Such a combination of preferences keeps the INTP caught up in the paradoxical goal of always trying to make a coherent whole out of an endlessly proliferating amount of data. Whether it's an article, drawing, a plan, scheme, thought, or theory, the INTP struggles to fit all its pieces together into a complete picture that keeps expanding with the continual discovery of new pieces. As a result, all thoughts, ideas, and plans, however final they seem, are subject to last-minute changes when "new data," from either internal or external influences, become available. This is very exciting to INTP's and very frustrating to others, especially those with a preference for Judging.
To arrive at what seems like perfection, only to have it challenged by a new insight, is at once exciting and challenging to INTPs. As a result, they are their own greatest critics and pride themselves on being the first to knock down their own theories or correct themselves with a better word or improved idea. The quest for flawlessness, cleverness, competency, conceptual perfection, and self-mastery is a driving force for INTPs. When maximized, however, these goals can become tiresome, self-punishing liabilities.