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INFP focus on the wrong 8 hours

2124 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Ectoplasm
For many INFPs after the diplomas, a day can be generally broken in to 3 groups of 8 hours: the work 8 hours, the sleep 8 hours and the flexible 8 hours.

The other thing about INFPs is that we have an idealized version of how we want our life to be and the kind of person we want to be. Also, it seems that INFPs generally value relationships, their art, etc. more than they value work.

So here's what I don't get? Why does it seem that INFPs focus on, complain about WORK. There are threads about not wanting some McJob, threads about the right college career, threads about the ideal job where INFPs would be valued. It seems INFPs are preoccupied about making the work 8 hours ideal when all the things we value fall into the flexible 8 hours.

Why aren't INFPs talking about how to make the flexible 8 hours ideal? We value relationships and some are having difficulty finding that significant other. However, I don't read about any INFPs doing a single hour of reading into what makes relationships work. It's seems like trial and error.

INFPs spend a ton of money and energy for a degree that may or may not make them happy. If something is important, shouldn't trial and error be the last thing we do. If relationships are more important than work, shouldn't we be paying someone to give us a degree in how to have meaningful relationships and use trial and error to find the right work?

What about the other stuff besides relationships that are more important to many INFPs other than work? If the flexible 8 hours are more important than the work 8 hours, shouldn't INFPs try to concentrate on learning how to make those flexible 8 hours as ideal as possible first instead of focusing on how to make the work 8 hours ideal?
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I think INFPs want a choice in how their time is spent! There is nothing worse, to me anyway, than feeling like I'm trapped doing something I hate for 9 hours a day. I honestly spend way more of my work day doing things other than working than I should. I rush through my work (though I do a thorough job) and then get to thinking and scheming and researching whatever I'm interested in that day. It's like I work all day, but for my own company that does not pay me. My mind has to be occupied and work doesn't do it for me!

Those 8 free hours, you have a choice to do whatever you wish with them. The 8 "prison" hours are ones you spend doing something meaningless to earn a paycheck. I want those 8 hours to be meaningful! That's why I'm going back to school soon to become an archivist or historian - because I sit at work researching history and genealogy all day just because I want to. I'm hoping that if I get a job in the field and I have to do it, it will still have the same level of enjoyment and wonder for me that my own research does.
According to careerplanner.com, An INFPs job must offer meaning and value and it must be fun. I definitely identify with this!
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