How to Improve at Typing Others
The Ancient Greek Secret to Unlock Your Insight.
The issue of accurately analyzing another’s personality type is the primary objection to the validity of most personality theories. How do you know my type? That isn’t real! How is this different from a horoscope?
It will continue to be an obstacle that blocks new people from adopting the theory and existing adopters from going deeper in understanding it.
For us, the challenge of applying typing skills can break our confidence in the reliability of a personality system. The central issue remains the same: Can we apply personality theory to accurately understand ourselves and others?
Reality, however, reveals a hard truth: typing is hard. It takes time to get good at it. It takes countless hours of practice, trial and error, and experimentation. Many will not embark on this journey because it seems too hard.
But here, we miss something vital. It does take a long time to become great at anything. But it doesn’t take that long for us to become much better than we currently are. A few weeks from now, could you become 30% better? 40%? 50%? 100%? 250%?! How will you know if you aren’t willing to start?
For many reading this, however, this may sound discouraging. “You’re telling me I have to go learn even more!” Perhaps not.
Perhaps you’ve poured hours into upgrading your knowledge of how the functions and interaction styles manifest themselves in others. This article is especially for you. And for those who are new, perhaps you’re just getting your feet wet with the language of the personality types; the tool we will discuss can become your greatest ally in your journey.
So, if more knowledge and education isn’t the answer to “What is the greatest skill in typing others?”, what is? Sight.
Aporia and the Art of Seeing Clearly
Can you see clearly?
There is a paradox at the heart of many truths. Socrates provided an iconic paradoxical maxim that shows us the way to see clearly: “All I know is that I know nothing.”
At first glance, this quote seems silly -- even absurd. Of course, Socrates knew things! But, apart from being coy — as Socrates was prone to do — the quote lingers deep in our minds, burning like a smoldering coal. Could it be true? Could it be true that understanding requires us to confront our ignorance?
The benefit of embracing a state of uncertainty was an insight from the ancient Greeks. They termed it “aporia”. Recounting his teacher’s methods, Plato shows us Socrates as consistently asking, investigating, and digging into the assumptions of others.
In the end, most of his debaters inevitably succumbed to a state of perplexity. They couldn’t be certain about their beliefs because the truth of them was no longer unquestionable.
This is the art of aporia: to embrace perplexedness as a gift.
Aporia emerges when our presumptions are stripped from us. Like a child, we can finally experience something as it is. Have you had a moment where you believed something to be absolutely true and realized it was false?
When we confront how much we don’t know, it humbles us. As humility rises, we become deeply entrenched in the present moment. Like an explorer on new lands, we experience something — a person, in this case — as novel. And where we were ignorant, through exploration, we begin to see. And in our sight, we begin to understand.
Perhaps Socrates was right. We must first embrace not knowing before we can know anything.
Entering Aporia
To type well, we must get comfortable with not knowing what type is sometimes. I can feel when my awareness in a typing session contracts and becomes more dull: when I’m trying to be certain of someone’s type.
Instead, letting go of this need for certainty, I am freed to experience that person as they are. The insights will follow. I must allow myself to be comfortable not knowing; then, I can know.
But, being human, our desire for certainty will be a constant battle. Our minds crave to be certain. We crave this so much that we forget to embrace not knowing.
And here we make costly mistakes. This reality is captured by many of the eastern-inspired philosophers and teachers who advocate for us to return to the present moment. Embracing the fullness of the present moment is an essential quality of aporia.
"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders".
How do we use this philosophy in typing others? We must allow the impressions we get of a person to wash over us. We must allow the analyses of another person — that’s a direct statement; that’s an Ni/Se statement — to wash over us.
These are all inputs — and valuable ones. But as soon as we grab hold of them and desire to possess them, they become binders, not liberators.
We must, as Socrates modeled, consciously reflect on our assumptions and presumptions about a person, and release them. Can you hold your thoughts gently and openly? Can you attune yourself to the essence of the other person?
Perhaps this will only be possible when there is stillness within you. But it is essential to steer into this. Our analysis, without insight, lacks depth.
Some of the most formative typings I’ve done were when I was learning how to type others. Allowing my impressions to form slowly over a couple of years, I gradually improved my awareness of how the types manifest.
I encourage you, especially if you’re struggling with typing others, to embrace the surrender. And in that place of surrendered openness, and permitting yourself to be ignorant, your sight will sharpen.
