If you are the INFJ type, then knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you better understand your authenticity, tackle issues in more effective ways, and choose your professional career wiser.
If you tested the INFJ personality type, you belong to the 3% minority of people exhibiting some of the most outstanding personality features. INFJs (Advocates or Counselors) are introverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging (thus, INFJ).
These personality traits make them exceptionally rare, and even though introverted, it is hard not to notice them around. However, if you are not sure that you are an INFJ, you can view all personality types here.
One of their most remarkable traits is their genuine care for other people’s well-being and inborn sense of morality and justice. Their core drive is to help others reach their potential and make the world a better place.
They are strong-willed people of action with impressive capability to see through other people’s intentions and motives. They are rather unimposing when pursuing their goals, often striving to achieve balance while solving the problems in the most compassionate way.
All INFJ Strengths and Advantages
Creative Mind
Attention to detail while focusing on the big picture is a personality trait that makes INFJs extremely creative. No matter if it’s music, art, or literature, an INFJ is hardly ever short on ideas.
They can transfer every detail they notice into a creative piece of art, wordplay, or writing. INFJs can notice patterns, opportunities, and designs where an ordinary person fails short of detecting any of them.
The fact that INFJs are predominantly introverts means that they often need to spend time on their own, to contemplate, restructure, or plan future projects.
Their inner curiosity allows them to experiment with words, colors, textures, or music, leading to success. Many exceptional people are or are believed to have been INFJs such as J.K. Rowling, Alanis Morisette, Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, Carl Jung, and many more.
Insightful
The intuitive nature of INFJs goes beyond the ordinary as well. They often make judgments based on their feelings and love to observe people’s interactions.
Actually, the famous INFJ stare is nothing more than their intense desire to see what’s beyond the obvious. They have an incredible ability to see through people’s motives, and it is very hard to lie or trick these people.
Advocate personality comprehends more than what they are told, and they are rarely wrong. The insight they get helps them address underlying issues that point to the core of the matter.
Inspiring and Convincing
INFJs, with their soft-spoken and carefully chosen words, are neither too imposing nor too aggressive to have their point immediately taken, and yet, they are the ones who are hard to say no to.
Their calmness, altruism, and genuine desire to act towards making substantial changes for the better, often create trust and confidence from other people.
This trust is not only the foundation for inspiration but once it is established, it functions as the means for persuasion and working towards the goal.
Decisive
When talking about Advocate strengths, decisiveness plays a significant role in how they live their lives. Making decisions for them is easy since they use their gut feeling to weigh the better option, often ignoring the facts.
Once they see the big picture, they plan every detail and finish demanding and long-lasting tasks and projects with their unyielding willpower.
However, whatever they choose, it has to be in a straight line with their deeply rooted moral values and principles on humanity.
Determined and Passionate
They see obstacles as an opportunity to grow and see perspectives that haven’t been seen. This attitude is maintained only if they are passionate about the project or the idea, which means it has to be related to bringing positive changes to their surroundings.
Altruistic
However, it is not because they expect to be treated equally, but because they are deeply convinced that empowering other people is the way to satisfaction.
The happiness of the people surrounding them is essential for INFJs, and taking care of other people’s needs has priority over their needs.
Idealistic
Many of us want our world to be a much better place, but INFJs have the actual willpower, courage, and organization to act upon their desires.
They truly believe in bringing positive change to people and their surroundings and often engage themselves in activities that help those who are underserved or hurting.
INFJs are usually those who never get discouraged from starting a project that nobody else would, and despite the improbability of seeing it completed, they eventually make it happen.
Empathizing with Others
The Advocate personality is a feeling type who gets quickly in tune with other people’s feelings. The way they show compassion goes beyond mere understanding of what those around them go through due to their intuitive nature.
They can tell the difference between disappointment, sadness, and worry that their friends and they are excellent at reading body language and detecting unspoken suffering.
This INFJ strength doesn’t go unnoticed, and it isn’t rare for acquaintances to open up to an INFJ only because they ‘feel’ they will get understood. An INFJ will do everything to comfort the person or find a way out.
Self Sacrificing
People having an INFJ personality rarely think about their needs. Personal achievements only make sense when they make other people happier, so they could work for hours only to help those in need, without expecting any reward.
Financial incentives never appeal to INFJs, and they can sacrifice their time and money to have the right thing done.
Good Listeners
It goes so naturally to INFJs. They are attentive to what they are listening to, and while they do, their mind works toward finding an adequate solution or advice.
All INFJ Weaknesses and Flows
Perfectionists
When an INFJ starts something, he/she wants it done the way they have imagined, usually in an ideal way.
Since business or social environments are rarely perfect settings, they often get frustrated when things are not moving forward the way they have planned them to do.
Therefore, they could easily ignore or miss a prosperous situation or a healthy relationship only because of their ideological convictions.
Overly Sensitive
Being sensitive to other people’s needs is a good thing, but when it comes to challenging their values or principles, INFJs don’t happen to accept it calmly.
When they are criticized or when their motives are questioned, they respond strongly and feel that they are attacked and usually withdraw into their world.
Very Private
Even though Advocates care about other people and are always ready to meet their needs, they tend to keep their personal lives extremely private. It takes a long time before an INFJ is confident enough to open up to a person, and it is usually a person who shares the same morals and principles as they do.
When it comes to INFJs and relationships, you see the extreme of their boundaries, as it is tough to reach their inner self.
Easily Overwhelmed
Whatever INFJs do, they do it with utmost passion and complete dedication. Since they need to have an organizational pattern with clear routines and details, following them can often turn out to be tiresome and exhausting.
Their tendency to reach pure perfection and idealistic values can quickly burn them out unless they balance their ideals with reality.
