This is not medical advice. Always consult with medical experts before changing your approach to a condition like depression.

These notes are based on my personality type code, which is INTJ. The contents are meant for the information of other INTJs, and are not meant for a general audience.

Long ago, I used to suffer from severe, chronic depression. I had no personal plan of attack. I had no idea that I should be doing my own detecting. My formal methods of treating depression were A) therapy and B) visits to a psychiatrist, who prescribed various medications.

Eventually when my circumstances changed and my depression seemed to go away by itself, the psychiatrist told me I was cured of depression. I was very happy about this.

Unfortunately, it came back later.

During that time I had a number of frustrating experiences with therapists and medical professionals. I remember the therapists who gave me advice that, in hindsight, came straight from their own personality type. It was often an awkward fit. One of them, who I’d guess was an ESFP, kept making remarks about my posture and physical appearance, and told me I should join a sports team. I also had to speak in short sentences, or he would start to nod off in his chair.

I also remember the psychiatrist who was just as frustrated as I was, as we tried various medications to treat the depression, while also trying to hold the various side effects at bay. One day he told me “we [psychiatrists] think we know everything, but we’re really still in the stone age.”

Don’t get me wrong: I had some incredibly helpful experiences with therapists, and a psychiatrist who can admit we are still in the stone age is someone worth listening to.

But at that time I started to learn that I had access to, and good reason to use, the following personal tools:

• The ability to respond to each experience with a plan for the next episode, and possibly a theory about what can help
• The ability to detect, including taking simple measurements of my mood, and how it may cycle throughout the day
• And every other INTJ strength: Intuition, research skills, writing, and so on.

I learned how to keep an open mind to new information, and dive in to develop my own model of my depression, as if I might be able to cure it. This started with simple organization of my thoughts and observations and ideas for the future, and it turned out to be immensely helpful.

A Timely Cure

Back when I was severely depressed, a normal period of deep depression would last about 1-3 days, with very low moods lasting for weeks and sometimes months without a break.

Currently, when I feel depression (I hope I never get rid of it entirely; more on that below) it takes me an average of 1-2 hours to cure the symptoms.

While suffering from depression, I have measured my rate of negative thoughts at anywhere from 10-30 per minute. If you’ve been here before, it sucks. Here are some examples of the liabilities one can face while in this mode:

• You think the worst of yourself
• You think the worst of others
• You think the worst of the world

If you have to make any decisions while influenced by this kind of thinking, you are in trouble, period.

After my symptoms have cleared, things are different. Every single negative possibility is severely moderated without any effort. It’s like my brain says, “go ahead, think a negative thought. I dare you.” Things are in clearer perspective and I have the energy and ability to think and act creatively.

Now that I’ve measured the difference between these two states, I can’t not fight back whenever I feel depressed.

Eliminating depression may be wasted effort

From what I can tell, it would be a really stupid thing to “defeat” depression entirely. Depression is a helpful warning system. It is one potentially useful tool that can help us escape to better circumstances, get needed rest, or otherwise change our circumstances.

Looking outside the disease model can be helpful

It is clear to me now that depression is less like a disease in my life and more like a symptom of exhaustion. For me, depression often follows a bout of too much productivity or otherwise manifests as a sort of “you’re worn out” statement by my body. So it will probably be helpful to look at the following cure-tools through the lens of exhaustion treatments.

“I fell asleep as a conspiracy theorist, and woke up as a huge fan of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam”

The quote above is from one of my journal entries as I measured my attempts at treating depression. I fell asleep with the worst possible ideas about the people and things around me. I woke up later singing Head to Toe. I laughed, I felt great, and the change was mind-blowing. I shook my head and knew I had to share this with others.

My first big finding was that sleep is a huge help. If I can take a nap as soon as I feel depressed—even if I just woke up—it will help most of the time.

I aim for either a quick, 15 minute nap, or a complete 90-minute sleep cycle. My measurements show that sleep cycles are important and that waking up in the middle of one can instantly cause depression. I set my alarm clock according to those 90-minute cycles and try to aim for about 5-6 cycles of sleep every night.

Sometimes I cannot sleep at all—I’m stuck. In these cases I often find that it’s best to give up on sleep for now and move on to the next step.

Inflammation seems to be linked to depression

I have become aware of a very faint, dull pain in my head that accompanies depression. I was not able to grasp this before, and I believe that lack of attention to such a problem may be due to this INTJ’s typically weak attention to his senses (thus the lack of an “S” in my personality type, to use a simple explanation). The depressive thoughts definitely speak much louder than the physical pain.

