INFJ

Roughly five years ago, I had an INTP personality. I took another personality test a year ago and I got an INFJ personality trait. I had another one today and poof! Still INFJ!

Want to take the test? Here’s the link: http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Want to know more about the INFJ personality trait? Here you go: http://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality

I’m copying notes of my personality type from 16personalities.com for my viewing pleasure. Thank you 16personalities.com!

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INFJ personality

The INFJ personality type is very rare, making up less than one percent of the population, but they nonetheless leave their mark on the world. As Diplomats (NF), they have an inborn sense of idealism and morality, but what sets them apart is the accompanying Judging (J) trait – INFJs are not idle dreamers, but people capable of taking concrete steps to realize their goals and make a lasting positive impact.

INFJs tend to see helping others as their purpose in life, but while people with this personality type can be found engaging rescue efforts and doing charity work, their real passion is to get to the heart of the issue so that people need not be rescued at all.

Help Me Help You

INFJs indeed share a very unique combination of traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will rarely use that energy for personal gain – INFJs will act with creativity, imagination, conviction and sensitivity not to create advantage, but to create balance. Egalitarianism and karma are very attractive ideas to INFJs, and they tend to believe that nothing would help the world so much as using love and compassion to soften the hearts of tyrants.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King

INFJs find it easy to make connections with others, and have a talent for warm, sensitive language, speaking in human terms, rather than with pure logic and fact. It makes sense that their friends and colleagues will come to think of them as quiet Extroverted types, but they would all do well to remember that INFJs need time alone to decompress and recharge, and to not become too alarmed when they suddenly withdraw. INFJs take great care of other’s feelings, and they expect the favor to be returned – sometimes that means giving them the space they need for a few days.

Live to Fight Another Day

Really though, it is most important for INFJs to remember to take care of themselves. The passion of their convictions is perfectly capable of carrying them past their breaking point and if their zeal gets out of hand, they can find themselves exhausted, unhealthy and stressed. This becomes especially apparent when INFJs find themselves up against conflict and criticism – their sensitivity forces them to do everything they can to evade these seemingly personal attacks, but when the circumstances are unavoidable, they can fight back in highly irrational, unhelpful ways.

To INFJs, the world is a place full of inequity – but it doesn’t have to be. No other personality type is better suited to create a movement to right a wrong, no matter how big or small. INFJs just need to remember that while they’re busy taking care of the world, they need to take care of themselves, too.

Jesse Robredo – Noteworthy Tidbits from 2013

I have been a fan of Jesse Robredo since my high school best friend told me about him four years ago. Since then, I have been reading so much about him – how he transformed Naga when he was its mayor, his vision for our country, his brand of leadership (participative governance and servant leadership), and basically who he was as a person and as a public servant. This is my Jesse Robredo notes (last modified on Jan 03, 2013. Haha):

Noteworthy Tidbits

Jesse Robredo:
http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/features/asiacities/ac1999/data/improved.naga.html
http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0804/sr.magsaysay.robredo.html
http://jesserobredo.wordpress.com/

Click to access Policy_Note_ID158.pdf

Click to access SCHOOL_BOARD.pdf

Click to access Interview-Jesse-Robredo.pdf

Smile 🙂
-when you know you’re doing the right thing
-when you know you’re doing things right
-when you’re not doing anything wrong
😀

jesse notes:
-set clear milestones
-personal touch
-servant leader
-people’s involvement
-merit-based system
-credibility
-effective management by yielding power to people

Fear wants you to fit in, to be mediocre, to do nothing that matters, to fly under the radar. It’s much easier to give in to fear. Take the hard and rewarding road.

Pay closest attention to people who are where you want to be, and who have been where you have been.

http://andhedrew.com/youre-the-problem/
http://andhedrew.com/feeling-guilty/
http://andhedrew.com/forming-new-habits/
http://andhedrew.com/fight-the-fear/

http://andhedrew.com/25-ideas-that-will-help-you-live-on-purpose/

http://ati.da.gov.ph/ati2/blog/primalou-imperial/2012/jesse-robredo-local-hero-and-national-dreamcatcher

The challenge to us is not having very sophisticated infrastructure, but having infrastructure that has a heart. This means we answer queries fast, we are easy to talk to, we are personalized and not impersonal. This means we exert extra effort to make the clients feel that what we are telling them is not research, but a way for us to be continually in touch with them because we want to help them… Maybe we need to ask, ‘Why are you asking about them, what is your problem?’ This means we have genuine interest on what happens to our clients.

