Oft times, it’s assumed that INTJs can’t procrastinate, that they are always uniquely productive. However, just like anybody else, they are perfectly capable of being useless. Efficient work-style is not always inherent, and can be influenced by environment, childhood socialisation, mental states and addictions.
Many INTJs are expressly efficient, while other INTJs struggle to keep a schedule or motivate themselves to get things done.
Well-rounded INTJs understand what their limits are and are usually disciplined enough to fulfil their tasks on schedule.Their introverted intuitive function (Ni) and extraverted thinking function (Te), when well developed will automatically prioritise, strategically plan and carry out tasks meticulously.
Whenever I’m not bored with school, I am the most productive person on the planet. Kidding, I take that back. Whenever I’m not bored with school, I am the second most productive person on the planet –beaten by my ESTJ mother. Dominant Te always wins at getting things done. Dominant Ni wins at getting it done right.
Let’s discuss how procrastination manifests in the INTJ cognitive functions, shall we?
Dominant Introverted Intuition (Ni):
INTJs often get distracted by the theoretical world inside their heads, and depending on how developed the introverted intuition function (Ni) is, we can even forget the real world exists temporarily. INTJs often subconsciously prioritise their theories and problem solving games above tasks that they consider menial, like school or spending time with people.
I’ve been known to zone out for hours, forget what day it is and what my schedule is because I was lying on the couch theorising about time travel or human morality.
Ni also has some obsessive tendencies, and if not tamed, this can result in INTJs getting very distracted from the task at hand because they’d rather devote time to whatever the heck they’re obsessed with.
In more intelligent INTJs who, like me, are absolutely bored to death by their junior level college classes even though they’re two years ahead for their age, it is common to put off important tasks in favour of trying to make things more challenging. For instance, I may be bored writing up my cosmology lab and may decide I’d rather devote my time to philosophising about free agency, or solving complex logic problems.
Auxiliary Extroverted Thinking (Te):
Te is a get-it-done function, so most people would think INTJs wouldn’t have problems with procrastination, but to be honest, all MBTI types experience this problem to a certain extent. Te all but dies in INTJs when they fail to prioritise their tasks, and this happens most commonly in INTJs with a less developed Te function.
On the other hand, you get the INTJs who are highly intelligent and don’t have to study to do well in school, so they put every assignment off until the last minute. I generally skip out on studying for tests myself, but I always perform excellently on them. Stephen Hawking was notorious at Cambridge for this type of behaviour.
Tertiary Introverted Feeling (Fi):
INTJs tend to procrastinate whenever they experience strong emotion –basically because they’re afraid of it. They may not know how to handle the intensity of their emotions, so they end up sitting around trying to analyse them for hours at a time, rather than getting things done.
Hamlet is a great example of this. While in the depths of depression…he spends the majority of his time thinking about his morality and his feelings, and doesn’t get anything done until he resolves them.
Inferior Extraverted Sensing (Se):
INTJs can also be known to get caught up in the sensory world. I get distracted from my Homework (low-priority) by wanting to paint or draw or listen to Wagner, or Shostakovich, or Berlioz, or Sebelius, or…I’ll stop now.
The Book Addict's Guide to MBTI: 
Τhis article was unnecessary pretentious.
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“INTJs often get distracted by the theoretical world inside their heads, and depending on how developed the introverted intuition function (Ni) is, we can even forget the real world exists temporarily. INTJs often subconsciously prioritise their theories and problem solving games above tasks that they consider menial, like school or spending time with people.
I’ve been known to zone out for hours, forget what day it is and what my schedule is because I was lying on the couch theorising about time travel or human morality.
Ni also has some obsessive tendencies, and if not tamed, this can result in INTJs getting very distracted from the task at hand because they’d rather devote time to whatever the heck they’re obsessed with.
INTJs tend to procrastinate whenever they experience strong emotion –basically because they’re afraid of it. They may not know how to handle the intensity of their emotions, so they end up sitting around trying to analyse them for hours at a time, rather than getting things done.”
This is too accurate, that it is a bit scary.
I have been, in the past few years, months and days, been circulating between these 4 stages above. Right now, it is all 4 of them at once and I have this huge exam in 2 days. Haven’t studied even though I am not good at this subject at all.
Must be the intense emotion of me believing that I will do poorly on the exam, as well as the incessant voice telling me that this subject is useless for me. Also me, nursing my existentialism by constructing theories about how to become immortal and cure cancer. Which is, by the way, my newest obsession which I have been trying to stave off. Procrastination makes me think that I am truly incompetent – I know I haven’t been living up to my potential.
Any ways to combat this procrastination problem? Especially seeing that I have all of the above symptoms?
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Work on recognizing when and why you’re procrastinating and work through those emotions. If you’re anxious, learn coping skills. And if that isn’t enough, there are tons of great strategies floating around in the ADHD community (you don’t have to have ADHD to use and benefit from them)
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Great post. I’m an INTJ who struggles with procrastination, but never missed a deadline in my life. I just think about the problem a lot in my mind and only want to get started when I have a structure.
