My brother is an entrepreneur, and on his business facebook page, he asked his followers to go to
16personalities.com. Now, I have taken Myers-Briggs personality tests before, and I have always gotten one of two results: INFJ or ISFJ. I always straddle the line between an IN and an IS. I decided to go ahead and take this test on my brother’s request, though, and see how accurate I felt like this new website was.
The test, itself, was painless and relatively quick. I didn’t clock myself, but the website says it should only take about 12 minutes to get through the test.INFP-A It asks you a bunch of questions with varying degrees of how much you agree or disagree with the statement or question. At the end, I got a result I’ve never gotten before: INFP-A. The "-A" is new for me. I’ve never seen that on a personality test before. Apparently, it means "assertive". Maybe. Once you’ve taken the test, though, it breaks down your entire life. It tells you who you are as a person, in romantic relationships, as a parent, as a friend, or even what kinds of careers you are drawn to. The careers part is what I want to focus on in this post.
I’ll start by letting you read what this website says about people with my personality type:
"It is perhaps more challenging for INFPs to find a satisfying career than any other type. Though intelligent, the regimented learning style of most schools makes long years earning an advanced degree a formidable undertaking for people with the INFP personality type – at the same time, that’s often what’s needed to advance in a field that rings true for them. INFPs often wish that they could just be, doing what they love without the stress and rigor of professional life.
"Oftentimes, as with so many things, the answer lies somewhere in the middle, in a line of work that begins with passion and dedication, but which comes to require training so that the academia feels intimately linked to that passion. Too many INFPs drift in frustration, ultimately succumbing to the necessities of day-to-day life in a job that wasn’t meant for them. But it turns out that, despite such exacting demands, modern economics places a premium on the very keys to INFPs’ challenges: their creativity, independence, and need for meaningful relationships with individuals who need their help."
This was just the introduction to the career section, but it struck a chord with me. I have always struggled with finding my place in the world. I am constantly daydreaming about working a job that I love and getting paid just to do that thing. And, the second paragraph sort of confirms what I had already begun to lean towards anyway - I need to be pursuing my passions: scuba diving.
I finished my B.S. in Digital Cinematography from Full Sail University, and I loved the entire program. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, but I still loved the program. I thought I was going to be learning how to edit videos and a little bit about cinematography and lighting. The "little bit about cinematography and lighting" was definitely part of the curriculum; learning how to edit wasn’t really. We were given some editing software - Final Cut Pro X and Premier Pro CS6 - but, we weren’t taught any of the "good" stuff like AfterEffects, for instance. That was the stuff I really wanted to know. The program’s unwritten goal: create film directors, not cinematographers.
So, now that I’m a college graduate, what do I do with it? Do I apply for jobs at news stations? Do I go freelance and live as a starving artist? Do I go indi film maker and also live as a starving artist? (Keep in mind that I’m married and I have two young kids to love on and provide for.) I don’t know.
I am currently employed full-time by an employer I don’t really relate to anymore. I am doing a job that I don’t enjoy. I have to meet deadlines and requirements that I don’t appreciate. It does offer challenges that engage me from time to time, so that’s good. It also provides for the kind of lifestyle my wife and I would prefer to afford...sort of.
What I really want is something more like this:
Basically, the ocean and the water are an integral part of who I am at the deepest part of my core. So, the question for me becomes, how can I take my degree and my passion and merge them to create a career for myself? I have a couple of ideas. It’ll take more than just me, though. For starters, I need at least one other person to dive with. Diving is fun, but not nearly as fun as when you’re doing it with someone you know and whose company you enjoy. Also, it’s just not safe to dive alone. There are too many variables and too many things that could go wrong. I am currently Rescue Dive certified through PADI. I feel like I know what I’m doing, but there is so much I have yet to learn and experience.
Regardless, yes, I am a dreamer and yes, at 30+ years old, I have a really tough time figuring out what I want to do when I "grow up". I want to be an example of responsibility for my kids, but I also want to be an example of someone who follows their passions so that they know that it’s okay to take a chance and assume some risk in life. I think that’s important. It’s scary, but it’s important.
So, let me ask you - if any of you are divers, how many of you would be interested in seeing video reviews of dive spots in the U.S.? I would need to start doing it regionally due to my available resources (i.e. sticking to the southeast region of the U.S. to start), but if I started getting a following of any sort, I could branch out to further locations.
What are your thoughts?