INFJ Interests

Bumped. I am still interested in this topic. Maybe some of you that weren't around when it was first posted could sound in here. Thanks!
 
I've thought of myself of a jack (jill) of all trades too - doing fun night courses is something I list in my hobbies.

Do you find though that even if you only pick something up for a while you then have a better appreciation for the whole subject area?

For example I did one term of a woodworking nightclass at a school of art - we had to make a breadboard to learn some basic skills. It was great and really relaxing.

I didn't really ever think/care about wood before hand and don't plan to take it up as a profession but when I see things made of wood now I can appreciate how much time and patience and skill goes into making stuff. I think that's a plus of having lots of interests.

Could it be part of having empathy for lots of different people/things??
 
Questingpoet said:
My interests include a large variety of non-like things, which is not all that uncommon. But what I have noticed I do is often latch onto something very intensely for a short period of time (could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few years), and as I approach being really good at it, I lose interest. As soon as I realize in my mind that I can master something, it loses most or all of its appeal.
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Yes, totally agree. I actually wrote down something along the lines in my intro thread to the forum! I tend to find a topic that interests me and then become intensely involved with it -but for like 2/3 months.. maximum 6 months - in the past, I was into painting, hiking, arts, history of European colonialism, cultural anthropology, particular genres of music and movies....and then grew out of it.. didn't realize others would go through that!

Questingpoet said:
Jack of all trades, master of none?
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what can I say? May be that's an INFJ trait? What do you think? :m075:
 
i also feel myself pulled in the different directions of my various interests and have to kinda reel myself back in to stay focused on the direction i decided on. though i have to say i'm envious of all the abstract hobbies i've read about in this thread d:
 
tashlan said:
I've thought of myself of a jack (jill) of all trades too - doing fun night courses is something I list in my hobbies.

Do you find though that even if you only pick something up for a while you then have a better appreciation for the whole subject area?

Yes, I do find that. I like to be well-rounded, so at least I can have appreciation for many things by being that way.

For example I did one term of a woodworking nightclass at a school of art - we had to make a breadboard to learn some basic skills. It was great and really relaxing.

I didn't really ever think/care about wood before hand and don't plan to take it up as a profession but when I see things made of wood now I can appreciate how much time and patience and skill goes into making stuff. I think that's a plus of having lots of interests.

Could it be part of having empathy for lots of different people/things??
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I've never though of it that way, but that could be it for some of us.


Ibtisam said:
Yes, totally agree. I actually wrote down something along the lines in my intro thread to the forum! I tend to find a topic that interests me and then become intensely involved with it -but for like 2/3 months.. maximum 6 months - in the past, I was into painting, hiking, arts, history of European colonialism, cultural anthropology, particular genres of music and movies....and then grew out of it.. didn't realize others would go through that!


Yes, I remember reading that. I have done that all my life. I used to thing I just couldn't sitck with anything. Now I see it as more like I have too many interests and need to move on once I get to a certain point.


what can I say? May be that's an INFJ trait? What do you think? :m075:
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I do indeed think it is an INFJ trait, which is why I made the thread. I was interested to get others opinions on the whole subject though. What do others thing here (non-INFJ)?


bagelriffic said:
i also feel myself pulled in the different directions of my various interests and have to kinda reel myself back in to stay focused on the direction i decided on. though i have to say i'm envious of all the abstract hobbies i've read about in this thread d:
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You have at least one my friend. You write a mean poem!
 
I am curious and I like to learn.
Then I take what I've learned and see how it fits in my world and the larger world as a whole. And yes - I'd say once I intuit "it" - I then move on to another topic. I've noticed my dabbles in all sorts of things have helped me interact with a broad range of people.
 
Questingpoet said:
I noticed a tendancy a long time ago in myself regarding my interests and hobbies, and wondered if anyone else has noticed the same thing in themselves. My interests include a large variety of non-like things, which is not all that uncommon. But what I have noticed I do is often latch onto something very intensely for a short period of time (could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few years), and as I approach being really good at it, I lose interest. As soon as I realize in my mind that I can master something, it loses most or all of its appeal.

I have suceeded at pretty much anything I have thrown my mind at 100%. Collecting, music, writing, cooking, pool, college (when I finally got serious). The only things that really hold my interest are the very creative things--and even those interests wax and wane. I go through intense creative bursts, then nothing for a while. That is the nature of creativity sometimes, so it's understandable. But all the other things, I've never understood it. Jack of all trades, master of none?
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I completely relate to this QP. I lose interest very fast. I enjoy the initial challenge and excitement of new things, but once I "settle into it" I become disinterested very quickly. I find that because of this I have an exceptionally wide range of interests, but none that I really follow through on to the finish.