However, upon getting out of university, I’m realizing that this may also be due to perfectionism, for better or worse. I have very high standards and prefer to research before moving into action, but paradoxically, perfectionism can also be a good excuse to never get anything done.
I’ve found it quite rewarding to move more towards a Te “done is better than perfect” approach lately. Knowing that if I take action and get just 5 % closer to my goals, I’ll feel a lot more fulfilled, helps me by-pass the need to have all the information before I even start.
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I went to medical school, but it’s suprisingly extremely unchallenging. I got bored and frustrated after a year (I’m still bored and frustrated). To cope with that overwhelming boredom I started to devote myself to new obsessions to prevent my braincells from premature death. In between I keep questioning my past choices because I am the one who threw myself into that loop of unending boredom. All those factors are leading me to extreme procrastination. Like when I have to do some boring stuff for my university I like to add some music to the background (preferably classical or jazz) but after a while I catch myself fully focused on a music rather than a task. This alone is an indicator that my tasks are not absorbing. I tried a lot of solutions. What a funny case xd.
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[…] Oft times, it’s assumed that INTJs can’t procrastinate, that they are always uniquely productive. However, just like anybody else, they are perfectly capable of being useless. An efficient work-style is not always inherent and can be influenced by environment, childhood socialization, mental states, and addictions. Many INTJs are expressly efficient, while other INTJs struggle to keep a schedule or motivate themselves to get things done. [MBTIFICTION] […]
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I was going to look up do INTJs procrastinate-and it came up as soon as I typed do INTJs!
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Right now this is the reason I’m here:
I have a lot of homework and I know that I know all of them so I don’t wanna do anything about them and still I’m a little (just a little) stressed because that’s exactly what I did yesterday and you know time moves too fast and I have no control of it…
God I need help
I think I’m an unhealthy INTJ
can you help me?
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That feeling of sudden realisation and confusion when you realise that you’ve spent the last 2 hours reading about the mass of photons, or trying in vain to find unbiased perspectives on the creation-evolution debate … and you’re just like, ‘I’m sure I was doing my assignment, not reading about my personality type…..’
Anyway, great post!
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Sibelius
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I read this instead of working on a truly mind-numbing essay I have to construct. Sadly I can BS the whole thing in about 30 minutes COMPLETE with over 10 sources. It only calls for three, but why do the minimum when you can do three times as much in the span of time it takes people to write their first paragraph?
Do I sound like a cocky arrogant SOB? Why yes I do… but it’s only because I’ve earned the right to sound this way. Man…am I a typical INTJ or what?
alright no more excuses… back to work.
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Please post on a different screen setting it’s extremely irritating to try and make out what this is saying because e you are basically writing on a black paper with black ink. But your information was very accurate and I enjoyed it. (But that was after I was able to comprehend what the words were.)
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So true.
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God, I’m now here reading this yet I have promised to deliver a game demo on a gathering this Saturday. I have just started reading the game engine documentation this afternoon and however landed here researching MBTI after a long journey… which begins with researching an unexplained terminology in the documentation.
I’ll report back after the gathering if I still find my way back here and don’t end getting distracted by more advanced game development tutorial! Hopefully I’ll get the project done and someday drop this bad behavior. :)
Good luck, fellow INTJ’s!
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Bored INTJs can be dangerous.
I got bored in my chemistry lab once and was on the verge of asking my TA if I could light the NO2 gas we were producing on fire. Unfortunately I did not because I’m sure that I would’ve been kicked out for pyromaniac tendencies. I just didn’t feel like watching copper oxidize.
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The use of the word, “Unfortunately” makes that middle sentence a whole lot more entertaining.
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Very, very accurate. I have a chemistry essay due in 6 hours that I haven’t actually written, only made a plan for. Luckily, I’m known to crank out essays in an hour or less.
Procrastination is a very serious problem for me. I find myself spending hours researching MBTI or any other topic I’m interested in. Last year I literally taught myself Korean in order to procrastinate my homework and college applications. Now I’m at NYU and I procrastinate my homework assigned to me in my Korean class. I think I just don’t like being told what to do! Homework feels like I’m being told what to do. I often claim to hate certain books or topics I’m assigned in school, but when I revisit them in my own time, I find I really enjoy them.
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This seems accurate. eg. Here I am reading all your articles and I have an exam in 3 hours that I should be revising for.
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How would procrastination manifest in Te doms?
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Now that would be interesting to see.
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Accurate.
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Common, Is there anybody that does not procrastinate at school XD? Totally understand this! as an INTJ girl, that homework thing (the feeling that you could be doing something twice as interesting and eight times more productive) is not that bad; girlish-feeling chats are the worst of all. Between girls, this things are frequent, unavoidable and awful (mainly because other girls assume I want to talk about my feelings because, well, I’m a girl…) I generally spend those moments thinking in music I could be hearing, drawings I could be making, countries I could be conquering and if the thing gets deep, I end up creating anagrams .-. Good post, BTW!
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Agreed. Most social situations cause me to contemplate all the productive things I could be doing. It’s not unusual for me to bring work to parties that I’m dragged to.
With the homework, I don’t have that big of a problem with procrastination except on occasion.
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