Hacking the ENTP - Beating Procrastination by Abusing Your Traits

Our intuition makes us amazing individuals, capable of innovating virtually any system. Yet how many times we failed to implement our idea due a lack of motivation, energy or the presence of a novel, more interesting possibility. After years of fruitless ideas, I became frustrated with myself, desperately seeking new ways organize my life so I can achieve my goals. Unluckily, most of the self improvement literature is not catered to our personality and works against our natural traits. Schedules? Routine? We dread them and can't sustain them for long.

This article presents ways in which we overcome procrastination by abusing our characteristics, not working against them. Most of the ideas presented here are taken from various threads on this forum (btw, you guys are great).

We can describe the process of achieving something like this:
1. We input energy into ourselves
2. We channel this energy towards completing a goal

Since we are extroverts, we need outside sources for gaining this energy, which we call motivation. We can't come up with very motivating thoughts ourselves (internal motivation), probably because our huge self - confidence and our ability to find ways around such thoughts. Anyway, we should focus our efforts on finding external sources. From the top of my head such sources include:
1. Motivational Media - such as inspiring music, movies or posters
2. Role Models - in my case, I always wanted to copy an interesting character from a movie, a story or from real life. Such models often bring to life possibilities the which fascinate us. Want to train for a competition? Watch Rocky. Want to learn math? Watch A Beautiful Mind.



One should be careful not over abusing one such source of energy, since it loses it's ability to motivate us each time we use it. We should always seek new avenues for gaining motivation. Luckily, in our day and age we have an abundance of sources for each endeavor you might pursuit.

Another thing we should avoid is isolation. Although it may seem that spending time with people is useless, since we can be fine by ourselves, we still depend on them for energy.

This takes me to the next trait we can abuse: our huge egos. Probably most of us have been hugely motivated by phrases such as "It can't be done" or "You can't do this". This is because we deeply care about how we are seen by others, and even by ourselves. That's why we actively have to seek to be challenged. We have to expose our crazy ideas to others so they can doubt us, thus sending us into overdrive. We need to spend time in an environment where there are other people, which can judge you (even in their minds), because your ego cares about their opinion (even though some off you may say it doesn't). You don't even need them to express their view on you, as long as there is the possibility of your actions changing their opinion. For example, going to a gym is a great way for us to keep working out, since even though there may not be a stated competition, you create it in your mind, and thus want to be better then others (at least in my case).

Another exploitable emotion is our anger. As Psyphon describes in the thread "How I react to Anger in a Heated Argument", we have three levels of anger: 1. Minor annoyance (for example when you drop something heavy on your leg); since we are laid back and optimist, we get over this easily
2. Pissed off (we get sarcastic and see the problem as an enemy); this is the level that we have to achieve. At this point we become very driven and practical. With a bit of will power (and logic from our Ti) we can refocus on stuff that needs to be done.
3. We get extremely angry, and don't care about consequences.

I believe that the second state basically restricts our Ne, while giving us the anger energy. This combination results in the driven state we wish to achieve. I found that there are two ways in which we can get to this state:
1. Lack of logic from our opponent - this annoys us terribly. Such opponents include those who blindly follow rules without thinking them or those who completely disregard evidence that contradicts their point of view. It's easy to find opportunities for such discussions. The hard part is in forgetting that you seek them on purpose, which can deny the desired effect.
2. Us being unable to rise to our expectations, thus hurting our ego - like when you feel incapable to reach the desired performance. In my case, I can only remember examples when I was surrounded by others. Having an audience increases the damage done to the ego. In order do abuse this we have to actively seek challenge in public environments. One possible pitfall is seeking challenges which are very hard even by public opinion. Falling one such task can still boost your ego, since we are very good at reasoning that we were very close to achievement.

Now that we finished with describing the energy sources, we'll look at ways in which we can channel it. In order to do this we have to hack the Ne and the Ti.

The ideal scenario is that in which our Ne is fully occupied solving the task that we desire. Unluckily, it is usually occupied with a variety of things, thus leading us to procrastinate. We can use the following steps in order to work our way towards the ideal scenario:

1. Preparation: The May Do List - If you are like me, you have had lots of great ideas and plans, of which you now remember about 10-20%. Careful analysis of the past may increase that percentage, yet this requires time and energy. That's why it's vital for us to have a May Do List. Not a list of tasks that you have to do (which would work against our personality, demotivating us), but a list of projects of which you can choose. A notebook would be ideal for also keeping details and any progress you have made in developing that project.

2. Clearing: Meditation - It is important to clear our head before starting a new task. This ensures that there aren't any other projects taking energy from our Ne. For me mindful meditation works: 5 - 10 minutes are more then enough. This may require a little will power but it's an important step. It also develops concentration. If you don't like meditation, try getting immersed into something with a close end (we want to avoid lingering thoughts about this) such as a mini-game.