In any case, I found that taking some ibuprofen (I rarely exceed 600mg) makes a big difference. By itself this can also completely erase my depression.

Note: In studying Ibuprofen I was told by others that it can cause liver damage, but this seems to be a less common effect and possibly even an extreme case, based on my interpretation of the papers I read on the topic. As I said above, consult with experts and don’t just blindly follow my method here.

Using a small amount of caffeine as a secondary mood-lift can help a lot

With an average-low mood, I find that a small amount of caffeine can also help me recover very quickly (typically 30mg but very rarely exceeding 100mg). It cannot replace my efforts to attack the pain of inflammation, but it really helps. Used alone, caffeine seems to result in a very annoying state of being more jittery than average but also that burnt out feeling. Which is not pleasant.

30mg of caffeine is easily obtained in the form of zero-calorie diet soda. However, I don’t always want to drink really acidic stuff like that, so I purchased 100mg Jet Alert tabs and cut them up when needed.

With both caffeine and ibuprofen, one can grow accustomed to the effect. I’ve never had this problem. In theory, you could also grow addicted to the stuff in that you keep taking more and more. In my experience, this phenomenon does not manifest itself either. However, when I was in the thick of anxiety problems years ago, I learned from my doctor and our work together that I do not have an addictive personality. Compulsions? Sure, under anxiety I might stress-eat or exercise too hard, but an addict-type I’m not. Just FYI in case it’s helpful to compare against your own experience.

Music is surprisingly helpful in fighting depression symptoms

As a short-form mood booster, music can easily affect my mood for the better, as can movies and TV. I’d be an idiot to leave music & video out of my toolkit, and I often polish off an attempted cure with some upbeat music or a funny Youtube video.

Unfortunately though, it has been my experience that music or video by itself is not typically effective as a standalone depression treatment.

Self-talk helps, too

I find that expressing my thoughts and giving my mood a voice are helpful techniques as well. I have found that saying things like “I’m a grump right now, I’m just going to be a grump all day, I can’t change that, I’m just stuck,” has been helpful. Journal entries also help.

I have also created a log format you may find useful: PDF Format | RTF Format

The Wannas matter

Every day has to have some amount of things I really wanna do or I’m screwed. A day that is full of productivity without many expressions of things I feel like doing is practically a recipe for depression. So I try not to leave for work without listing some topics I want to learn about, or some new software I want to try, or whatever.

I believe that “stuck on the rails” productivity is a very common exhaustion ingredient for INTJs. I have discussed this with other INTJs in coaching sessions. It is important to be able to take breaks, to disengage from a draining project, and to attend to one’s feelings when it’s all just too much, or when it’s not really interesting or motivating anymore.

Circumstances matter a LOT

If you downloaded the log format I linked to above, you can see how I monitor potential circumstance changes.

Many of us, perhaps especially us introverts, believe that we shouldn’t blame our circumstances. I completely disagree. Blame them all you want, I say, if it helps you change them. This has helped me: Noticing where my circumstances suck, pointing that out to myself, and pointing out where other people may even be to blame for how I’m feeling. If you think you might blame yourself too much, try reversing that attitude. Especially if you think it could motivate you to make needed changes to your circumstances.

Going back to the big picture

As I mentioned at the beginning, the key motivator behind all of this is my detecting and modeling meta-system. My gut tells me that if you, the INTJ reader, do not engage your own thinking and measuring gifts, you might not appreciate or even get good results from the techniques listed here.

And finally: This information may change over time as I modify my approach and take new measurements (2022 Edit, almost 5 years since writing this: Depression has not come back and I still feel like I can respond well if it does.).

Please make sure to consult your own medical professionals or other professionals in your journey toward a better life.

Filed in: Therapeutic Practice (149) | Depression (13) | Fitness (31) | Productivity (120) | Energy (121)

I sometimes find it helpful to watch TV shows or films while I’m doing desk work. And I love to watch them while I’m resting or recuperating. Film seems to have a powerful emotional effect that can help me rally my mood and attack or confront problems. Here are the patterns and archetype-connections I’ve noticed so far.

Note: This is automatic stuff—I don’t suggest these to myself in a conscious manner. Instead, I find myself “automatically” interested in watching these films at certain times.

During Low Stress

• Documentary Films [Learning about people, processes, systems, and technology; a prompt to engage and reflect using my preferred thinking style]
• How-to (learning new things) [Learning to make an impact; technological development]
• Science-related [Applying the theorist gift to new projects; study of the unknown; making the unknown known]

During Medium Stress

This point seems to mark the start of a deeper or more impactful form of “mood support via metaphor”.

