My personality is Advocate (INFJ-A / INFJ-T). This means I like to help and support people as much as I can, and they are the rarest personality type. Advocates want to do right in the world and inspire others to do the same, by caring hugely about other people’s feelings and making long-lasting relationships. They sometimes help other people so much that they end up not caring enough about themselves, but their mission of helping others in any way they can is a vital one. However not helping themself can sometimes lead to problems like stress. Other famous advocates include Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Lady Gaga.
Strengths
-Creative: ‘Advocate personalities enjoy finding the perfect solution for the people they care about. To do this, they draw on their vivid imagination and their strong sense of compassion.’ I hugely agree with this strength because as a musician I enjoy creating things that are imaginative and original, using my want for independence to excel in this creativity. As well as this, I want to make music that people might be able to relate to or give their own meaning to, hence why helping others can come into this as well, even though it might not be the most conventional way of helping people.
-Insightful: ‘Advocates typically strive to move past appearances and get to the heart of things. This can give them an almost uncanny ability to understand people’s true motivations, feelings, and needs.’ I think I have an insightful way of thinking. Instead of accepting something as it is, I try and find a deeper understanding of said thing, giving it much more of a meaning and meaning I am working on perceptiveness. This can even be applied to things like songs or movies, and other people’s feelings, like friends and families. If someone tells me how they feel about something, I am always there to help that person and I try and be as compassionate as possible, trying my best to understand their emotions on perhaps a deeper level and figuring out a way to support them.
-Principled: ‘People with the Advocate personality type tend to have deeply held beliefs, and their conviction often shines through when they speak or write about subjects that matter to them.’ I don’t exactly agree with this as I am open to listening to other people’s views or beliefs and I understand that not everyone will think the same as me. Everyone has strong beliefs, but I don’t think my views are as strong and powerful as this implies they are, and I don’t really talk or write about my own beliefs on things, even though they matter to me.
-Passionate: ‘Advocates can pursue their ideals with a single-mindedness that may catch others off guard. These personalities rarely settle for “good enough,” and their willingness to disrupt the status quo may not please everyone.’ I think this is an important and true trait for me, as for me to be satisfied with something, it has to be fully finished no matter how much determination or time that takes. If it isn’t good enough or not finished in time, I will dwell on it and be thinking about how it could have been better, and then regret not doing that. Although this seems like a negative thing, I think it helps me realise potential and know what I need to do for next time.
-Altruistic: ‘Advocates generally aim to use their strengths for the greater good – they rarely enjoy succeeding at other people’s expense. They tend to think about how their actions affect others, and their goal is to behave in a way that will help the people around them and make the world a better place.’ I think that this is mostly true, as I want to be able to help people in my own way. Whether that be through an art form such as music, or just generally helping people like friends, family or even strangers. This could be a huge help, where many people are assisted for the greater good, or even just helping someone who is stuck with their work! I often do think about what I say to people before I say/do it, as everyone in life says or does things they will regret, or didn’t do things that probably should have been done in the moment. However, ensuring this happens the least amount of times is beneficial to the people around you and yourself, as it ups your critical thinking ability and your confidence.
Weaknesses
-Sensitive to criticism: ‘When someone challenges their principles or values, Advocates may react strongly. People with this personality type can become defensive in the face of criticism and conflict, particularly when it comes to issues that are near to their hearts.’ I think this is true, depending on the topic. If it is something I am very confident in or feel strongly about and someone criticises it, I definitely would be sensitive to that. However, criticism that is helpful and will allow me to progress my skills or beliefs in a way that I feel happy with is fine. I am not a fan of conflict and confrontation at all and would see myself as quite easy-going and laid back, but if I need to defend myself in any way because of criticism, I wouldn’t shy away from it. To improve this, I could become more accepting of criticism and try and understand where they are coming from before getting defensive or sensitive towards it. I am working on this by being critical of my own college work and actively asking for criticism by asking other people to look at my work and critique it, for example.
-Reluctant to open up: ‘Advocates value honesty, but they’re also private. They may find it difficult to open up and be vulnerable about their struggles. This might also be because they think they need to solve their problems on their own or don’t want to burden other people with their issues.’ I feel like this is mostly true as I am a very independent thinker and like to keep my own thoughts to myself, even if they might bother me. However, I do talk to the people I trust the most like close friends and family about certain things I might not talk to other people about. I feel that music, for me, is an art form in which I can express myself and these struggles without directly telling everyone them and being too emotionally vulnerable; writing lyrics would be a good example of this. I could look to improve this simply by gaining confidence in telling people things I might not usually tell and realising that solving problems independently might not be the best way to do something; the help of someone else might make a huge change to the outcome.
-Perfectionist: ‘The Advocate personality type is all but defined by idealism. While this is a wonderful quality in many ways, an ideal situation is not always possible. Advocates might find it difficult to appreciate their jobs, living situations, or relationships if they’re continually fixating on imperfections.’ I couldn’t agree more with this perfectionist trait. I very much class myself as a perfectionist and I look for small details in almost everything. However, I see this as being more of a strength as this means when I start something, I have to finish it being perfect, giving that thing the best possible outcome. However, it can also have its cons; for example, I often find myself running out of time with things (especially in work environments like meeting a strict deadline or doing exams) because I always have to make sure everything on it is faultless and in writing scenarios, I constantly read over my work to make sure it sounds right and that I have included everything. If something isn’t right but I didn’t have time to change it, I will simply fixate on that imperfection. To work on this, I need to come to terms with the fact that not all of my work will be perfect no matter how much I want it to be, and I should also work on my timing of things. This is so I am taking less time to check over things for slight problems and thinking that will ruin my work etc, and looking at the work at a more lenient angle as some people might not even notice the flaw I fixate over.
-Avoiding the ordinary: ‘Advocate personalities tend to be motivated by a sense of having a greater purpose in life. They might consider it tedious or unnecessary to break their big visions into small, manageable steps.’ I actually fully disagree with this trait; I don’t think this is me at all. Instead of seeing the bigger picture and not taking smaller steps like what this suggests, I prefer to break things like tasks or even big visions into shorter parts, as planning something, I think, helps the process much more as you will know everything you want to do. I am a methodical and logical thinker, always looking at the smaller details of things, therefore putting things into one big picture would stress me out and I would have no idea where to start/what to do in general. I often create routines or mental lists at the start of my day as to what I need to do, but whether I actually finish that list is another story!
-Prone to burnout: ‘Advocates’ perfectionism and reserve may leave them with few options for letting off steam. People with this personality type can exhaust themselves if they don’t find a way to balance their drive to help others with necessary self-care and rest.’ I agree with this, but I feel like most other people can get like this too, so it doesn’t feel like an extremely personal trait to me. I often need to take breaks from things because of a complete burnout, and sometimes I might just need a day to rest and take care of myself before I can get back on track. I need to remember to not overwork myself (which can be difficult because of the perfectionism) and to remember to give myself periodic breaks, instead of taking the whole day to rest because I have burnt myself out.