I became concerned after I had an email exchange with someone recently.  They said that they used to be an INFJ, but now they have evolved to being an INFP.  And I was reminded of a similar conversation I had with someone who told me they used to be an INFP but after working on themselves they have become an INFJ.

Whoa!

The reason alarm bells went off for me is that -- in the first place -- either of these perspectives assumes being one type is *better* than being the other.

And something's definitely not right about that!

(It also betrays ignorance of what the J and P stand for in the code.)

Now I can accept that there are INFPs who over-rely on their perceiving process, and it is good for them to evolve their judging process.  But that doesn't turn them into INFJs.  I can accept that there are INFJs who over-rely on their judging process, and it is good for them to evolve their perceiving process.  But that doesn't turn them into INFPs.

I can also accept that some INFPs may need to begin exercising judging in the outer world (organizing it) and some INFJs may need to begin exercising perceiving in the outer world (asking instead of telling) -- but again, they don't turn into different types!

For instance, it is a fine idea for INFPs to get better at using extraverted Feeling (a judging function), and it is a fine idea for INFJs to get better at using extraverted iNtuiting (a perceiving function) -- but they still don't turn into different types!

We simply don't change our type!

Was that sentence clear?  Let me say it again:

We don't change our type!

We can and do evolve.  We can and do individuate.  We can learn to utilize all the functions more effectively.  And hooray for that!  These are all good things -- things I encourage you to do!  But we do not change our innate preferences.  They stay the same.

By way of example:  I had an argument with a man who insisted he had practiced karate for so many years that he could block an attack equally well with either hand.  So I asked him if he was attacked unexpectedly, which hand would he likely use?  And he said his right hand.  So I said he had a *preference* for his right hand, regardless of how much skill he had acquired with the left hand.

People don't like to accept this (it can even bring out the demonic Ti in INFPs!), but we are hard-wired with certain tendencies.  And one of those hard-wirings is our type preferences.

If you are utterly convinced that the type you used to be is not the type you are now, I assure you that one of those codes is wrong.  Whether you got it on a "test," whether you think you changed, whether your understanding of the model has changed -- I don't know!  But I guarantee you that the type you truly are now is exactly the same type you have always been.

This may be a bucket of cold water to people who have consciously worked on themselves, and made a point of changing their way of responding to the world.  And I apologize for that.  I'm sure it's a drag to hear you haven't actually changed.

The point of discovering your type is not so you can become a "better" type -- it's so you can become the best person you are capable of being while still honoring your preferences.

My perspective is that you haven't changed (as in you haven't been genetically altered) -- but you've gotten better!  You've grown to be a new, improved version of who you had the potential to be all along.

I'm fully in alignment with that desire.  It's the reason I entered a coach training program -- because I wanted to help people become better versions of who they already are.  I want them to achieve their potential!

In my opinion, Gandhi is an exemplary INFP and Eleanor Roosevelt an exemplary INFJ.  Neither of them is better than the other -- each brought their own special skills and talents to bear in the world.  To suggest one of their codes is superior to the other misses the point entirely.  And if you read their biographies, you will discover how dramatically each of them evolved over the course of their lives.  Eleanor went from being a shy, stay-at-home-mom INFJ to being an outspoken, humanitarian-cause-advocate INFJ.  Gandhi went from being a country lawyer INFP to being an outspoken, Conscience-of-the-World INFP.  They didn't change their type preferences -- but they evolved into something special and exemplary.  Both of them stepped up when they were called upon.  And honored their innate preferences through each stage of their development.

So thank you so much and God Bless You for evolving!  I don't know if I would want to meet you if you were the same way your entire life.

And pardon me for saying it one last time -- you're still the same type!

TRADEMARKS