• Detective TV Shows & Movies (Columbo; NCIS; Rockford Files; MacGyver; A Touch of Evil) [Systematically detecting and solving problems]
• War Documentaries / Historical Military (An Ungentlemanly Act; Reilly: Ace of Spies; Historia Civilis) [High-leverage battle with adversarial tasks]
• Improvisational Play (‘60s Kurt Russell Disney Films; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) [Keeping calm and believing in a good outcome despite crazy circumstances; the “just be yourself and have fun” voice which tangles with the “do what you have to do” voice]

During High Stress

• Caper Films (Ocean’s 11,12,13; Taking of Pelham 123) [Long-odds work that has an element of daring with a big accomplishment and payoff]
• Impossible-Odds Detective (Deja Vu; Back to the Future; North by Northwest; Rear Window; The Fugitive) [Leveraging all of one’s skills and detecting gifts]
• Escape Films (The Great Escape; Flight of the Phoenix) [Finding a way out of difficult circumstances]
• James Bond [Clever detection and high-leverage insertion / attack]
• Martial Arts or General Action (Chuck Norris) [Some detection with high-leverage one-man attack]

During Recuperation & Vacation

• Science Fiction (Contact; Jurassic Park; Godzilla films; Close Encounters; Doppelganger; Colossus the Forbin Project) [Exploring the unknown & fanciful / prospective]
• Comedy Films (MST3K) [Living with a sense of fun and exploration of the strange / weird parts of life]

During Deep Recuperation (Sickness, etc.)

• Similar to high stress mode, above
• I also seem to enjoy Let’s Play videos on Youtube, from Stone Soup to FarCry. [Watching self from a meta-perspective, big-picture view on a process]
• Flight videos, like watching pilots on Youtube [Wish to soar and reach emotional/spiritual/physical heights once again]

Points of Leverage:

• If I’m at work, this should be a film I’ve seen already, so I can pay attention or not, and there’s no pressure. I can watch the same film many times this way; it just feels good to have it on in the background.
• I rarely follow the actual plot or story and may have difficulty relating it to someone; the metaphorical mood-connection seems to be the point. So “what do I feel like watching” is the best question to ask rather than forcing something.
• Writing and talking about the metaphorical connection to my current work seems helpful. I can deepen this exploration (detect around the detective film!) if I feel I don’t have useful tools yet.

There is also a bridge to audio-only where I enjoy listening to spy / detective music (Examples: His Name is Napoleon Solo and Peter Gunn), or old time detective radio shows like Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, or 007 audiobooks.

Filed in: Control (112) | Therapeutic Practice (149) | Ni (42) | Interests (112) | Productivity (120) | Anxiety (32)

So you read my warnings and you want to get better at it anyway. Fair enough. Lots of INTJs do computer programming for work. I do, and have. It’s fun, but there are some definite traps, as I wrote about at that link.

Still, this is your journey, and why not see how it goes. Here are a couple of paths to try, along with some other notes.

Path 1: Code-modifier to Coder

If you are interested in programming in general, I recommend starting by throwing out first principles and just fixing or modifying someone’s code. Here’s one for you: Give this super old-school TCL program a shot.

• First, see if you can get the program running on your system of choice. You should see a GUI with two buttons.
• Change the file manager from Thunar to whatever file manager is running on your system.
• Can you swap the two buttons?
• Can you make it so F1 opens the “About” dialog instead of F2?
• Can you increment the version number?
• Can you add a third button that does something else?
• Looking at the app, how could it be molded to be useful to you, personally?

See if you feel motivated to make some changes from that starting point.

Then, consider: How else might you develop in this code-modifier role? Can you try modding a video game? Modding a PHP website template?

Path 2: Fake-coder to Coder

We can leverage highly abstract templating languages to learn how to code. I did this by learning Textpattern years ago and I still think it’s a great way to learn how to code. Textpattern uses “TXP tags” instead of a normal programming language. TXP tags are easier to work with than PHP, and as you start to get comfortable with them, you can start to throw in PHP whenever you like. The tags help you get immediate, programmatic results fast. The better I got at TXP, the more effective I became as a coder.

I started with TXP by modifying already-created TXP code to create the outcomes I wanted for my own code.