A leadership that is bold on rhetoric and weak in action will keep us where we are, a country wherein the state succumbs to the 10 percenters, the elite who control most of the nation’s wealth.

What you’re up against is this notion that if you are honest, and your competitor is not honest, then you don’t have a level playing field. And in those instances, some people think that honesty and integrity become a competitive disadvantage, which is a very sad observation of things.

He says corruption doesn’t start and end with the government.

It needs private citizens demanding integrity as well.

–schools

What makes a difference, he said, is non-academic formation.

Darwin thinks good education is not just about being academically excellent – although that helps too – but rather, it’s the character formation that helps students use the skills and knowledge they get.

“Good schools teach you academics and character-building,” he said. “As they build you to become academically good, they also build you to be men for others.”

jesse robredo
mantra in the city
governance processes is equally important as governance outcomes

never tolerate mediocrity

the most important engaging element is trust

aim is to inspire people to be good themselves – this makes the subordinates better than their leaders

integrity – not demanding others what I’m not willing to do myself

being accepted as somebody who can lead people – to be a problem solver and an inspirational guide for the people

“The most important ingredient of leadership is character. Most of the proficiencies can be learned. It is what is inside you that is difficult to change,” he said in a 2009 interview with ANC’s Storyline.

“By simply providing that inspiration, sometimes the subordinates are better than their leaders.”

Robredo said he is proud of the fact that Naga City has a vocal constituency that is unafraid to voice their opinions on matters of governance.

He cited an instance when the vendors association agreed to a city ordinance raising the rent at the public market by 200% but only if it is done in 2 years’ time.

“I think the most important element in engagement is trust. People will be willing to make sacrifices if they trust their governors. People will understand the mistakes of their governors if they trust them. People will not believe their governors, even if they say the right things, if they don’t trust the governors,” he said.

Our political history has shown that we have put the burden of running this country to our ‘best’ people for too long. And yet the gap between the rich and the poor has grown wider.

We either provide a leadership that was exclusive and authoritative or a leadership that was inclusive and consultative —– a leadership that imposes its will on its constituency or a leadership that encourages people participation and engagement. We understood that we did not have the monopoly of wisdom. We felt that we should know when to lead and when to be led.

“One learns many things when one gets to be my age. But one has to unlearn many more things that one has gathered with age.”

Our experience in governance in Naga City is nothing but our personal encounter with the necessity of returning to the basic governance — a return to the essential meaning of service — a return to what is simple and practical — a return to the values that our forefathers taught us: the value of honesty, hard work, of fairness and most all the holy fear of a just God.

Should you choose to be a big fish in a small pond, or a small fish in a big pond? Whatever your doubts are, follow your heart. When I left San Miguel Corporation, in 1986, I knew that serving home was where my heart was. I must say that desire and commitment far outweigh knowledge and skill. The latter can be learned. Without the former, your life’s work will be a profession and not a vocation. Find your own niche. Change careers if you must. But make sure you succeed. You must always remember that you can not give what you do not have.

Measure success in terms of how pleased you are with what you have done and not as to how people define it, with its attendant perks. Later on in life, you will realize that it is neither your successes nor your conquests that will give you satisfaction. It is your contribution that really matters – paying back what you owe the community that nurtured you.

Like all of us, they too wanted to be somebody someday. But despite the deprivations and difficulties, they were all for a noble purpose – to be of service to others. Not one of them said that it was for fame, money or power. They were so young, yet they know what was good for their community and for others.

In an organization: 20/20/60
20% – affirm you
20% – oppose you
60% – are neutral to you

Change

No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or by emotional appeal.

Marilyn Ferguson

I sometimes dream that things could’ve been better if circumstances beyond my control had been different or had been preferable to me. I sometimes want people’s paradigms to change. But now I know that free will is a sacred ground for each individual – something that cannot be taken lightly or disrespected. Our choices, whether they may be logical or illogical, whether they are understood or misunderstood by those affected by our choices, whether they are mature enough or not, are still our choices. Others only get to accept our choices, or retaliate from them.