Conflict Avoiders
INFJs are peacekeepers, and mitigating disputes is one of the recommended jobs for them. When found in a conflicting situation, their natural response is to intervene and do whatever is needed to prevent it.
However, conflicts usually indicate underlying problems between the parties, and it is a process that can open up new perspectives and allow the disputing parties to reach an agreement.
Yet, an INFJ would rather sweep things under the rug than consent to a conflict escalation that might have a detrimental impact.
Easily Offended when Faced with Criticism
Okay, nobody loves being criticized, but it goes on a more personal note than just mere criticism with INFJs. Their vulnerability to criticism might lead to intense conflicts and an inability to cope with the current situations.
This can lead to the so-called INFJ door slam, a situation when an INFJ completely cuts off a relationship with a person.
Obsessive About Their Values and Beliefs
Idealists as they are, they create their own moral values and beliefs based on their insights.
In other words, it means they create high standards that are hard to follow which might cause a disagreement between them and the people around them.
Plus, they need to know that whatever they do, leads them to achieve their goal, so failure to do so makes them unmotivated, withdrawn, and discouraged to go on.
INFJ Growth and Development
However, their con sides often prevent them from reaching their full potential, while their character’s introverted nature keeps people off.
By learning how to enhance their strengths and tackle their weaknesses, they can live a much more fruitful and satisfying life.
How to Boost and Maximize INFJ’s Strengths & Advantages
Many INFJs are unaware of their potential and struggle to find their place in the world. Many INFJs feel misunderstood or inadequate for their surroundings.
The common career-boosting tactics and financial rewards mean nothing to Advocate personality, and spiritual growth has priority over financial gain. So, it is advisable to take a look at INFJ careers before starting a job that won’t meet their values.
Become aware of your gifts and nurture them.
A few people around can boast of being as insightful and sensitive as INFJs are. But many of them fail to fully acknowledge this potential to its fullest and fail to step up, mostly due to a lack of facts.
Don’t lose confidence only because you are unable to present actual facts. Use the situation to point to discrepancies anyway.
Perfection doesn’t exist, but keeping things organized helps you stick to your plans.
When people jokingly point to you as being COD type, don’t frustrate, but follow your concepts.
The way you organize things into systems helps you maintain your focus, so even if you face naysayers, remember that patterns and details help you get going.
You don’t have to fit in the box.
Sometimes it is more than frustrating to stand out with your judgment and the way you see things, but being an INFJ means precisely that- to stand out!
So embrace your individuality to do what you’ve always wanted to do – make a positive impact on the people surrounding you.
How to Minimize and Deal with INFJ’s Weaknesses
Nobody is made perfect, but embracing weaknesses as a possibility to grow is a crucial part of leading a calmer and happier life.
So, if you are an INFJ, then allow yourself the following:
Let others ask questions and increase your tolerance level when others doubt your values.
We know that you never randomly start anything, and it was under in-depth scrutiny within your never-resting mind, but the others don’t know you, nor are they aware of your deeply-held moral values.
Don’t take your intuition for granted.
You’ve tested it, and you know it has helped you a thousand times to get the right conclusion, but you have to admit it has caused withdrawal from people who love you, and you’ve missed projects that could have turned out to be a complete success.
When your intuition tells you to withdraw, give yourself a chance to express your thoughts and worries to the person you care about, or your business partner and try to find the core of the problem. Communicating things will help you overcome difficulties more effortlessly and less confusingly.
Slow down and relax more!
Your creative mind might trick you into starting one project after another, often leading you to create one project after another.
Since you tend to pursue your ideals consistently while having everything under control, you put yourself under extreme pressure that can affect your mental well-being and even lead to INFJ personality disorders.
Therefore, remind yourself to start one project at a time and to slow down every time you feel anxious about a job.
INFJ Strengths and Weaknesses FAQ
Can INFJs be strong?
Yes, INFJ is considered one of the strongest personality types of all the 16 MBTI personalities with their mental and cognitive abilities. However, they’re not straightforwardly strong.
The truth is that people with INFJ personalities are very strong-willed and determined, but often they use this strength to help people around them instead of investing in self-development.
As a result, people often think that they’re wasting their talent. However, if you ask an INFJ, they’ll answer that they feel satisfied due to their strong sense of self.
What are INFJs strengths?
Some of the most common strengths of ENFJs are creativity and willpower. They can look at things outside of the box and solve various problems in an innovative way.
Besides, IFJs are very sensitive people who always try to take care of others’ needs. They have the ability to deeply connect with others on an emotional level and help them do something worthwhile for society.
What are the weaknesses of an INFJ?
Sometimes INFJs can get overly sensitive, which slows down their progress and doesn’t let them focus on their goals. Considering the negative effects of their sensitivity, this can be considered a weakness.
Besides, INFJs often get overwhelmed with details. Even if they are practical people, they may struggle to see the big picture and become engrossed in minor details.
What are INFJs naturally good at?
One thing that INFJs are naturally good at is taking care of other people. People with this personality type are extremely empathetic and can easily share others’ perspectives and feelings.
That’s why they’re considered natural empaths. Another thing that INFJS are very good at is their determination and strong will.
Once an INFJ starts doing something, they never stop until they get the desired result. They are natural-born achievers and tend to thrive in everything they do.
Why is INFJ unhappy in relationships?
INFJs often find themselves unhappy in their romantic relationships. The reason is that shallow relationships aren’t enough for you. They seek deep emotional connections and commitment from their partners.
And when they notice that their partner doesn’t feel the same emotions, they feel unhappy. However, it’s hard for them to break up with their partners because if an INFJ is in a relationship, it already means that they’re deeply attached to their partners.
