ISFP

Last night, I was up until 12:30AM responding to edits made by seller's counsel to our markup of a merger agreement and yet, I'm already up and running on emails and pricings by 7AM. Fun fun. Sigh. For all you readers who are still practicing "real" corporate law, I must sound like a whiny teenager. Y'all have suffered in the trenches for six or seven years now, whereas I've been doing this for a grand total of three weeks and I'm only running (I use that word loosely) two deals right now. Still, I'd rather not be running blacklines when I should be fast asleep...

Anyway, at the suggestion of my wonderful friend JS, I decided to take a version of the Myers Briggs test (you can take it here, if you're so inclined). Turns out, I'm an ISFP (Intraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving) and the accompanying characteristics describe me pretty accurately. Unfortunately, it means I'm in the wrong career field...

What are you? I'm curious to know.

ISFP: The Artist

• Highly creative, artistic and spiritual, they can produce wonderful works of art, music and literature. ISFPs are natural artists. They will find great satisfaction if they encourage and develop their artistic abilities.
• ISFPs are more spiritually aware than most people, and are more in touch with their soul than others. Most ISFPs have strong faith.
• ISFPs have an extremely well-developed ability to appreciate aesthetic qualities. They're usually very aware of their environment, and can easily see what works well and what doesn't from an aesthetic perspective. 
• ISFPs have passionate and intense feelings.
• ISFPs have a strong affinity for aesthetics and beauty. They're likely to be animal lovers, and to have a true appreciation for the beauties of nature. They're original and independent, and need to have personal space.
• ISFPs are action-oriented individuals. They are "doers" and are usually uncomfortable with theorizing concepts and ideas unless they see a practical application. They learn best in a "hands-on" environment and consequently may become easily bored with the traditional teaching methods, which emphasize abstract thinking. [Author's Note: And we can see why the Harvard history department and I were at odds...] They do not like impersonal analysis and are uncomfortable with the idea of making decisions based strictly on logic.
• ISFPs are usually good listeners who genuinely want to hear about someone's problems and genuinely want to help them.
• ISFPs accept and value people as individuals, and are strongly egalitarian. Accordingly, they have a great deal of tolerance and acceptance dealing with people who might encounter negative judgment from society in general.
• ISFPs are warm and sympathetic. They genuinely care about people and are strongly service-oriented in their desire to please. They have an unusually deep well of caring for those who are close to them, and are likely to show their love through actions, rather than words.
• ISFPs have no desire to lead or control others, just as they have no desire to be led or controlled by others. They need space and time alone to evaluate the circumstances of their life against their value system, and are likely to respect other people's needs for the same.
• ISFPs are likely to not give themself enough credit for the things which they do extremely well. Their strong value systems can lead them to be intensely perfectionist, and cause them to judge themselves with unnecessary harshness.

Career: ISFPs are very special individuals who need to have a career which is more than a job. The middle of the road is not likely to be a place where they will be fulfilled and happy. Since they prefer to live in the current moment, and take the time to savor it, they do not do well with some of the more fast-paced corporate environments. They need a great deal of space and freedom if they are going to function in their natural realm of acute sensory awareness. If they give free reign to their natural abilities, they may find a wonderful artist within themselves. Since the ISFP is so acutely aware of people's feelings and reactions, and is driven by their inner values to help people, he/she is also a natural counselor and teacher.