This goes for all things artistic:drawing, painting, photography, scrapbooking, etc. This also happened to me with playing the piano and for writing as well. I get really inspired and excited, and then suddenly I just put it on the backburner and it's not until months or sometimes years later that I'll want to take another crack at it.

The only thing I can seem to follow through on as far as my interests is reading. I just can't leave a book unfinished.
 
I frequently need to encourage and convince myself to have hobbies, and care about things, and to pretty much do anything that doesn't benefit me directly. I'm not sure if this says something about me. I've been this way since I was a kid, I always quit everything I do, because I just stop caring. I feel like right now if I could come up with a goal, hobby or interest that I truly found enjoying, and non stressful, that actually served a purpose it would be very beneficial to me, but I just can't seem to come up with anything that fits the bill.

I find art, poetry and reading fiction books all insanely unsatisfying and pointless. I am not into sports, and people seem to be more of a dissapointment than anything. I have spent the last couple months obsessively shopping, and forcing m to watch movies (when I'm not working) because I just have nothing better to do. I kind of like the idea of starting a blog, but frankly don't have anything that interesting to say. I feel like I almost always need some "project" in life, I always have an agenda in the back of my mind, and I'm always looking for something new to work on and improve. Maybe I'm losing my infj-ness, because I also don't care about volunteering or helping other people anymore, unless I'm in the mood, I'm just so sick of having to feel sorry for everyone and make excuses for them.........I also sometimes complusovely decorate, but I consider this the one thing I've always been most passionate about, I guess I'm very visual. Hmmmm......I know I need to find new hobbies, today I was trying to think of new ways to entertain myself, and enjoy my time. I developed the idea to maybe hold a monthly or bi-weekly sunday brunch at my house. Lovely people would be invited, and we would feast on pastries and drink tea, and discuss world issues, and other marvelous and interesting things. Then I realized my house is a shithole (exagerrating) and that I don't really have anyone to invite. If I still talked to any of my "friends" I think I would really get a kick out of hosting little get togethers, and bbqs, not sure if others would, but I would consider that somewhat of a hobby. In the last year or so, since I discovered mbti I was very interested in psychology and read many books, but now I feel I've come as far with that as I care to and my interest is waining. Those are my interest/hobbies.
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My curiosity is TITANIC in size. When I list my interests I always get so frustrated because I run out of paper, or I hate putting it on paper to boot because I cant tell you how many I have... I am interested in all of it.

Every facet of reality I find intriguing, finding meaning and seeing how it has weaved itself into the 3rd dimension, our social structure, my personal feelings, so many levels. I want to know everything and thats my greatest regret about mortality. I wont ever have enough time.

I wonder if I can become a Lich.
 
Kinda feels like I'm learning something just to get the basics down. I'm still pretty damn good with throwing knives though, am out of practice so probably couldn't be a carnie or anything like that. There really are too many things to list here, but I've taken up a number of hobbies and studied a multitude of different subjects in my life.
 
I've been interested in lots of things, but I've never really been able to have a real hobby since I've never had the money to pursue my interests to the fullest.
The things I've been interested in are all over the map.
Science and social sciences were big interests for me, since they explained how the world works, but also inspired my imagination. My grandparents have a lot of science books about basically everything, from astronomy to biology to basic physics and chemistry. I had a kids' encyclopedia collection that was in print from 1968 to 1981 that had books with titles like "Look and Learn" "The Puzzle Book" "The Bug Book" "Places to Know" "How We Get Things" etc. I read each of them countless times, especially "World and Space", just soaking up information. They put everything in a human perspective, and covered basically everything I could want to know. INFJ heaven, I guess. I also went through a big Roald Dahl phase in elementary school, since I loved how dark but immensely imaginative his stories were. I loved both fiction and non fiction.

With art, I keep having phases too. I have inspiration for photography for a while, then drawing, then painting, then computer graphics, then poetry, then writing fiction etc. but none of these last too long. Usually around a month.
I've also had hobbies in music genres/ history, music video making, cooking, scrapbooking, board game making and collecting, as well as more unusual stuff like mapmaking, tv show collecting, power point and game music.

I've noticed that everything I've been interested in is full of variety and is limitless and theoretical, with room for change and investigation. Also, all of my hobbies and interests are eclectic, and over time I develop specific and unusual tastes and a wealth of knowledge on a subject.
 
Did Road dahl write the childrens book "the twits" ? I believe my mom still has a copy.