Meta-path: Embrace the Old and Powerful

Lots of INTJs lose motivation when they are confronted by new and shiny stuff. I mean, we’re the ones who go around defending the Stoics, and other old dead smart people, right? So consider: There’s a reason why I’m not telling you to download the newest, shiniest IDE and the newest version of the coolest programming language. Try out an underdog. Try something old. You might find it lowers the pressure and you feel less inclined to give up. In addition to TK, you might also want to try something like FreeBASIC which is actually really, really impressive for a BASIC variant, and gets a lot of praise for its efficiency, execution speed, and flexibility. Or maybe you used calculators in school, and want to keep programming on a calculator for now. Great! Whatever feels good.

Anti-patterns

These are things that will probably get you in trouble:

• Relying on tutorials. I recommend that all INTJs start with their own project rather than a tutorial project. Start with the “MVP” (minimum viable product) version, with very few features. Then build up from there. A good way to get frustrated is to spend hours on someone else’s book full of tutorials, and then realize you are bored to death with the “really simple application” you’re building.
• Over-optimizing your choice of language. “Does it do double, triple, quadruple duty? Can I use it to make iOS and Android apps? And desktop apps as well? How soon will it go obsolete? Does anyone recommend against it?” Tempting questions for the researcher’s mind, but wow, those can paralyze you within minutes. My advice is to start with whatever works and learn that thing so well that you just dominate. Before teaching Photoshop professionally (this was years ago), I used GIMP for little website graphics projects for years and learned about color modes, pixel-level operations, histograms, etc. By the time I picked up Photoshop, I was able to dive right in because I understood every underlying principle.
• Imagining yourself defending your choice of language, then asking “can I defend my choice?” Recipe for disaster, IMO.
• Starting huge projects. This falls under “doing” and “making”, and the typical INTJ skills are in the thinking arena. Sure, like everybody else we want to have a concrete impact on the world, but huge maker-projects are—and it’s hard for those INTJ egos to admit—just hard for us. I have this INTJ friend who curses at his dog about 10x more often when he is making things. The other day he called his dog a “dumba**” and I thought, “I wonder what he’s making?” You see what I mean? The pressure mounts. So start with little utilities. “Can I make this app open a folder in my favorite file manager?” “Can I make this web app show how much hard disk space is left on the server?” Add little features from there. If you want to think like a big-picture designer and create the master program, you’d better have a lot of those utilities under your belt or you’d better be delegating lots of the coding.
• Ignorance of meta-patterns. If you start to stress-eat and curse at your dog, or at other people, while you’re coding, or if you keep getting into internet arguments, pay attention. Your mind is trying to give you a psychology lesson. Take breaks, allow yourself to do this as a hobby only, and keep the pressure off. Keep analyzing, try not to become a stress case.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes & what you’re learning. Email’s in the sidebar.

Filed in: Technology (41) | School (3) | Te (36) | Thinking (71) | Ti (30) | Productivity (120)

I find myself listening to broadcast radio a lot more, recently. Among other benefits, the pseudo-random song selection seems to help me get off the same old emotional rail when I would otherwise just reinforce my feelings with my standard playlists or favorite music tracks. (More on the randomness at the end of this post.)

As an example of the radio effect: The other day I was feeling depressed and grumpy. I know I can usually tackle that and resolve the symptoms within a couple hours, max. And it was crucial that I do something soon, because we were supposed to be leaving to go on a trip. Driving and interacting with family members while depressed is like a recipe for poor decision-making. Hoo boy.

I tried everything that seems to work well for me. I tried to nap, but things felt too hurried. I engaged (or “attended to”) my sensations and recognized a dull headache, so I took some ibuprofen. After giving that a chance, I tried some caffeine. After that didn’t seem to work, I went on a short hike. Nothing! I still felt like life was a wasteland. Exhausted, ready to call it a day already.

Feeling about the same after a couple of hours, I found a package sitting on the kitchen counter—a new gadget had arrived! This really engaged my interests (it’s a radio, the little Tivdio V-115 a friend had recommended, and which I recommend at this point as well as a fun gadget with an impressive speaker). Some good brain chemicals started to pour in. But then I turned on the radio and things really changed.

One of the local radio stations was playing one of my favorite songs, but one I wouldn’t have turned on myself. I turned up the volume and jammed for a bit, singing along. It was like someone opened up my brain’s sunroof and I was absolutely cruising. Within 5-10 minutes, I was feeling way, way better, with no depression symptoms at all.

I’m sure the ibuprofen and caffeine helped some, but 2 hours is beyond normal efficacy for those things. In this case the right chemical environment may have been established by those things, but the trigger-puller was definitely the music.

