Immersion…
It’s the way I learn best. In a highly informal poll of other INFP’s it seems that it is the way most of us learn best.
I’ve been asked many times before. How do you focus like that? Why do you become so consumed by what you are interested in to the exclusion of all else? How is it that you know all this?
I will admit, I am an information glutton. I will gorge myself on everything I can get my hands on if a topic interests me. It is what makes me good at my job in Tech Support. I may not have every answer off the top of my head, but I have a huge base of information to draw corollaries from. Things aren’t quite working right, but this is similar to another problem I’ve had or read about over there somewhere. Allowing a gut faith leap of faith to the solution, I am more often correct than not.
At one time books were my friends. I would read 3 to 6 a week if they were popcorn, perhaps 2 if they were dense texts. Page after page would be consumed stored away, for recall later. In high school I discovered that I had near perfect recall of text on a page, if I could only remember the page number it was on. This talent has since faded with time and disuse. Now I am more likely to pull my information from the net, blogs, websites, feeds.
Books have fallen by the wayside the last 10 years or more in my life. With near instantaneous access to depths of information on obscure topics there is a feast of facts on which to gorge upon. This makes the ready task of information immersion that much easier. Opening the pores to absorb everything that comes your way. Sure there are problems with this. Things aren’t fact checked; you need to be careful as to who your sources are. Still, on this wild web spanning the globe you will find pockets of information, people, who know their subject, willing to accept another into the fold.
I find though that as I’ve grown older I begin to miss the feel, the smell, and the weight of a bound paper book. I blame going back to school, leaving the business degree I had been following and falling into the English program for that. A homecoming of sorts, the feel of paper, the rustle of a turning page, reminding me of a long ago dream.
I had once wanted to be a Renaissance Man, a polymath. One who would have read everything ever published. To have within the gray folds of my brain the sum knowledge of all that had come before. Of course it isn’t practical or even remotely possible anymore. The last men alive that could honestly lay claim to that title would have likely been Milton, perhaps Goethe. The sum of all our knowledge has grown larger than any one person can contain anymore.
Immersion. Diving deep into the well of knowledge, grasping the elusive ideas, facts, knowledge and rocketing to the surface with rare jewels. Correlating barely related things, seeking connections, flashes of insight, understanding.
Perhaps inside many INFP’s want to be Buckaroo Banzii, Rock Star, Brain Surgeon, Race Car Driver, savior of our dimension. After all, it’s all in the books, waiting to be pieced together. Focus learning, immersion, isn’t bad. It’s one of the most beautiful ways to learn things. It feels good to get it, to grasp the concept, to understand when the gray mists are swept clear.
Give it a try if you are passionate about something. You might be surprised at what you can accomplish.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
what parts we play
In my last entry I spoke briefly about school. Even though I’ve had to lay out of class for most of this last year I do still keep up with my school newspaper. This week is their graduation issue.
There has to be a term for the feeling you have looking at a list of names while feeling left behind. Seeing people who you’ve shared coffee, books, discussions, arguments, insight, notes, moving on in their life, their career. I am, and have been, a non-traditional student. I have been in school a long time since going back and it should no longer be a surprise to see people matriculating up the ladder.
It is somehow painful though to feel left behind. Many people go back to school later in life and make it through. I am no different than most. I took too long to find my path in college though. My history is now checkered. Were I to complete my undergrad I would be a bad risk for graduate school. The mythical PhD I finally found that I wanted, is likely now beyond my ability to attain.
It is a sad testament of our culture, our world, that I in tech support, already earn far more than most of my fellow students will ever dream of making as college English Professors. The world’s priorities are all about how can someone make the most money. What has the bigger payoff? What is more practical? The generation of today is being driven in larger and larger numbers into ‘practical’ careers. Yet, our country has increasingly become an economy of service industries.
Who will be our great thinkers, our great writers, and our great artists of the future? One of the most popular books of recent times is constructed for our world of microsecond attention spans. Rapid-fire chapters, often times not even a page long, flitting from scene to scene, character to character. With fodder such as this for our minds, who is challenged to explore for themselves. Characters are cardboard, depth is shallow, entertaining for the moment, but tiring in repetition.
Yes, it is with sadness I look through the school newspaper today. I’m reading the names of my friends who are going on with their dreams. I wish them the best of luck. I’d like to think one day I can follow them, but I don’t know if that will be true. I am starting to feel old, stuck in the system. I’d like to think that the ever-slimmer numbers of English, History, Philosophy, and Art graduates that come out of the universities today will be able to make their mark. I hope that they’ll have their chance to change the world. I hope that perhaps, just perhaps, there is hope out there, and that someone can show the world again that there is more to life than chasing the bottom line.
Perhaps that is the answer in a nutshell. If we can find a way through our own actions to show that there is more to life than chasing the bottom line.
As The Bard once said,
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players…”
Each of us can choose to make a difference…
It all depends on the part we choose to play.
There has to be a term for the feeling you have looking at a list of names while feeling left behind. Seeing people who you’ve shared coffee, books, discussions, arguments, insight, notes, moving on in their life, their career. I am, and have been, a non-traditional student. I have been in school a long time since going back and it should no longer be a surprise to see people matriculating up the ladder.