Its funny last night when writing this I said I had no interest in art. But I spent a couple hours this morning, then thinking about how I would like to learn how to paint. So thank you to whoever started this thread, because it really got me thinking. I realized I wanted to paint, because I figured it was not pointless, because I think I could get life-long use out of it. I've decided I really want to make a hobby of taking old pieces of furniture and either re-finishing, or re-uplhulstering them. I've already dabbled in this a bit, but would like to improve. I really enjoy it, because it would add to my love of decorating. I love to decorate because its fun and creative, I can plan, and who doesn't want to live in an attractive enviroment? So I see it as worthwhile too. I really want to paint because, I would like to find old beat-up dressers, and tables and such, and re-paint them. Doing some in a elegant, antiqued style, and some just crazy and wierd. Totally funky, and then just see if I can give them away, or sell them for enough $ to cover my expenses. I would also get really cool knobs to co-ordinate with my crazy motifs. For one, I already know that I would like to do one, green and purple, and paint a peacock somewhere on it, and have the big grand, leafy beautiful tale, spanning out over much of the dresser. Getting really gorgeous jewel toned knobs to co-ordinate. I may even include, small, but tasteful little rhinestones, for embellishment. Not something I'd want in my adult bedroom, but funky and I think maybe someone could appreciate it, (teeanager?) I also want to do one of a las vegas skyline.....dice knobs?? But anyways, I will need to learn to paint to do this, so we'll see. Also I'd love to learn how to uphulster furniture, so I can vamp up any room for cheap, I love the idea, and the challenge of decorating much of a house, using re-furbished and unique materials. So thanks OP, you got me going.
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I've had so many interests, I've lost count to be honest. The ones that stand out are musical (I play guitar), writing and an of assortment of other artistic things.

The problem with any of these is that the moments are fleeting. There are some days where I'm a prolific writer but the next day, week or month my mind goes blank and instead, it starts to focus on one of these other areas.

I've played guitar for more than half my life but never fully devoted myself to "living it". Now I look at others out there are get discouraged (Steve Howe, Alex Lifeson, Steve Vai, etc.) then I don't touch it for a few days.

Every form of art I seem to pursue is usually very hit or miss. If I'm in the mood, I can create some great looking pieces/drawings, etc. If I'm not in the mood, it looks like crap, if I even allow myself to finish one.

I wish I had more follow-through, but if I lose interest, I completely, 100% lose all interest. A month later I might go back to it again and pick it up for a little while until the cycle repeats itself. It almost feels like a form of schizophrenia, only I'm fully aware and conscious of it.
 
I've been very lucky to have developed a lot of hobbies during my life. I've played guitar for 41 years, in several bands that played professionally. I read voraciously... history, nonfiction, technical stuff like physics, psychology, cosmology, and have been a sports buff all my life. I've collected sports memorabilia, coins, books, records and CDs, and autographs of famous people. I'm a frustrated football and baseball coach, and have played tournament chess. My idea of playing guitar is putting on a CD and noodling along with what I hear. I love educational TV, writing of all kinds, and am an avid Amateur Radio operator having worked people in 215 some countries. My favorite mode is morse code, where I can easily send and copy 40 words per minute. I enjoy books on the occult and esoteric sciences and have read somewhere around 100 books on UFOs and many books on Astrology. I've done a couple hundred charts and my strength is chart interpretation. Being disabled, I have plenty of time to pick and choose from whatever I want to pursue at any given point in time. I love it!
 
I know that I'm most interested in process, the place in between. I love anything that's learning, or creative. I get the biggest kick out of the part where your going .... oooh, that's interesting!, finding the answers or "mastering" things sorta just closes all that down.. It's a bit iike being told the punch line of a joke, or the end of a movie or a story. Once you know the ending or your finished learning, you can only enjoy it in retrospect. Does that make sense?
 
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I know that I'm most interested in process, the place in between. I get the biggest kick out of the part where your going .... oooh, that's interesting!, finding the answers or "mastering" things sorta just closes all that down..
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I think I'm like that too... With my hobbies and my life process. It's not about what i'm trying to do... it's about the process.

Hobbies: reading, knitting, exercise, painting, learning, typography.

All of these things are difficult to master and I enjoy them.
 
Questingpoet said:
Jack of all trades, master of none?
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Yep, describes me perfectly.

I can repair computers, program in five different software languages, do taxes, operate quick books, prepare unaudited financial statements, cook without following recipes, design and implement investment strategies, and build games in neverwinter nights.

Building games in neverwinter nights is the one thing I am a master of, but I could never get a job doing it.

The rest of the stuff I am mediocre at. I have an associates degree in accounting and will have a bachelors this fall, but really, I lost interest in it a while ago. I just stuck with it because I need a job somehow, somewhere.
 
Ok, this is the one I really wanted to bump. I saw two others that I ended up bumping too. Does this sound like any of you? Especially interested in the INFJ response here.
 
Black holes.


I realize "Black holes." doesn't really give much detail
or insight so I am now going to elaborate:
I have the same tendencies, to shift my interest to
something else when I start to "master" whatever it
is I am currently focused on. Black holes are really
special for me (this is awkwardly phrased; apologies)
and I feel as though I will never lose interest because
they are something that can never necessarily be mastered.
 
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