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Finding the Motivation to Grow Your Career ISTJ

Finding the Motivation to Grow Your Career ISTJ

By Donna Dunning

Donna Dunning

Assimilator

Logical Assimilators

People who have preferences for ISTJ tend to focus their attention in the inner world of facts and relevant details, using Introverted Sensing (Si) as their dominant function. They research topics of interest in-depth and trust what they know to be true from their experience. In the outer world, they tend to evaluate and decide using a factual, realistic, logical approach (Te).

For more general information on type dynamics and motivation, please refer to the introductory post for this series, Find Your Motivation and Grow Your Career.

When they find opportunities to use this core approach at work, the result is usually a satisfying, meaningful career.

Building Your Skills

When learning and developing their competencies, ISTJs need to hone their core approach as well as develop skills and knowledge outside of their preferences.

Some of the skills that may come naturally for ISTJs include following established procedures, careful attention to detail, spotting inconsistencies, conducting logical analysis, planning and organizing, critical thinking, and working independently. Careers that use these skills are often appealing to people with ISTJ preferences.

However, there are times when ISTJs need to use and develop skills in their non-preferred functions. For the ISTJ, this might include taking risks, dealing with ambiguity, showing empathy, engaging in small talk, responding immediately, or adapting to change.

I’m sure the ISTJs out there can add to this list of non-preferred skills and activities.

Finding Your Motivation

ISTJs will be most motivated to learn skills in their non-preferred functions “in service of the dominant function”. In other words, they need to see how the new learning can help them maintain the status quo and feed their interest in learning about and understanding topics in-depth.

For example, my son, who has ISTJ preferences, dislikes looking for work because, while job-hunting, he needs to market himself by responding on the spot to questions. He prefers to think things through carefully and does not usually shine in job interview situations.

How did he motivate himself during his job search last year? He linked the work search to his preferences.

He knew that finding work in his area of education (GIS mapping) would increase his knowledge and experience as well as build his competencies and increase his pay. This provided the motivation he needed to carry out non-preferred activities.

He also tapped into his experience and organization. A few years ago, before taking his Advanced GIS diploma, he had applied for a GIS job, only to be told to come back when he had more training or experience. Being organized and detailed, he had kept the contact information and carefully crafted an e-mail inquiry addressed to the person who had previously interviewed him.

This allowed him to circumvent the competition and tap directly into a good lead. When granted an interview, he researched the company, anticipated possible questions, and prepared several points he wanted to share. He then tackled the interview and got the job.

If you want to read more about ISTJs on the website, here are a few posts to look at.

Developing Your Type – ISTJ

ISTJs at Work

Occupations that Attract Assimilators

Resources

Want to learn more about personality type and how to use it to understand yourself and others?

Introduction to Type and Communication describes in detail how personality preferences influence communications.

If you live in the USA, Introduction to Type and Communication is now available on Kindle.

Introduction to Type and Learning can help you find your motivation for learning and help you learn more effectively.

If you live in the USA, Introduction to Type and Learning is also available on Kindle.

Looking for a practical resource to help you plan your ideal career? Check out my book, What’s Your Type of Career?: Find Your Perfect Career By Using Your Personality Type

Want to use your personality type to excel at your career? Check out 10 Career Essentials: Excel at Your Career by Using Your Personality Type

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 20th, 2013 at 9:45 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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