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6 ISTJ’s Core Strengths & Weaknesses Listed & Explained

ISTJ is an acronym for introversion (I), sensing (S), thinking (T), and judging (J). It’s one of the 16 personality types from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

People with this personality type tend to be highly practical and logical individuals who enjoy order and organization in all areas of life. ISTJs are also known as the Logisticians or the Investigators. Indeed, they usually make logical decisions based on the analysis of factual information.

Moreover, they try to explore the world and find hidden meaning in things and the people around them. MBTI is a widely used personality test, designed for assessing personality characteristics based on four major personality traits.

The main purpose of this instrument is to help people deeply understand their personalities, find out their preferences, strengths, and weaknesses to adapt to the environment.

In this article, we will point out the major strengths and weaknesses of ISTJs and discuss the ways of growth and development based on their characteristics. Keep in mind that in order to deeply understand ISTJ, you should also pay attention to the differences between two subtypes, ISTJ-T and ISTJ-A.

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All ISTJ Strengths and Advantages

People often describe ISTJs as “doers”. Having an ability to take actions instead of just talking or thinking about their goals is represented in all of the personality strengths of ISTJs’. ISTJs tend to push themselves to be the best in everything they do. They are honest, responsible people with a strong will to perform their duties.

List of 6 ISTJ core strengths:

Honest and direct
Strong-willed and dutiful
Very responsible
Calm and practical
Create and enforce order
Jacks-of-all-trades

Honest and Direct

ISTJs are perceived as trustworthy and direct people. This personality strength is especially obvious in ISTJ’s relationships. They are honest and open about their thoughts and say exactly what they think without any hidden meanings.

This quality represents ISTJs as reliable and likable people in relationships. Perceiving ISTJs as honest, loyal individuals is one of the main reasons why people rely on them in everything from work to their personal problems. Direct communication style helps ISTJs to convince people of their own opinions.

Strong-willed and Dutiful

ISTJs possess a strong will to perform tasks according to their plans and opinions. Even if someone tries to direct them and advise different ways of solving some problems, ISTJs are determined to behave as they planned.

Having a strong will helps them to finish what they started and complete duties successfully. Usually, ISTJs feel a strong sense of duty in all areas of their lives. They are dutiful either as employees or civilians. They believe that everyone should focus on fulfilling their duties in order to improve society.

Very Responsible

Investigators are highly responsible. This personality strength helps ISTJs to develop productive career paths and succeed. People with this personality type have great skills in planning and organizing their schedules. Being punctual and committed to their duties, at the workplace, they are usually perceived as extremely responsible people.

As a result of having excellent time management skills, ISTJs always meet deadlines and never forget what they promised. Consistently to their personality, they value responsibility and dedication in others as well.

Calm and Practical

Even if something goes against their plans, Logisticians don’t usually lose their temper. People with ISTJ personalities have a tendency of being calm even in tough situations. This personality quality helps them to solve complex issues without feeling too much stress or anxiety.

They hardly get upset or angry about anything which determines the strong practical skills of ISTJs’. Having a calm nature helps them to be flexible and adaptable and keep a focus on their goals. And practical skills are indeed useful for achieving success.

Create and Enforce Order

ISTJs can’t imagine how to fulfill their goals without having everything planned ahead. Unclear guidelines make them feel confused. To avoid uncertainty and to the best they can, ISTJs have a tendency to create order.

As a result of their judging (J) trait, people with ISTJ personality type enjoy organization either at work or in everyday lives. They need self-made rules to deal with chaos and focus on their goals. Logisticians usually have great skills in planning, organizing, creating rational schedules, and enforcing an order.

Jacks-of-all-trades

Investigators are real jacks of all trades, meaning that they can productively perform various types of work and sometimes, even at the same time. Even though according to studies multitasking has a negative impact on our brain and productivity, ISTJs manage to handle different duties without any errors.

This personality quality helps them to adapt to various challenging situations without feeling emotionally or physically exhausted.

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All ISTJ Weaknesses and Flows You Should Know

In addition to strengths, each MBTI personality has several personality flaws and ISTJ is no exception. Logisticians are believed to be some of the most stubborn people of all 16 personalities.

They have trouble identifying others’ feelings and tend to blame others for no reason. In this section, we will focus on the most common weaknesses of ISTJs’.

List of 5 weaknesses of ISTJ personality:

Stubborn
Insensitive
Always by the book
Judgmental
Often unreasonably blame themselves

Stubborn

Logistics are resistant to change. Even when the situation changes and requires innovative solutions to new problems, ISTJs refuse to adapt to a new course of action. Therefore, they seem like inflexible and rigid individuals in most situations.

As a result of stubbornness, people with ISTJ personalities rarely admit that they were wrong and refuse to ask for help even when they need it.

Insensitive

Just like most personality types with the thinking (T) traits, ISTJs are rather insensitive. They have trouble identifying others’ emotions during communication and understanding how others feel. Moreover, they hardly express their own feelings.

Lack of empathy makes them look like insensitive people who don’t care about others’ feelings. However, sometimes they try hard to take emotions into consideration.

Always by the Book

Organizing things in advance and developing certain plans usually helps ISTJs to achieve their goals but the problem is that sometimes they are too focused on the rules.