Going back to randomness, I seem to really benefit from randomness as a consulting function in my life. It helps me brainstorm in an objective way, rather than just turning back on my own same-ideas again and again. As a non-radio example, when I visit the library I sometimes use the millisecond reading on my stopwatch to dictate which section of the library to browse. If it reads 18ms, I’m going to the 180s. If it reads 64, I’m going to the 640s. Last time I did this I went home with 3 books that were absolutely fascinating, yet which I never would have thought to look for.

Filed in: Depression (13) | Energy (121) | Therapeutic Practice (149) | Interests (112) | Randomness (26)

One of the most important things I’ve learned about exercise is that it is meant to be an ever-changing game for some of us. I’m one of those people. I did the /r/bodyweightfitness routine for about 6 months, and while it was amazing for the bulk of that time, toward the end it was excruciatingly boring, even the progressions part. Especially the progressions part.

My results indicate that exercise is much more sustainable for me if I progress through a variety of forms of exercise (perhaps increasing in intensity over time as a general attribute) rather than progressing through ever-more-challenging same-exercises.

When I exercise, I usually derive some major benefit. Today’s benefit from exercising, for example, was realizing that there is a huge leverage point in an existing project that will help me reach a goal. I call this exercise-benefit loop an “exercise-benefit loop”.

(Hmm! Well, too lazy to rewrite that sentence.)

The following steps seem to form a positive input to my exercise-benefit loop:

1. Recognize and name any psychological resistance
2. Recognize [resistance name or resistance type] as a stressor
3. Unburden myself of the psychological resistance by attacking the stressor

For example, “I’m not enjoying this at all. I’m totally bored,” is one way to name the resistance. I named the resistance “boredom.” To follow that, I need to recognize that I have a stressor on my hands: Something that creates a problem in my exercise-benefit loop. I need to solve the problem. With the stressor named, I ask myself: What can I do about it? And this is where it gets a bit more interesting.

My subconscious is usually way ahead of me by this point. In many cases it seems to know what I need sooner than I do. So I like to ask my intuition (the INTJ’s dominant gift, so to speak) what I should do about it. I engage this process by doing things like visualizing myself doing some fun exercise, and accepting whatever I see myself doing. Or imagining that an exercise coach walked through my door, and listening to his advice.

But let’s say it’s raining right now (which it is) and I see myself jumping on a trampoline (which is now wet). OK, I accept that my subconscious seems to jump right to that, and it really does seem like what I need, in some intuitive way. Let’s fold in some analysis (introverted thinking) and ask: How can I get that activity to be where I’m at right now? I don’t want to get all wet as I don’t have time to change clothes.

In my case I decide: I’ll put on some upbeat music and jump around in my office here. Maybe I’ll dance, do some jumping jacks. Maybe I’ll do some somersaults on the floor.

Well, I just tried that (key point: You have to try the thing!) and I’m sitting here sweating. When I was done, I opened my office door, and the cool, humid air just poured in. Perfect.

As an INTJ, I’m accountable to my intuition, and things work much better if we cooperate. However, you never know when a problem in the exercise-benefit loop will appear, and when that occurs it’s crucial to accept it, name it, and consciously attack it.

Filed in: Fitness (31) | Goals (52) | Planning (17) | Intuition (63)

I really dislike the word “just” lately. “Just” is very commonly used—and unintentionally, I will add—as a sneaky nuance-avoidance word. Such nuance avoidance can perpetuate really awful problems.

Here are some examples of the kind of usage I’m talking about:

• I just need to get that project started.
• People need to just stop [insert bad behavior here]
• He just needs to go get a job.

There went three opportunities, right out the window. Each one of those conclusive judgments is a lost opportunity to reflect, analyze, and solve a problem through the leverage provided by a resilient cognitive model.

The ability to detect, sort through, and operate within nuanced situations is a reflection of intellectual development. Conversely, the black-and-white view espoused by the “just” statement often reflects a low level of development regarding the topic in question. If someone has a black and white view on a thing, you can be assured that their level of education vis-a-vis that thing is relatively low.

Sure, there are times when “just” spurs us to action. It says: “Take action now, we have passed the point of thinking.” But I have observed that when INTJs use the word “just” in that way, it can be a result of an unbalanced mental process that could use some review. Although the process is biased toward decisive action, it can actually be biased toward avoidance when it comes to open-mindedness and rational thinking.

Imagine a hard-working, logical person, beset by anxiety, who is pushing herself harder and harder to work on her chemistry paper. Nothing seems to work. “I just need to get started,” she says as she starts her third argument on Facebook, or starts her second feature-length movie of the day. This happens all the time. This is someone who is demonstrably perfectly capable of starting things, even now, but who cannot start on the chemistry. It’s not a curse, it’s not witchcraft, it’s a system to analyze! A real opportunity.