I’m now doing my best working on the things that I have control of, my choices (and my grammar, lol). I’m seriously committing to small things in my life, so that I get to commit on the bigger things in my life, and with other people as well. It really takes an awful lot of time and effort working on improving myself though, and sometimes I can’t help but grow impatient and weary. Pero kaya yan! Patience Nicosai. Haha 😀

Happy Sunday! 🙂

Hope

2nd day of the month. I’m again compelled to write on my blog due to various reasons – the not-so-good weather, the patience-testing heavy traffic, and the long queue of people waiting to be sent off to their final destinations for the day = home (which I escaped since I was able to hitch a ride from my friend, yey). Ultimately, I just wanted to kill time in an acceptable manner, which is to express my thoughts in electronic paper, and (kind of) improve my communication and grammar skills in the process (or not, haha).

Today I want to brush on something that I’ve always been a fanatic of and have always driven my life in so many ways – Hope. They say that hope is a dangerous thing. I absolutely agree. I think it has placed me in very awkward and unfortunate situations most of the time. I also think that for the past 25 years, I have mostly misplaced hope on things or circumstances that would just leave me feeling broken, unwanted and miserable. Sometimes, I think it sucks to hope for too much. And yet I still want to hope.

Whatever feelings I may have towards hoping, and whether it may be transitory or not, I think I have to always choose to hope.  However, I now realize the difference between hoping against hope and misplaced hopes. I now realize that hoping against hope isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But I think we have to assess whether our hopes are not misplaced – that is, if we are hoping for the right things. Only then will we be able to hope. And whether it is the really hopeful kind of hope or hoping against hope – it won’t matter that much anymore. I would rather hope than not hope at all.

So the big question is: What is worth hoping for? That’s for you to decide. 🙂

1001.

I am now boarding the BGC bus after a long, tiring but interesting day at work and I have decided to reflect on where I am now after more than a year of unexpected firsts, surreal realizations and interesting circumstances.

So who was I last year?

Pretty ordinary I guess. I was doing fine but I wasn’t doing great either. I enjoyed my own company and pretty much emulated what a stereotypical ordinary guy would be (in my opinion) – someone who made an effort to have fun and enjoy his life, tried his best to fulfill his dreams and to be of service to others, and did his best not to harm other people and mind his own business. I honestly believed that being ordinary is something that’s nice, simple and cool. Now that I think about it, I even suck as an ordinary guy, haha.

(Present day update: I got too excited to write this post and forgot to pay for my single-ride ticket! I only realized this when the bus arrived so I asked the woman in front of me where the booth was and I hurriedly went there and bought the ticket, with high hopes of making it to the bus. I didn’t make it! Pero sobrang natuwa ako kasi sinusulyapan ako ni Ate (not in a seductive way) na para bang gusto niya akong umabot sa bus! :D)

And so I experienced a lot of firsts in my life and I was sort of pushed out of my comfort zone. It was also when I realized that being ordinary was just an awful, awful excuse – I was just insecure and wasn’t too bothered by mediocrity. I realized that I just exaggerated my basic goodness (yes, I actually thought I was nice, lol) – I was actually doing a lame job in most aspects of my life. I can only imagine God looking down on me (literally, because He is there above the skies, haha) with a frustrated look on His face and facepalming everytime He sees me indulging in my mediocrities and second-rate goodness. Thank God He gave me the gift of corny-ness, kaya siguro pinagti-tiyagaan pa rin niya ako! Nakakatuwa kasi ako mag-joke, nyahaha :))

(Present day update: I finally arrived at Park Square, but the scene here is apocalyptic! Parang may rally dito or longest line! Parang ansarap mapikon pero buti na lang at nagsusulat ako, hehehe.)

The past month has been very revealing to me. Admittedly, I struggled accepting the reality of the situation that I am in, but at the same time I feel so blessed because it gave me the momentum that I needed in order to make things right this time around, and for real. Honestly, I can now see myself hoping for the right things. I think I am in a better position to improve myself now that my mind and heart are now thinking and feeling with a certain cadence that finally feels comforting. I am slowly getting my peace. 🙂

(Present day update: Nakauwi na rin sa wakas at nakakain ng masarap na Chopsuey! Masaya kahit pagod.)