Unfortunately, Investigators often forget that the environment changes at a rapid pace, and adapting to new rules and new situations is vital for surviving. Instead, they strictly follow already existing rules. Doing everything by the book represents a serious problem in ISTJ career paths.

Judgmental

ISTJs hate when somebody disagrees with them. They believe that all their thoughts and opinions are completely right and people should follow their orders. However, the reality is different.

As a result, ISTJs often judge people who disagree with them and find it hard to accept different opinions. This personality flow can be very disturbing in social relationships.

Often Unreasonably Blame Themselves

Investigators tend to be judgmental not only towards other people but towards themselves as well. The reason is their perfectionism. They try to put all their effort into doing their best but when they fail, they blame themselves unreasonably.

People with ISTJ personality type often forget that things don’t always go the way we plan them. Instead of accepting the facts, they blame themselves which harms their self-esteem. And as studies prove, reduced self-esteem has a negative impact on overall well-being.

ISTJ Growth and Development

Achieving success in ISTJ career paths strongly depends on using the full potential. In order to develop their skills and grow professionally, ISTJs should focus on their strengths and deal with weaknesses. Below we will provide some tips for ISTJs about maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses.

How to Boost and Maximize ISTJ’s Strengths & Advantages

Understanding personality strengths will help ISTJs take advantage of available opportunities and make the most of them. That’s why they should recognize how their characteristics are represented in everyday interactions.

Here are some tips for ISTJs to boost their personality strengths:

Try to combine your rational thinking skills with an ability to create and enforce order. You should use innovative ideas while setting plans to avoid rigidity.
Question your rules. Certain rules can help you solve some problems but each problem requires a unique perspective. Try to maintain a more flexible attitude towards everyday problems.
Use your interest in social structure to get more involved in social relationships. Even though you prefer working alone, sometimes understanding others’ perspectives and opinions can be helpful for you to thrive.

How to Minimize and Deal with ISTJ’s Weaknesses

Even though boosting personality strengths can help ISTJs achieve their goals, it’s not enough. In order to use their full potential, they should also take care of their weaknesses and work on them to reduce the likelihood of failures.

Having successful relationships requires being aware of the feelings of people around you. But first, you need to get in touch with your own emotions. Expressing your own feelings will help you to deepen relationships and feel better.
Try to accept the fact that each individual has their point of view. Clear communication doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody should agree with you. Avoid judging people even if you’re certain that their opinions are wrong.
Don’t set overly idealistic goals. Take time instead because sometimes achieving goals need plenty of time. Try to use your failures to grow even more and learn from your mistakes instead of blaming yourself for failures.

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ISTJ Strengths And Weaknesses F.A.Q

What are the weaknesses of ISTJ?

Stubbornness is indeed the major weakness of ISTJs. They are rigid and inflexible people who have dogmatized attitudes and refuse to change, even when they realize something about their way of thinking isn’t right.

Another major flaw of ISTJs is the difficulty to start communications. They don’t know how others may react to their words. They just say everything directly and hurt people as a result. That’s why people think that ISTJs lack proper communication skills.

What are ISTJs good at?

ISTJs are good at performing tasks in a strictly organized environment. They are practical individuals who enjoy working with technical things, using facts instead of abstract information, and creating data-oriented solutions.

If they have a fixed schedule, they can easily manage to achieve their goals. Therefore, they are good at doing things that require order and organization. Besides, they’re good at teamwork too, if the team is working with a fixed plan.

What do ISTJs not like?

ISTJs don’t like it when someone slows down their progress by intruding on their plans and changing them. They hate it when they have to change their plans, as they are rigid and can’t adapt to new challenges quickly.

Besides, due to the fact that they have fixed attitudes and beliefs, they can’t bear it when someone tries to convince them that their way of thinking is wrong. If this happens, ISTJs get overly stubborn and sometimes even act rudely in order to defend their morals.

Are ISTJs negative?

ISTJs are often considered negative personalities, but that doesn’t mean that they’re always negative. Similar to other personality types, they have their own strengths and weaknesses.

The reason why people think of ISTJs as having negative personalities is that they’re extremely rigid, inflexible, and stubborn. They don’t really care about others’ feelings and protect their own beliefs at all costs. However, ISTJs also has several strengths, such as being loyal and organized.

What makes an ISTJ happy?

Performing ambitious tasks is something that makes ISTJs happy. They enjoy creating structures to do their tasks, and whenever they achieve a goal, they immediately feel satisfied.

Unlike most personalities who feel happy only after they get the desired results, ISTJs find the process of doing something worthwhile very exciting. They’re completely involved in the process. Besides, ISTJs can be happy in their social relationships too. However, it’s only when people are loyal and show dedication to their relationships with ISTJs.

Are ISTJs critical?

Yes, ISTJs are very judgmental and critical people. It’s mainly due to their judging (J) personality trait. This trait indicates that ISTJs feel natural only in an organized and structured environment.

And if someone disturbs this order, they become extremely critical. Besides, ISTJs tend to criticize everyone who expresses different beliefs or attitudes. They believe that the way they think about the world is the only right way. As a result, they never hesitate to judge other people and upset them.