A Me Manual
A playbook for how we can best work together.
Overview
A good starting point for understanding my personality would be my Myers-Briggs typology: INFP. Here's a self-reflection of what makes me Me.
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Introverted (I) - Contrary to the popular notion of introversion, I deeply value building and maintaining relationships. I enjoy social interactions that are personal (1:1 or small, intimate groups) and honest (raw conversations). Engaging in conversations that are surface-level and transactional becomes mentally draining for me. I can effortlessly engage in conversations where psychological safety has been established.
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Intuitive (N) - Similar to how I approach communication and relationships, I like to dive deep and deconstruct the problems at hand. Expanding the context of what I'm dealing with is incredibly important for how I work.
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Feeling (F) - I gravitate to the prospect of pursuing the ideal outcome, which may not always be practical because we live in a world with constraints. Over the years, I've learned to balance out this aspect of my decision-making by grounding it with more data-driven approaches: research, testing, etc. My best works come from collaborating with others who value my ideas and augment them with a more observant perspective.
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Prospecting (P) - I like to run fast and consider all options. Although I like planning to give myself a parameter, I value flexibility more because plans break. At times I get overwhelmed and lost going fast, but my superpower is connecting the dots in the end and coming up with tangible results.
Playing to my strengths
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Lateral Thinking - I thrive with variety and ambiguity because I connect the dots between little learnings for big outcomes.
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Analytical - Although opposite of my intuitive nature, I've honed in on the concept of data-driven creativity to produce more impactful results.
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Empathetic - I listen and deeply care about what someone is saying, which is how I build trust and relationships with people.
My potential pitfalls
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Processing Time - I deeply evaluate every option to solve a problem and pivot if there's a more optimal solution, which can slow down decision-making.
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Overextension - Sometimes, I overestimate my abilities and make commitments beyond my bandwidth, resulting in burnout.
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Perfectionism - I am never satisfied with good enough, so I need to constantly remind myself that sometimes good enough is enough and keep things moving.
How I think
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Heuristics - Because I like to evaluate all options, I rely on heuristics/past learnings to speed up the process.
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Contextual - Knowing the full extent of a problem is essential because I need to understand where my contributions lie in the bigger picture.
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Dynamic - I leverage perspectives from different disciplines and learnings from changing environments when problem-solving.
How I work
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Internal Thinking - I like to absorb and think about problems internally before engaging in larger discussions.
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Elaborate + Indirect - My communication style provides a full context in what I'm saying while considering the recipient's feelings.