To wrap this up, a couple more examples to consider:

What if Einstein had said, “I just need to buckle down and be a good patent examiner!”

And what if Feynman had said, “sometimes shuttles just crash!”

And what if Newton had told himself: “Why do apples fall? Well, sometimes things just are how they are.”

we went into the garden, & drank thea under the shade of some appletrees, only he, & myself. amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. “why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground,” thought he to him self: occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a comtemplative mood: “why should it not go sideways, or upwards? but constantly to the earths centre? assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. there must be a drawing power in matter. & the sum of the drawing power in the matter of the earth must be in the earths center, not in any side of the earth. therefore dos this apple fall perpendicularly, or toward the center. if matter thus draws matter; it must be in proportion of its quantity. therefore the apple draws the earth, as well as the earth draws the apple.”

Maybe watching for that “just” word will help us become more curious, take more of those deep, rewarding intellecutal dives, and become nuanced, even in the face of complex information.

Filed in: Energy (121) | Anxiety (32) | Productivity (120) | Control (112) | Thinking (71) | Goals (52)

One of the happiest, most effective INTJ roles is the detective, so I thought I’d share some of my detecting work here.

A good detective first detects, then constructs a model that accounts for their perceptions, and then refines the model as they do more detecting. This is a perception-judgment loop.

As my first example, here is some detective work I’m doing. This is a model I’m working on that places depression as some product of inflammation, and positions it within other factors like an “exertion->sleep-quality->depressive outcome” chain (click/tap/blorb for large version):

This really needs an upgrade both in graphical quality and in communication effectiveness, but it was exciting to capture the model on paper. I wrote it just after I observed that anti-inflammatory medications could get me out of the depressed zone very fast. This was a big surprise to me. Add in some other ingredients like some pull-ups, upbeat music, and maybe a bit of food or caffeine, and the outcome was just as good as it would have been had I taken a nap (naps were my previous go-to resolution for the depressed state and they still work very well). This was great news for me because I can’t always sleep on command, especially not when I have to wrap up a big project, or do some other stressful thing.

I could go on for days about depression, but so far, as far as I can tell from my measurements, or my detection-and-modeling process, it’s less of an “illness” and more of a symptom. It’s a necessary element in the human system in the same way that physical pain is necessary when you put your hand in a blender. While the pain is a bummer, you can learn a lot of helpful things from it, and maybe the pain quickly saves you from further complications. So this is how I describe overcoming depression: I have conquered depression not by eliminating it, but by reducing it to a non-chronic state and increasing my ability to detect the symptoms, leverage a model, and overcome the pain in a short period of time.

As a second example, here is a model I developed for using my time at the public library for maximum leverage (click/tap/ think in Russian for large version):

This model is simpler, still requires more refinement, but captures the essence of what’s working for me when I visit the library. I really enjoy the library environment and I try to walk over there at least a few times a week. As I reflected on this model today, I came up with a new clue and potential leverage point, which I’m excited to try.

The model as drawn here captures two loops, one meta-loop where I write freely about my problems to unlock detective mode, which leads to motivation and courage-to-work, and an inner loop where I classify or call out my problems as I write about them (sometimes simply assigning them a number and a highlighter color), then find a different part of the page or notebook to dive in and write more about the details of each problem and any steps to completion.

A key outcome of this model is a schedule or a plan for my time. (Or heck, let’s just say it in German: Zeitplan, because I like how that word sounds.) I used to sit down and try to schedule things directly, but I found that those things were usually still too big-picture (like the classic: “JUST FINISH THE PROJECT”) and it didn’t help with motivation. Right now, scheduling as an outcome of this detecting-system just makes more psychological sense (it’s easier and more effective) and usually the schedule doesn’t need to be changed as much later.

Meta-model

My modeling meta-model is also being fleshed out:

• I find that going meta is a strong leverage point for me. Zooming out one level and modeling the outer layer.
• If I am getting resistance while working on the details, I can often go meta, describe the model, diagnose the problem, and come to a satisfying conclusion. This gives me guidance and motivation to work on the details again, because maybe some details just needed to be ruled out, or rearranged for more leverage, or whatever.

There’s more to this model to come I’m sure, but I think it is starting to answer the “how do I work with details successfully” INTJ question.