It is somehow painful though to feel left behind. Many people go back to school later in life and make it through. I am no different than most. I took too long to find my path in college though. My history is now checkered. Were I to complete my undergrad I would be a bad risk for graduate school. The mythical PhD I finally found that I wanted, is likely now beyond my ability to attain.
It is a sad testament of our culture, our world, that I in tech support, already earn far more than most of my fellow students will ever dream of making as college English Professors. The world’s priorities are all about how can someone make the most money. What has the bigger payoff? What is more practical? The generation of today is being driven in larger and larger numbers into ‘practical’ careers. Yet, our country has increasingly become an economy of service industries.
Who will be our great thinkers, our great writers, and our great artists of the future? One of the most popular books of recent times is constructed for our world of microsecond attention spans. Rapid-fire chapters, often times not even a page long, flitting from scene to scene, character to character. With fodder such as this for our minds, who is challenged to explore for themselves. Characters are cardboard, depth is shallow, entertaining for the moment, but tiring in repetition.
Yes, it is with sadness I look through the school newspaper today. I’m reading the names of my friends who are going on with their dreams. I wish them the best of luck. I’d like to think one day I can follow them, but I don’t know if that will be true. I am starting to feel old, stuck in the system. I’d like to think that the ever-slimmer numbers of English, History, Philosophy, and Art graduates that come out of the universities today will be able to make their mark. I hope that they’ll have their chance to change the world. I hope that perhaps, just perhaps, there is hope out there, and that someone can show the world again that there is more to life than chasing the bottom line.
Perhaps that is the answer in a nutshell. If we can find a way through our own actions to show that there is more to life than chasing the bottom line.
As The Bard once said,
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players…”
Each of us can choose to make a difference…
It all depends on the part we choose to play.
Monday, May 7, 2007
thoughts on projects, life, INFP
The problem with being an INFP is that we tend to suffer from the "ooooh! Shiny! I must go do that now!" syndrom. I am very guilty of that. I see a world of oppertunities out there, so many things that are very, VERY interesting to me and I dive deep into them. I'll spend months, sometimes years researching something, pouring over it, learning as much as I can and then something else will attract my attention and I'm off on that tangent.
In some ways this is a good way to be. I have a wide base of knowledge on a LOT of different things. I am a great generalist. It makes me good at what I do for a living in the tech industry because I have such a wide knowledge base I can make the right, gut leap of faith that's required to figure out and solve many problems.
It can, and does, often make for a somewhat less than satisfactory personal life though. At least this INFP has felt many, many times that he can't ever finish anything of importance in the world. I'm a hard worker, you can't question my company loyality or work ethic, yet I cap out in positions and levels due to my 'formal' education level. I have at least three quarters of two or three different four year degrees. Will I ever finish any of them? At this stage in my life I'm not sure.
That's not to say that an INFP can't finish projects, can't accomplish life-time goals. I recently accomplished a rather large one in my life last winter. So there is hope out there. It's a constant struggle though for me. I seem to want to have a lot of irons in the fire, things working in the background, even though that same process leads to frustration and lack of accomplisment.
For me, lately, there is an increasing feeling of internal resistance when starting a new project. I still seem to flip inside my head, one moment I want to do this, another that, but when it comes down to actually starting something in real life I hesitate. That first step to start down a new path is difficult to take now. In some ways this is a good thing. It will tend to keep me more on track, moving deeper into my current projects, my current interests. It helps me focus on movement with a purpose, to not be so scattershot in my life.
What would be my advice to any other INFP's out there? I guess all that I can offer is this....
Try to find what you love and follow those paths. Life is too short.
Whatever you do, don't beat up on yourself for changing horses and running down another path. It's part of who we are, what we do. In the end, you'll find the path whose tracks are worn deepest for you. You'll find the path that keeps calling you back to it, time and time again.
In some ways this is a good way to be. I have a wide base of knowledge on a LOT of different things. I am a great generalist. It makes me good at what I do for a living in the tech industry because I have such a wide knowledge base I can make the right, gut leap of faith that's required to figure out and solve many problems.
It can, and does, often make for a somewhat less than satisfactory personal life though. At least this INFP has felt many, many times that he can't ever finish anything of importance in the world. I'm a hard worker, you can't question my company loyality or work ethic, yet I cap out in positions and levels due to my 'formal' education level. I have at least three quarters of two or three different four year degrees. Will I ever finish any of them? At this stage in my life I'm not sure.
That's not to say that an INFP can't finish projects, can't accomplish life-time goals. I recently accomplished a rather large one in my life last winter. So there is hope out there. It's a constant struggle though for me. I seem to want to have a lot of irons in the fire, things working in the background, even though that same process leads to frustration and lack of accomplisment.
For me, lately, there is an increasing feeling of internal resistance when starting a new project. I still seem to flip inside my head, one moment I want to do this, another that, but when it comes down to actually starting something in real life I hesitate. That first step to start down a new path is difficult to take now. In some ways this is a good thing. It will tend to keep me more on track, moving deeper into my current projects, my current interests. It helps me focus on movement with a purpose, to not be so scattershot in my life.
What would be my advice to any other INFP's out there? I guess all that I can offer is this....
Try to find what you love and follow those paths. Life is too short.
Whatever you do, don't beat up on yourself for changing horses and running down another path. It's part of who we are, what we do. In the end, you'll find the path whose tracks are worn deepest for you. You'll find the path that keeps calling you back to it, time and time again.
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