Kerissa asked: I’ve noticed that you organise your posts one within the other, like stacking boxes. For example, when you hover on ‘Idiot’s guide to MBTI’ there’s ‘Typing Guide’ as an option. Click on that and there’s a list of articles. Click on the first of those and it’s ‘First, Get to Know the Crucial Concepts.’ From there it goes to another list. Some of those links go to a post, others go to a collection of posts. This boxes within boxes approach is a lot how I organize my Google Drive, folders within folders, and I was wondering if it had to do with the functions. It seems like a behavioral thing that actually would relate to functions without being a stereotype.

Somebody is paying attention to the way I organise!

Usually people with a Te function tend to have a specific mode of organisation that they follow (this is not usually true of Ti, especially upper Ti).

Intuitive (Ni & Ne) people are more likely to organise starting with the general, and then working to the specific.

Sensors (and here, I’m talking about Si) are going to organise from the specific to the general.

For instance, my ESTJ mother will organise everything according to specific type (Si) and function (Te). In her sewing room, she has a box for fabric, a box for thread, and a box for elastic, a box for stuffing etc.

Specific combinations of functions are also going to give you different results as well.

As an INTJ, I organise from the general idea of a thing (Ni) and move next to its function (Te).

For instance, I have a large toolbox in which I store my art supplies. Inside the toolbox, you would find a large quantity of smaller cigar boxes in which I’ve stored art supplies and tools according to what they’re used for.

In terms of blog and document storage, I do the same thing. I look at the content of my documents and then arrange them into folders, then subfolders and so on. For this reason, one of my favourite writing programs to use is Scrivener, because it allows me to organise everything of the same topic in one place. I use it for writing novels, poetry, and even taking notes in class.

My ESFP sibling organises based on appearance only (Se). If there is nothing on the floor, their bedroom qualifies as “clean.” Just so long as they can’t see the mess, it’s “organised.”

My ENFP sibling is great at keeping things organised once they’re organised (for the most part – her Te is tertiary), but their Ne sees so many possibilities that they doesn’t always know where to start. I helped them move into their new apartment this fall, and I did most of the organising for them.

At which point, the grand truth dawned on them that I’m better at organising than they are. All these years, they assumed that because I have so many boxes inside of boxes and folders inside of folders etc. that my stuff was merely cluttered. It had never occurred to them that it was organised, only that it looked chaotic because the method behind it was so structured.

My INTP dad cannot organise at all. At all. He looks at clutter and has absolutely no idea where to start. Part of this is a lack of Te function (Te is a natural organisation function, and part of it is his Ne getting distracted before he can start.