# Woodworker Personality Types



## MrFid (Mar 9, 2013)

Hi all,

The other day I was reading a blog from a friend (non-woodworking friend) who is entering the Peace Corps, and he recommended to readers that we take a personality test (sometimes known as the Meyers-Briggs or something like that), so I did. It's available for free here:

http://www.16personalities.com/

with a pretty in-depth breakdown afterwards. It takes about 10-12 minutes.

Anyway, I was given the ISTP personality type, a.k.a. "The Virtuoso", which talked a lot about using your hands and doing things like making, building, designing. So I wonder if there is some sort of loose commonality between the members on this site and our official personality types. If you've taken the quiz before, I'd be interested to know what other types of people are on this site, and if there are any other ISTPs out there. If you've never taken one, I thought it was actually pretty fun and very accurate.


I am in no way affiliated with the 16 Personalities site. I was merely a visitor who found it fun and interesting. I think there are also other sites as well that you can use to analyze your personality, I just found the writeup for this one to be a pretty good read.


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

INFJ-T
I knew I was an introvert.

Also, the "more politically conservative than liberal"...I am an anarchist. I have no good option for that question.


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## MrFid (Mar 9, 2013)

Haha I think maybe just leave the slider in the middle in that case!


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## DKV (Jul 18, 2011)

Easy going and handsome…dat's me


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

Didn't do that one, but have done them before and come down as INTJ. The description of that type fits me to a T and this quote from the website sums it up nicely:

Rules, limitations and traditions are anathema to the INTJ personality type - everything should be open to questioning and reevaluation, and if they see a way, INTJs will often act unilaterally to enact their technically superior, sometimes insensitive, and almost always unorthodox methods and ideas.


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## Ashus (Mar 8, 2015)

I got INFJ-A - The Advocate.

One of the things in the article that stood out is how supposedly rare the INFJ type is, and yet there's SirIrb with a nearly identical result.

The most interesting bit, I thought, was "...many INFJs struggle to begin a career early on because they see ten wildly different paths forward, each with its own intrinsic rewards, alluring but also heartbreaking, because each means abandoning so much else." For my own life, this is remarkably accurate - I'm 33 years old, and I still have no idea what I want to do when I grow up.


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

Reminded me of when I go to the store to buy something, say mustard. There are 10 types of mustard. I look, I look, [wife pushes the cart away and continues without me], I look at dijon vs amerikan yeller mustard. Stone ground. I cant decide. There are too many options. I HATE YOU MUSTARD!



> I got INFJ-A - The Advocate.
> 
> One of the things in the article that stood out is how supposedly rare the INFJ type is, and yet there s SirIrb with a nearly identical result.
> 
> ...


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## MrFid (Mar 9, 2013)

Haha great comments guys. Interesting that we are all getting I (introvert). Maybe that is the tie that binds us woodworkers.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

> Haha great comments guys. Interesting that we are all getting I (introvert). Maybe that is the tie that binds us woodworkers.
> 
> - MrFid


Not really surprising, the extroverts are out partying or on facebook. I'd bet most of them wouldn't be able to handle hours at a time in the shop by themselves. Just like I cannot handle hours at a "social function", much to my wife's displeasure.


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## NoThanks (Mar 19, 2014)

ISFJ-A
Fit me pretty closely.


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## darinS (Jul 20, 2010)

Like you MrFid, I got ISTP-T (the Virtuoso) also.


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## oldrivers (Feb 10, 2014)

ESTJ for whatever that is worth? This was a fun test thanks for sharing.


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## exelectrician (Oct 3, 2011)

Architect - another meaningless test.

If we don't know ourselves by now, then what is there to do about it?...


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## davegutz (Oct 16, 2012)

INTP - the logician, absent-minded professor….

There is a pattern of "I" with the LJs maybe?


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Cover me guys …. I'm going in!

( Be back soon with my findings! )


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Hmmmm, VERRRRRY INTERESTING!

Mediator (INFP-T)


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

INTP-A, logistician (a word I've never seen), which doesn't actually mean what the Meyers-Briggs website says. Merriam-Webster says it is a person who works in logistics, and job search links say the same. I am a physicist, who served in the US Navy. I can see that this part of the diagnosis is right. I will say. having taught math and physics, I was kind of in the enforcement business- do your homework or else, lol.

FWIW, I would expect most woodworkers (not all) to be introverted to some degree, given the kind of work it is. It is generally not a group activity, and too many people poking around in an activity (like running a piece of the wood through the table saw) could be disastrous.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Executive was what mine said. Not sure how to interpret that!


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## Tony_S (Dec 16, 2009)

ISTJ The Logistician.

Fits me to a 'T'.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

> Executive was what mine said. Not sure how to interpret that!
> 
> - gfadvm


Me too!
"...many of America's presidents have been ESTJs."

Can I take a retest?


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Chuck, I promise that my personality type is NOT the same as our current president!!!!


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

INTJ-A Architect. Imagine that.


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

Funny how the test will never tell you youre a major butthole.

For instance: The above about us presidents…. I rest my case.


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## MrFid (Mar 9, 2013)

I think it assumes that there are some of those in each category.


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

It may but shouldn't it come out and say something like "Hey, you and Hitler are ranked with the same attributes. You should hang yourself and save your loved ones from a lifetime of disgrace." ?


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

> Funny how the test will never tell you you're a major butthole.
> 
> - SirIrb


Nope, that's my wife's job. ;-)


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## distrbd (Sep 14, 2011)

who else is ISTJ ?the Logistician


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

Interesting, I took the Myers-Briggs Personality test over 30 years ago and I haven't changed in all that time!
i am still an INFJ-A,


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

ESFP I am an Entertainer…?? hmmm


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

[While chapping my hands]
Dance, Dance, Dance.



> ESFP I am an Entertainer…?? hmmm
> 
> - DrDirt


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

> ESFP I am an Entertainer…?? hmmm
> 
> - DrDirt


Cue Scott Joplin


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

> [While chapping my hands]
> Dance, Dance, Dance.
> - SirIrb


Figure I need a fez and a tin cup, to dance for the organ grinder on the corner for spare change!


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