This was all for real. Confusion, like bony fingers gripped me with a vice-like grip, and panic rushed through my cells. What is happening? Why am I here? Endless questions raced through my mind as I struggled to understand the situation. I attempted to move, but my legs refused, as if being tied to a gigantic boulder of fear. At this moment, a part of me wanted to surrender myself to this omnipotent fear and retreat away from it, yet another part desired to tackle this head-on and restore colours and emotions back into this dimension. Before I could make my decision, a shimmer of bright light blinded me momentarily. As I regained my vision, a beautiful angel emerged before my eyes. She had emerald green eyes, skin as smooth as silk, and a pair of elegant wings. Before I could appreciate her beauty any further, she cut short my thoughts by explaining the dire situation. It seems that a terrible heinous lord had just kidnapped the Colour angels, and thereby plummeting the world into a grey, emotionless sphere. The only way to restore these colours was to annihilate this vile lord, and to release the Colour angels, and I was specifically chosen for this task.
Reaching deep into her cloak, the angel drew out a sword and offered her blessings. Summoning every ounce of courage left in me, I accepted the sword and swore that I would confront this maleficent warlord and not succumb to his sinful acts of wrath. I would not bear with this angony any longer. Without wasting another second, I swiftly made my way to the lair of this warlord. What hell awaited me there? I could only guess.
assassin revealed his position and let loose a mocking laughter, teasing my inability. When he let loose his last shurikens, I thought that my mission was over, and death would soon claim my pitiful soul. Painful memories of my family,friends and the angel appeared before me, haunting my existence. I failed my mission. I failed them all. And most importantly, I failed to restore colours back to this world. Because of my incompetence, I actually allowed evil to triump over the good. No! No way! I swore that I would not allow this to happen. Twisting my body into a unnatural position, I squeezed through the path of the shurikens. Closing the distance between us, I hastily drew my sword as I prepare to claim his head. The assassin, sensing my newly discovered strength, geared himself up with a dagger and a intimidating set of knuckleduster for the duel. As he slipped the last knuckleduster into place, I leapt into the air, hurriedly swinging a blow at his shoulders with all my might. However, the assassin was highly skilled, and that hasty attack was not sterling enough to scratch him.
To outsiders, INTJs may appear to project an aura of "definiteness", of self-confidence. This self-confidence, sometimes mistaken for simple arrogance by the less decisive, is actually of a very specific rather than a general nature; its source lies in the specialized knowledge systems that most INTJs start building at an early age. When it comes to their own areas of expertise -- and INTJs can have several -- they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don't know.
INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. What prevents them from becoming chronically bogged down in this pursuit of perfection is the pragmatism so characteristic of the type: INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake.
INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. Whatever system an INTJ happens to be working on is for them the equivalent of a moral cause to an INFJ; both perfectionism and disregard for authority may come into play, as INTJs can be unsparing of both themselves and the others on the project. Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers. On the other hand, they do tend to be scrupulous and even-handed about recognizing the individual contributions that have gone into a project, and have a gift for seizing opportunities which others might not even notice.
In the broadest terms, what INTJs "do" tends to be what they "know". Typical INTJ career choices are in the sciences and engineering, but they can be found wherever a combination of intellect and incisiveness are required (e.g., law, some areas of academia). INTJs can rise to management positions when they are willing to invest time in marketing their abilities as well as enhancing them, and (whether for the sake of ambition or the desire for privacy) many also find it useful to learn to simulate some degree of surface conformism in order to mask their inherent unconventionality.
Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.
This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Fs -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.
Probably the strongest INTJ assets in the interpersonal area are their intuitive abilities and their willingness to "work at" a relationship. Although as Ts they do not always have the kind of natural empathy that many Fs do, the Intuitive function can often act as a good substitute by synthesizing the probable meanings behind such things as tone of voice, turn of phrase, and facial expression. This ability can then be honed and directed by consistent, repeated efforts to understand and support those they care about, and those relationships which ultimately do become established with an INTJ tend to be characterized by their robustness, stability, and good communications.
