Stress and ‘Thinking’ versus ‘Feeling’ Types

Some people take their work problems home whereas others tend to take their home problems to work; I’m in the latter group. What about you? I’d also like to share a theory with you which relates this situation with the ‘thinking/feeling’ types on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

According to the MBTI personality profiling tool all of us fit into either ‘thinking’ or ‘feeling’ preference types. I’m a ‘feeler,’ and an intuitive feeler (NF) at that. This means that I like to work with concepts and people rather than concrete things and processes.

Wondering aloud, I ponder whether feeling types tend to be the ones to take their home problems to work, being more emotionally engaged in life--and being that the emotional centre of life is usually in the home.

Conversely, travel with me to the thinker. Do they have the opposite inclination i.e. to bring problems from their thinking world at work home with them? The theory makes sense in that the emotional centre of life is less of a priority than the thought world--this is not to say they’re not as engaged in the home as the feeling person is. Their default, however, might be to focus on the process of things in the concrete world of work.

What are the implications both ways? For the feeling person it’s a matter of focussing on getting the home life working well enough that they are free to operate well at work. For the thinking person perhaps, they might need to consider the impact of work (and the problems created at work) and how that manifests itself in the home and with the family.

It’s all about work/life balance, which according to some is a myth in any event. David Deane-Spread says we must simply, “Identify [our] priorities and make sure they align with the other people in [our] life who are important.” Do this and “balance” becomes us. It’s all about identification and then action to bring all of life together; the integrated package.

Think about what causes you most stress, and what the origin of the stress is, and also what impacts that produces. Planning and problem-solving can go a long way toward bringing that yearned-for balance you’ve sought over the years.

It can be yours! Commit and succeed.

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved.