It’s Hard for an Architect (INTJ) to Truly Love Their Work Without…

It’s not uncommon for Architect (INTJ) personalities to take a pragmatic approach to work, committing themselves to their job for transactional reasons more than passion. It’s natural to want to earn rewards like advancement, income, etc. Your personality type is known for embracing opportunities in a rational way, yet you probably take pride in perfecting whatever you’re doing. Architects are great at finding any mentally stimulating elements lurking in otherwise mundane work tasks or goals.

That Architect habit of intellectualizing can also be a sign that you’re trying to summon motivation. It’s not uncommon for Architect personalities to feel disconnected from work that doesn’t stimulate and challenge their minds. There’s nothing wrong with doing a good job at something boring for the sake of paying the bills, but it might not bring you a deeper sense of happiness and satisfaction.

Few people truly love their work itself, even when they’re happy with their job overall. (The litmus test might be, “Would you do it for free?”) That’s okay, and it’s important not to let idealized visions obscure a good thing. Not everything in life is ideal, and gratefulness feels far better than dissatisfaction. Yet your Architect imagination won’t rest, and there’s no harm in considering what it might take to be deeply fulfilled by your work. So, let’s think about that.

A Critical Element for Work Happiness

Architects can be impatient and tend to like directness (I know because I am one), so I’ll flip things here and give the summation before exploring the underlying reasons. Essentially, it’s very unlikely that you as an Architect can find true, deep happiness in work that doesn’t allow you to apply your own ideas in your own way. Emphasis on “your own.” Now, let’s think about why that might be the case for your personality.

It’s a matter of traits, dear Watson. Your Intuitive and Thinking personality traits tend to make you technically creative, always thinking of how a process or practice can be modified for the better. Your version of “better” likely falls somewhere on a spectrum between efficiency and superiority, depending on the situation. Sometimes, you seek optimized productivity with absolutely minimal waste, seeing value in economy. In other cases, you value optimal results, striving to get as close to perfection as possible. Either way, figuring out how to achieve your goal in your own way is part of your personality and, more importantly, your identity.

What does that mean? Well, it means that since you’re an Architect, it’s very likely that your self-image is linked to your performance – conceiving and executing good ideas makes you feel good about yourself. You can certainly take great pride and joy in creating a successful outcome when carrying out a plan that you’re assigned, but that pales in comparison to the feeling of satisfaction that you get from bringing your own ideas to fruition.

Getting What You Need at Work

In most work scenarios, the goals are incumbent to the job and so are many of the methods to achieve them. That can leave you with only half of what you need to be truly happy – you’re encouraged to execute more than conceive. That can still leave room for some creative personal expression, and chances are that you, as an Architect, dive into that space – or even seek to expand it. You’re probably valued as someone with good ideas and love being consulted for your perspective.

But how often are you given free rein to do something as you see fit? The answer to that question might correlate with how happy you can be at work. To achieve a deep, soul-satisfying connection to your work, you probably need a certain number of opportunities to fully pursue your own ideas. How often that needs to happen for you to truly love your work is personal, but if you don’t love your work, you might ask yourself whether it’s because you don’t have enough of that creative freedom.

If you don’t, there’s little choice but to seek it. One way of doing that is to push your work boundaries by sticking to the assigned goals but using your own methods without asking permission to do so. Results speak volumes, and if you’re a rebel who delivers the goods, you might get away with your own creativity, depending on the attitude of your management. Another approach is to persistently seek permission to try your own ideas using logical arguments and reasons to justify your proposed methods. If that works, you could even suggest some new goal proposals.

But changing your circumstances isn’t the only option – you can also practice evolving your internal responses to make room for happiness at work. Deliberately embracing whatever creative outlets your work provides can help them impact you more positively. Savor any chance to exercise your creativity in a mindful way, and throw your unrestrained effort into such opportunities to get the most satisfaction from them that you possibly can. And when you’re successful, take a lot of time to enjoy it before looking ahead to the next opportunity (as Architect personalities tend to do).

Conclusion: Molding Your Work Life

You might not need a deeply satisfying connection to your work to have a very happy, successful life. It’s a nice option to envision, but good enough can also be good enough when it comes to your job satisfaction. Only you can decide for yourself what you need, whether it’s more on the idealistic or pragmatic end of the spectrum. Yet, the best decisions are informed ones, so awareness is key to your happiness.

So pay attention to how you feel about your work, and consider what you might need to be truly happy, whether it’s more creative opportunities or something else. Chances are you can create the work life that you want in the same Architect-y way you achieve any goal – with rational thought, detailed imagination, and focused effort.

A Critical Element for Work Happiness

Getting What You Need at Work

Conclusion: Molding Your Work Life

Further Reading