Slow thinker?

[Creon]

Logic tells me it's not so black and white.

Indeed, it's not.

 

[Onyrica]

As a first time poster in this place, I'm honestly amazed by all the responses in here.

In the first place, I have to say they're all perfectly written and ellaborated and so, so easy to relate to.

It's always been somewhat of a concern for me. I consider myself to be an intelligent person; I like studying, I like learning and I love understanding things. The problem - as everyone else's here - is that I have a hard time grasping long and winded explanations of things I don't have a reference, or previous knowledge, of.

I've analyzed myself to the point of declaring myself a 'classifier'. To understand something I need to see order and 'logic' (by this I mean my own patterns of logic) in what's being said. I need to see things by my own classifications and patterns. Generally, once I've got a classifier in my head, everything related to it directly jumps in there - meaning that I instantly understand anything that makes a reference to something I've already categorized. Personally, I've got an excellent mind for abstract things that most people struggle with.

However, when it comes to other things - mainly numbers, statistics, economics and other systems which work with a logic of their own - I have a very very hard time processing information. Rather, I take my time into creating new categories, new classifiers that can adapt that information to my sense of logic. (Generally, when in a conversation with someone, if they go on about something I do not imediatly grasp, I'll shut down for a second to process the info, order it in my head and then resume listening. Unless I simply get lost at the start, am unable to intake any more data and am only capable of sitting there making a great impression of a poker-faced hollow-headed nut)

So mainly, my problem is the same as everyone's, only that in my instinctive (and often annoying) habit of analyzing and naming things, I've come to blame it on my innane need to keep things ordered and classified. I guess this is mostly due to my natural perfectionism (enhanced by being a Virgo, if anyone believes in that~)

Also, as a last thing: sometimes I find myself in the case where, not having understood an explanation/concept/point (because I've not been able to process it as mentioned yet), I'm capable of forming a correct answer to a question about the subject. It happens often in my statistics class - I'm far behind my colleagues when it comes to understanding, yet most of the time I'm the one coming up with the correct answers to the exercises. Answers I don't even know how I came up with. It's like my mind has actually understood the concept, but is making fun of me by making me think I don't. Or something. Does this happen to anyone else?

Anyway, so much for order and classifications in my post - I probably made a mess of it for my first time here...

Regardless, I'm very glad I've been able to find this forum and the people in it. Really makes me feel so much less 'dense', as I've always felt thanks to this issue... ^^;

 

[fatkattykat]

This happens to me a lot. I have a bad tendency to go off on all sorts of wild tangents, so by the time I get to the point I needed to make, I completely forget.

I would also agree that I am a slow processor. At first, some people think I am stupid because I don't sit there and immediately say "I get it!" when confronted with a new tasks. I ask a lot of questions. But in reality, I tend to be a quicker learner overall because that extra time to process gets me jumping way ahead.

 

[tothemoon]

I would not say that I'm necessarily a slow thinker, more like a slow responder. This same problem is linked to another problem that I have which is skipping over important details, or being overwhelmed by them. If I'm not careful with what I'm doing I tend to rush tasks too much and skip over tid bits of info.

For me this problem is directly related to the constant stream of thoughts, feelings and other things coursing through my brain. It's like I have too many subroutines running at the same time so I don't have as much CPU left over for other programs.


-tothemoon

 

[evalura]

Sometimes if I'm hearing some new info, like if someone's explaining something to me, like something new/I don't know about, it may take me a while to process the info. I find that I have to think about it thoroughly in my head and make sense out of it myself, or think more about what the person was saying for a while and then I will get it, and yea sometimes it does make me look dumb (because the person may be standing there looking at me weird like, "you still don't get it?"). My mind is usually full of a zillion things (maybe that's another reason why this happens to me sometimes; I already have too many things on my mind).

Does anyone also lose their train of thought? Like you would be talking and then forget what you're about to say next? This happens to me once in a while; my mind would go blank and then after some seconds I would remember, and it can be embarassing. I hear this has to do with things like stress and I also think speaking fast (which I know I do sometimes) has to do with it (and I know when I'm experiencing stress of some sort nd my mind is not at peace about somethin I find myself speaking fast), but I don't know if this happens to other INFJs. Do you find yourself losing your train of thought? How often (once in a while, a lot, never?)

I have the same problems at times, I know what you mean. I have a question: when you are writing something, do you screw up much? I have a tendency to have to correct a letter in almost every sentence.

 

[firstjudge]

I have the same problems at times, I know what you mean. I have a question: when you are writing something, do you screw up much? I have a tendency to have to correct a letter in almost every sentence.

I am a very fussy writer. I have to be very careful with my choice and arrangement of words to get my point across and looking through the thesaurus and dictionary to find the right words. I will rewrite sentences over and change words, double checking my grammar and spelling even for something like a simple email reply.

 

[Sithious]

I understand that introverts by nature absorb more information initially and that is why it takes more reflection time to process it.

I think slowly perhaps because there is a great many details my mind is trying to process and distill into its core. I am not able to do quick comebacks socially.

Hmm, quick comebacks falls easy for me.

However I can be rather "slow" in understanding things, and usually I just zone out when somebody tries to explain something

 

[rainrise]

I would not say that I'm necessarily a slow thinker, more like a slow responder. This same problem is linked to another problem that I have which is skipping over important details, or being overwhelmed by them. If I'm not careful with what I'm doing I tend to rush tasks too much and skip over tid bits of info.

For me this problem is directly related to the constant stream of thoughts, feelings and other things coursing through my brain. It's like I have too many subroutines running at the same time so I don't have as much CPU left over for other programs.


-tothemoon

i agree with you

 

[sumone]

That was very well put.

 

[Quest]

I have the same problems at times, I know what you mean. I have a question: when you are writing something, do you screw up much? I have a tendency to have to correct a letter in almost every sentence.

Yes. And it's not even "screwing up" per se, but me sometimes hating the way I write a certain letter(s) or the way it looks, so I'll rewrite it and rewrite it (if I have to) till I'm happy with it. I remember doing this several times in high sch when I had to hand in written assignments. Sometimes I would be writing and would just hate the way my handwriting looks and I would attempt to better it. I don't have a bad handwriting and I'm not even a perfectionist (at least I don't think I am), so I'm not really sure where this stems from. Even now when I'm in class and I'm taking notes, I usually have to write fast and when I make mistakes I usually put a line through it. And then when I get home and I'm rereading those notes, I just get irritated at my writing (if it looks awful to me). I just don't like reading/studying my notes when my handwriting looks jacked up or messy (I just would not be able to focus), so I find the time to rewrite them (even if it's like 3 pgs long) before I can fully concentrate on what I'm reading/studying.