Well, that didn’t end too bad. Plus, I got to do something fun and worthwhile! Until next time. ^^,

The Meaning of Happiness Changes Over Your Lifetime

Center for Advanced Hindsight

The following is a scientific and personal article written by CAH member Troy Campbell about happiness.

One lovely afternoon, I began chatting to my grandpa. I was completely unaware he was about to say something that would change my view of happiness forever.

In the middle of our conversation, I felt a lull so I pulled out the classic question. “If you could have dinner with one person, living or dead, who would it be?” I couldn’t wait to talk about my long list of dead presidents, dead Beatles, dead scientists, and a really cute living movie star. But I was also really eager to hear what he’d say.

Then he simply answered, “My wife.”

I immediately assured him it’s not necessary for him to answer like that. We all knew he loves his wife, whom he eats dinner with every night and was currently over in the other room…

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Plantar Fasciitis

For the past months, I have been experiencing a sharp pain in my heels whenever I wake up in the morning, sit for a long time and then decide to get up, or after performing a strenuous activity like running. I researched extensively before deciding to go to the doctor and found out that it could either be gout (which is primarily caused by a high-purine diet – eating too much beans and canned sardines) or plantar fasciitis. I figured it would be the former since I am pretty traditional when it comes to breakfast, and hey, we can never get enough of canned sardines matched with our staple morning food (sinangag), right? I was wrong!

It turns out I had plantar fasciitis all along. The doctor didn’t tell me much – he was too excited to get the diagnosis done and over with and demonstrated various stretching exercises that I could do instead – so I wasn’t able to fully understand what really caused it. But thank God to google and this running book I had purchased recently (look!):

Disclaimer: I suck at photography. 🙂

Anyway, my research told me that I probably ripped my plantar fascia due to various reasons:
a. being overweight (no objections on this one, hahaha)
b. poor foot mechanics (I am a clumsy person)
c. aggressive increase in training load or exertion (this! probably due to running?)
d. arthritis (too early for this, hehe!)
e. diabetes (hopefully not, haha)
f. poor or worn-out shoes (I only have a pair! lol)

I did my self-diagnosis and the doctor in me (or arbularyo, or simply the voice inside my head) tells me that it probably started when I decided to become healthy and engaged into the crazy world of running (+going to the gym and performing lousy weight training and ellipticals). Too bad I decided to get fit too soon, haha.

I am not too stressed out about it since I have to devote more time in recovering, and for me that equates to a few stretching exercises and a lot of sleeping (hooray!), but I can’t help but be a bit sad about it because it also meant that I couldn’t run for a good amount of time (it could take 2 to 12 months until I’m fully recovered). I’m slowly learning to love running and it sucks when you have to abruply stop doing something you’re slowly (but surely) loving to do. The good thing is that it’s temporary, my resolve to run hasn’t diminished, and I’m still very excited to run again! I might slip in a few runs once in a while though, or perform less strenuous ellipticals instead, hehe.

I’ll be sleeping more for now. 🙂

My Bucket List (2010) [Results]

1. Top the ECE Board Exam this November 2010. [failed, but fortunately I passed the Board Exam]
2. Engage in the stock market before the end of year 2011. [in progress, will be accomplished before the end of 2Q]
3. Lose weight before the end of year 2011. [in progress, excited about this one :D]
4. Become a millionaire before I reach the age of 25. [in progress, aiming for my 100K before this year ends]
5. Become a Kumon Franchise owner before I reach the age of 30.
6. Own a business before I reach the age of 30.
7. Return to the choral scene before I reach the age of 30.
8. Become a (part-time) member of the Engineering academe before I reach the age of 35.
9. Fully retire as an employee when I reach 40.
10. Establish a charitable foundation before I reach the age of 45.

2011 Bucket List coming up. ^^,

My Bucket List (2010)

1. Top the ECE Board Exam this November 2010.
2. Engage in the stock market before the end of year 2011.
3. Lose weight before the end of year 2011.
4. Become a millionaire before I reach the age of 25.
5. Become a Kumon Franchise owner before I reach the age of 30.
6. Own a business before I reach the age of 30.
7. Return to the choral scene before I reach the age of 30.
8. Become a (part-time) member of the Engineering academe before I reach the age of 35.
9. Fully retire as an employee when I reach 40.
10. Establish a charitable foundation before I reach the age of 45.

^^,