7 Reasons Typology Can Improve Your Life in 2021

It’s no secret that personality quizzes are fun. Whether you’re taking a Buzzfeed “Which Marvel Character Are You?” test or buckling down for a psychological Jungian-style test, we all want to know who we are. Sharpening our sense of identity can help us to navigate the world with a clearer sense of purpose. Or it can just lead to some amusing ego-boosting. I mean, we’ve gotta show our Facebook friends that we’re more like Loki than Thor or more like Doberman Pinschers than Poodles!

But what makes Myers-Briggs typology different? Why is this system so crucial in the New Year?

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Why Typology Matters in 2021                                                                                  

Typology Can Increase Your Confidence

Tired of feeling the hot cheeks/sweaty-palm anxiety of feeling like you don’t “fit in” or like you have to pretend to get by in life? No one has time (or energy) for that. Those moments are literally the worst moments in life. When you know about your personality type you can say “Screw it, I don’t care if I fit in. I’m me, and I’m GOOD with that.”

Typology helps you embrace your true identity and rock what you and your unique self bring to the world.

Because You Want and Need “Flow”

Tired of being cooped up in quarantine mindlessly scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and comparing yourself to shinier,”prettier,” richer people? Log off social media and log onto your best self (I  know, I know, that was cheesy). Typology can help you to identify what will get you in flow, where your greatest strengths lie, and how to trigger growth, security, and courage. Typology can help you to stop getting trapped in envy and start embracing authenticity and freedom.

Because We All Need Less Stress

You know which article of mine has generated 2 million, eight-hundred and fifty-nine thousand views? How Each Myers-Briggs® Type Reacts to Stress (and How to Help!). This article isn’t filled with fluffy, feel-good material. It’s really a lot of bullet-points about what each personality type really hates and what really helps them find their chill. Want to help an ESTJ calm down? Don’t try to ask them how they feel or overwhelm them with sympathy. Do something. Clean the kitchen. Make the bed. Let them get some time alone to decompress.

Typology can help you de-stress and help you not knock heads with other people who are stressed.

Because It’s Time to Forgive

Do you still lie awake in bed at night reviewing that embarrassing moment from high school? Do you ever wonder what the heck was wrong with your ex-girlfriend/boyfriend/supervisor who was so brusque and direct it made you squirm? Exploring typology opens your mind to a whole new world of understanding not only of yourself, but other people. Of course you did that thing in high school, you were still growing into your personality! Of course your ex was brusque and direct, they were an ENTJ! Typology can help you let go of bitterness and embarrassment and embrace a more understanding, empathetic view of yourself and others.

Because Romantic Relationships are Confusing (and Typology Can Provide Clarity)

Okay, let’s be clear. Knowing your personality type and hiding out in your basement absorbing lots of information about it isn’t going to spark a bunch of hot dates in your near future (at least it didn’t for me back in 2006 when I discovered it). But if you really dig into the 16 personality types or the 9 enneagram types and figure out what makes them tick you’ll be able to have smoother interactions with each person.

You’ll know that if you’re INTJ date doesn’t call you back right away it probably doesn’t mean they’re disinterested. It just means they’re acting like an INTJ. If an ENFP shows up late to a date, they’re probably just as crazy about you as they were before, they just are an ENFP and time is REALLY fluid to them.

To put it simply, knowing type can help you to stop getting stuck in type-related misunderstandings (which probably make up at least 50% of misunderstandings in romance and relationships). This works out great if you’re conflict-avoidant (like me) or just plain efficient (hi, ESTJs!)

Related: Dating Do’s and Don’ts for Every Myers-Briggs Personality Type

Because You Always Wanted to be a Mind-Reader

You know those, “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?” questions that people ask during icebreaker games? Well, if you know typology well enough, you too can have your own superpower! I don’t know how many times I’ve been describing someone’s type to them and they’ve told me “Wow, this is kind of scary. It’s like you’re reading my mind!”

But before we get carried away with ourselves, I have a responsibility to put some warnings here:

• Don’t tell people you can read their minds. This pisses them off.
• Don’t start telling people about their type until you’re fairly well-versed in typology.
• Most importantly, leave room for individual uniqueness! The world isn’t comprised of 16 identical, robotic individuals replicated across cultures. Every single person is unique.

Knowing typology can help you to understand why certain situations might make someone uncomfortable, why someone is stressed, nervous, or even happy. It can help you to get into the shoes of the people you care about (or don’t) in a much easier and more accurate way.

Because You Need to Cut Yourself Some Slack

Do you ever feel like getting through the day is like running a race with your legs tied together? I know I do. The number of times I’ve felt like I needed to be “more extroverted,” “more sensor,” “more perceiver,” or “more thinker” are more than I can count. For you, it may be different. Maybe you felt like your extroversion was “too much” for people and so you tried to hide your light and bury it under a façade of introversion. Maybe you felt like your perceivery-ness was a fault, without realizing its enormous powers.

If you’re like a lot of people I meet, you’ve spent a great deal of your life trying to replicate someone of a different type. And you can’t figure out why life isn’t easier, even though you’re (metaphorically) running a race with your legs tied up! Cut the rope and learn to walk and run in your own power, according to your own natural preferences. Doing this can help you to have a much more powerful, authentic, and empowered year ahead of you.

Remember, it’s Not a Buzzfeed Test!

The MBTI® wasn’t created on a whim by someone who was a really big fan of Disney characters. The MBTI® has been through scientific analysis and is used by more than 88% of the Fortune 500 Companies. People like to bash on the MBTI® the same way that people like to bash on people who love Christmas decorating. Usually, they don’t really know much about the background of the theory and haven’t bothered to read the books about it. But where you stand on it is for you to decide! If you’ve read this and you’d like to find out more about your type, you can take our free questionnaire or the official MBTI® to get started!

What Are Your Thoughts?

Do you have any insights or thoughts related to what you’ve read here? Let us know in the comments!

Find out more about your personality type in our eBooks, Discovering You: Unlocking the Power of Personality Type,  The INFJ – Understanding the Mystic,  The INFP – Understanding the Dreamer, and The INTJ – Understanding the Strategist. You can also connect with me via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!