Implications of the Perception-Judgement Loop

Because the “detective loop” requires perception and judgement, it’s a good idea to 1) stay open to new information and 2) conduct experiments (use the executive functions of your brain, not just the perceptive functions).

INTJs sometimes rule too many things out in advance by intuitive perception alone, while committing to too little experimentation. Too much attention to a single intuitive perception can bias the “judge, jury, and executioner” processes, which is not always ideal. You could call this “too much Ni (introverted intuition) and low-quality Ni at that” if you are familiar with the cognitive functions, but for most INTJs the major tip here is to stay mentally open and describe/test your models often.

If you’d like some good examples on the topic of staying mentally open and running experiments, see Clifford Stoll and Richard Feynman, below. Feynman’s book, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, is a masterpiece in open-minded thinking.

Conclusion

So: If you’re a detective, like most INTJs are, then detect. If you haven’t (consciously) tried it yet, give it a shot. Make observations and start building your own models for things. If you can get those models on paper, you’ll find that you can enter a model-refinement loop and really come up with something elegant and effective.

I’d love to hear about your models, too—email’s in the sidebar.

Here are some of my favorite detectives, both fictional and non:

• Lt. Columbo
• Richard Feynman (describing a model-making process)
• Jim Rockford (leveraging his detecting work and applying a model)
• Clifford Stoll (detecting and modeling)

Finally, I placed some toy cars in the photos here. More on those later!

Filed in: Te (36) | Thinking (71) | Ti (30)

Yesterday I was drawing a sketch of a (speculative) model for inflammation and depression, and I began to realize why I love using highlighters. As I fleshed out the reasoning, I thought I’d share it here:

• Highlighters allow us to color-code information.
• Color-coding is one way to easily classify information.
• Classification is an important activity because it divides information into types.
• Types are important because they generalize information and create an abstract view.
• Generalization and abstract views are important because they easily communicate the highest-impact information.
• High-impact information is important because it increases our ability to influence and solve problems.
• We must increase our ability influence and solve problems in order to feel like successful human beings.
• When we are at our most successful, we consider ourselves as uniquely-qualified problem-solvers.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this last night. I am always buying highlighters. I must have about ten different sets. My favorites are:

• Rite Aid “Wexford” highlighters. Low price, vibrant ink, good hues. Just a really good cost-to-performance ratio, especially if you buy them around mid-September when they’re on clearance for, say, $0.10 per pen. (Yes!!!)
• Zebra Kei Koat highlighters. Versatile double-tip, vibrant ink, small size.
• Sharpie Clear View highlighters. Vibrant ink, fat design that’s fun to hold.
• Bic Brite Liner Flex Tip highlighters. Brush tip (surprisingly versatile), relatively dull ink, but fun to use.

I like to have three to five highlighters nearby when I’m working or thinking. More than five is too many colors, and even three highlighters can be combined to make more than three colors. For example, yellow and blue make green, yellow and pink make orange, blue and pink make some kind of purple color.

When you want to go for more nuanced colors, you can use stippling. Tiny pink dots on top of yellow can make a passable skin color.

Going beyond aesthetic, beyond “I don’t know why, I just like highlighters,” there comes a time when a theorist must look at his ten sets of highlighters and think, “why?” The theorist naturally seeks leverage by deepening their search for knowledge about their own habits and those of others.

If you accumulate more than some average amount of a thing, chances are your subconscious is sending you a message about that thing. I’ve found that to be a very reliable assumption, as long as you leave the interpretation wide open. But it’s usually not just that you like that thing so why not buy ten of them. I have been why-ing about my highlighters for a while, and I discovered the schema above as I used them yesterday. It gave me a feeling of completion, with a satisfying little “click” sound in my brain as my mostly-unknown thought mechanisms slammed some coherent little bits of meaning together.

If you want an extra INTJ-related brain click, consider that modeling, classification, and systematization are associated with introverted and extraverted thinking (Ti and Te). Highlighters can help with all of that good stuff.

I believe there is a Highlighter Martial Art lurking in here somewhere. “Highlighters classify information” can give us a bit of insight into graphic design theory, perhaps. Highlighters do more than just randomly highlight sentences that might be on a test. It’s now obvious to me in a way that might open a path to doing even cooler things with highlighters and information. You never know.

Filed in: Productivity (120) | Aesthetics (4) | Thinking (71) | Ti (30) | Te (36)

My local public library subscribes to Hoopla Digital, and it’s been a really great experience as a library patron. The app works great, the video and audio streaming and download functions seem flawless, and even reading comic books is enjoyable. When I found that I could watch/read/listen to the media not only on my phone but also in a web browser and on a special Roku channel on my TV (I think this last one is for videos only), I was even happier with the product.

