of them being, in a similar fashion, bounded by a personal limit, but for simplicity sake, can be thought as infinite.
In other words: we can always improve ourselves on either the introversion side, or the extroversion side, for example, by being more comfortable with ourselves in solidarity (like reading, walking in park or nature, going alone to movies etc.) as well as becoming more social by nature and being more comfortable in one on ones, small, medium and big gatherings. Learn to talk, learn to listen, learn to learn. I believe it is our duty as humans to constantly improve ourselves in all axes. Always. We do not "finish" learning when we finish high school or college. We finish learning when we die. Until then, it's a constant struggle of becoming the better version of yourself. And with every "wasted" moment, you shrink your maximum potential.
Our MBTI perspective of this should be that it's an ever evolving spectrum based on the individual values. Basically, if, at some moment in your life, your $current_p(P) \gt current_p(J)$, you are, by all means a Perceiver. You can become more J by not improving your P, thus losing some of its value, or by increasing your J. This can be thought as a relative sum as well, in order to get percentages: $$P() = \frac{P}{P+J}$$ , $$J() = \frac{J}{P+J} = \frac{1-P}{P+J}$$
Visually:

N/S and P/J

The second part of this blog post is trying to contour a correlation between Sensing vs Intuition (S vs N) and Perceiving vs Judging (P vs J) with relation to the human behaviour regarding motivation and drive in general. As I said before, I believe that these final letters are rather projections of a complicated mental process that somehow resonates well enough with us. And that's fair. My parallel goes as follows:

• N - coming up with ideaas
• S - implementing those ideas
• P - jumping between ideas
• J - sticking to one particular idea

Our motivation to do anything, selfish or selfless, is a accumulation of these 4 factors. We come up with various ideas (be it intentional or not) based on how strong our N is. These ideas are based on our current understanding of the world and our current experience. At every point in time we have a list of "active" ideas, some of them with potential to become practical (say wanting to run a marathon, create a software product etc.). The act of coming with the idea is just half the discussion. The implementation part means going from the mental process to the real world and this usually requires the "dirty" handwork (S). Similarly, the ability to stick to one idea, be it in a practical sense, or raffinating it mentally, requires a strong J. The opposite is also true, being able to jump between multiple ideas and doing small steps to each of them implies a strong P.
A healthy person will have a healthy balance between the two processes. One should not become blind by one thing and ignore the world trying to achieve that. Jumping without any consistency or direction in life is also bad, because you'll never advance to anything long term, just floating around and never finishing anything. Finding your own balance where you have a small amount of focused directions and doing incremental steps between them is the sweet spot. The same applies to theory vs. practice. It's okay to have your own mental fortress where you come up with theories about life, making sense of the world, creating fictions and so on. However, it is important to take some of these and apply them in your own life by making a change in the physical world as well. If you are stuck in dreamland, you'll never do anything. If you are only a practice man, you'll never come up with deep thoughts and complex projects, but only implement others' ideas or do very basic things.

Wrapping up, I believe that all these directions can be improved systematically. We can increase our S by doing more things in general, regardless of them being focused or not. That means that anything practical (i.e to draw, to dance, jogging, gardening, working on a personal software project etc) will increase our overall S and this will transfer to other things as well in our life, like implementing our ideas. Same goes to having dedicated moments to think, come up with theories and philosophies, fictions and conclusions. Practicing mindfulness or meditation can help us be more focused, which will translate being more able to stick to one thing at a time (J). However, it is also important to not become obsessed with one particular instance, so the ability to jump between subjects must also be practiced. This can be done by taking the time to enjoy the randomness in its purest form. For example, going out and taking any random street, watching people interact, going in a mall and... basically, live the moment without any direction. This allows your mind to cool down and, in turn, to focus deeper and stronger when needed.
I'll end up with a VoD about our ability to focus and recharge ( link ). Apparently we have time frames of about 90 minutes after which we need to take some time off.

Conclusion

In conclusion, MBTI is an useful tool in our arsenal of understand the human mind. It is not religion and treating it not productive at all. However, there is a clear correlation between it and common patterns we see in each other. We can, at any point in life, increase our skills in all of the 8 letters. Surely, we are more talented to one or the other. But talent is just the starting point in our DNA. We have evolved to do things well beyond our DNA. Our hierarchies are not based on the strongest, but on personal and societal values. Thus, it is our duty to become the best versions of ourselves and that means working actively on all 8 projections. Be extroverted when it's needed, but also go back and retreat in your own space for personal improvement. Think and apply when appropriate. Apply personal values as well as objective truths regarding the situation. Be focused, but don't forget to enjoy the randomness of the universe. No other collection of atoms that we know of can do any of these things, so be grateful for being alive as a human.