I’m 25 minutes into the film They Might Be Giants (1971), and so far this is a fantastic INTJ-ENTP bridge movie. I say “bridge” because developing some of those INTJ-useful ENTP characteristics is probably made easier by observing the main character’s ENTP-style actions. If you are looking for inspiration as you become more of a scientist (of any kind, professional or not), this film has some real promise.

Geoge C. Scott plays a credible eccentric who believes in himself and his work, who chases down leads, and generally remains open to—and smart about—new information. He is mentally engaged, creative, excited, and fun. He’s an original thinker, developing his own theories and models. In short, he models what should be very creditable behavior for any INTJ in combination with the typical INTJ skillset.

If you’re looking for a direction in which to head as you seek more pleasure in life, I think this is a good lead to check out. You might not (even probably won’t) become the caricatured jumpy eccentric, but turning the knobs just a bit further in that direction could prove very beneficial.

Another potential ENTP-thought-model lead here, and a favorite book of mine, is Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

By the way, here’s my current model for using Hoopla:

• I make heavy use of the recommendations given beneath any item shown.
• I find that four or five-star reviews are generally pretty reliable, and lower-scored items are usually worth avoiding. (In some other systems this is not the case)
• The filter function to narrow down searches is very helpful; you can filter by media type and quickly narrow down the number of results. The thumbnail images between media types don’t change much, so it can be easy to accidentally check out a 16-hour audio book when you just wanted a text to skim.
• I keep a sharp eye on the number of pages for books. A book on psychology that is 15 pages long might, or might not, be the kind of thing I’m looking for. With films I find that I look at the actors’ names just to know if the film is made in my native language; sometimes I watch movies with people who just aren’t into reading subtitles.
• It has been really useful to bombard the search tool with a variety of keywords that are remotely linked to my interests. I found a lot of really interesting titles this way. Sometimes when I just want to browse I’ll search for “the” or “and” or other really general terms to get started.
• When I enjoy an audio book’s narrator, I tap on their name in the credits and often find other books that are similarly enjoyable. The same goes for authors, actors, etc.
• I make liberal use of the Favorites function and use it as a kind of to-read or to-watch feature. I have at least 200 favorites stored. My tastes fluctuate by the day, so it’s useful to keep the favorites around. When I’m going for a long walk or a hike and want to choose something to listen to, the Favorites area is a great place to start looking.
• If you live with or know anyone else who has a library card but doesn’t use it much, see if they’ll register for Hoopla and give you access to their account for when you run out of check-outs. One patron account gets 15 items per month, and this can easily be expanded to 60-90 items with a bit of networking among those less technically-inclined.
• If you can’t do that, be very selective about films and TV shows, as you don’t get to check them out for as long as books, audiobooks, and comics. It sucks to hit the middle of the month with no check-outs left.

In addition to Hoopla, the Libby app is tolerable if your library supports it, and you can also check out some scanned books from the Internet Archive if you create an account there (no library card required). IA’s in-browser reading software works really well for me (on mobile devices, hit the magnifying glass icon and use the hamburger menu on the left side of the screen to adjust the zoom level). IA is a really fun information-excavation site, but that’s probably for another post.

Filed in: Openness (49) | ENTP (9) | Thinking (71) | Ti (30) | Te (36)

Feeling beaten down? Scatterbrained? Conspired against? Start a crazy wall!

For the perceptive INTJ, one of the key problem solvers is written right there in the Tumblr subtitle: Get it out of your head. You see, we’re in our head lots. Our brain imagery can go from “inspirational idea” or “clear impression” to “big disorganized mess of impressions that don’t easily lend themselves toward planning, making decisions, optimizing, etc.” in no time.

Even if it’s not a literal string theory, it’s a great idea to find some format that helps you just get the information out of your noggin.

Examples:

• Journal
• Mind map (digital using e.g. Freeplane or on paper)
• Outliner or tree-based organizer software
• Personal wiki or website
• Gigantic sheet of paper
• Spreadsheet (digital or paper)
• Talking to yourself (suspend disbelief for a moment and consider that lots of healthy people do this)
• or someone else

Next time you see one in a movie, remember that crazy walls, while crazy for some, may actually be good for your psychology.

(For those who think a crazy wall is a bad sign no matter what, I have some news for you about information technology and hypertext.)

Filed in: Productivity (120) | Te (36) | Procrastination (23) | Thinking (71) | Planning (17)