3. Loading up the Ne - It's ideal for our Ne to be mostly filled by the desired task. We basically want to achieve flow (i recommend the wikipedia article "Flow"). Basically, we achieve this state when the challenge level as well as the skill level are high. As ENTPs, we usually have very high skill levels. That's why mundane tasks lead to boredom. So challenge yourself in everything you do. Try doing it better and faster. This gives us more time, as well as more enjoyment. If you still can't fill up the Ne, try adding noise. This includes music, TV, being around people who talk, etc. The important thing to ensure is that those noise sources don't individually require much Ne so that you don't focus on them instead. Listen to songs you've heard a thousand times before so you don't process them anymore. Monotone, rhythmic is great for this. Or put the TV on an uninteresting subject.

The other function you can hack is your Ti. This can be done by learning probability theory, philosophy and basic economics. We are very bad at estimating our chances of success since we are so optimistic and have a huge confidence in our abilities. We really need to become more objective.

This is it! If you have other ideas, please post them so we can solve this problem once and for all.
Now go change the world like you have always known you could!

I absolutely love the idea of a "May Do" list. That sounds a lot more motivating than a "To Do" list, like a set of possibilities to explore instead of tasks I'm obligated to fulfill.

I just finished writing my May Do List. It feels amazing! I tried to remember all the projects I started in the last two years. I managed to come up with 13. I recommend not using numbers for the items on the list. Just put each item on a different row. Also, don't group similar items. By avoiding any structure will make you feel more free.

I "might do" a "may do" list....intriguing and not an obnoxious, oppressive thought like a "to do" list.

I noticed a trend of mine at night to be very driven to work towards my goals, as well as having a much deeper concern for my future. Basically, I feel like a Se. I didn't noticed any tendency towards better organization, so I'm not changing to J. This is consistent with other users who noticed such tendencies during sleep deprivation. I also have to note that I didn't used any of the techniques above to get in this state. I believe the Ne is to tired and thus inhibited giving course to a Se like behavior.

This makes me wonder if an induced mental fatigue (let's say by trying to concentrate on something to much) would allow me to send me in Se mode at a time I want. The only problem would be that of consuming will power (it's demonstrated to be a trainable and depletable resource, just like a muscle) in the case above, due to conscientious effort . At night my will power is not depleated, I'm just tired.

I think I have found a way to improve the May Do List. Just add the first step that needs to be taken for the respective project. I feel that it doesn't add structure and that it makes it easier for me to focus on actually starting to work on it. I'll see how well it works for me in the following days.

I will try this out and report back with my findings. You may have cured my procastination once and for all.

Well, I'm glad you guys find my article useful. Now, the next thing I want to improve is the way in which ENTPs learn. I think we have a great mental foundation for absorbing large quantities of difficult data. We are very curious about basically any subject (even though mostly one at a time), and we have an extraordinary ability to comprehend concepts and relationships. Unluckily the educational system mostly works against us, teaching us lots of subjects at once (we can't be interested in many at one time, and because of our rebellious attitude towards structure we totally dismiss most of them). Furthermore, I believe that most of us find the pace at which the data is teached very slow.

I think that learning a huge chunk of a subject at a fast rate, for relatively short periods of time (until the interest fades out; for me it averages 1-2 weeks ) followed by the repetition of data at precise interval is the key here. As a result, I'll try to find techniques that allow us to understand large amounts of data fast, as well as how well and how much we can retain using the technique of spaced repetition (if you're not familliar with the term check wikipedia; it basically involves repeating information after x amount of time, where x increases almost exponentially with each repetition).

Also, If anyone has any techniques that worked for him involving study, feel free to contribute. I strongly believe that if we hack this and procrastination, we can finally unleash the ENTP potential.

Hi Rampage,

Your beating procrastination ideas are fantastic - I will be trying them on the numerous projects I've started. I love the ‘May Do’ list (it makes the numerous lists I have worthwhile once renamed).

I just wanted to let you know that your tendency to move to Se mode is how us ENTPs react during periods of ongoing stress.

Your lack of sleep and physical exhaustion is causing stress- in the type world it is known as being 'In the Grip' of your inferior functions. It would be quite mentally destructive to you to stay in this state over a period of time. To avoid staying 'in the grip' it is recommended for ENTPs (and ENFPs) to Meditate, take time out to ensure your physical health is improved (ie sleep), participate in general calming yet active activities such as walks on the beach/through a forest etc and talking through problems with a trusted friend.

In most cases before you are completely encased by your inferior functions you probably experience a stream of Dominant function ideas… in fact one fantastic N idea after the other – this bit can be fun!

Luckily for us ENT/FPs periods of in the grip and getting out of it effectively can aid our personal development by giving us broadened perspective, and more S/J abilities than we had previously. (I know - I didn’t think ENTPs could be improved either!)

Oh- and for informaiton on ENTP and studying - just google ENTP and learning... ENTP and studying etc - there is heaps out there.

G I have just finished reading "The Power of Habit", an excelent book about the mechanics behind habits, and I think I have an insight relating to our problem. Habits are (almost) unconscious routines of various complexity that are triggered by a cue ( like a certain time of day or the feeling of boredom) in order to gain a certain reward (like overcoming boredom or hunger). The book states that the easiest way of changing a habit is to change the routine and maintain the cue and the reward.

Now back to the ENTP issue. We know that willpower is like a muscle, with certain amouns of energy that gets depleted when we use it. We don't consume its energy when we act in our natural way (without having a clear structure to our activities and postponing the action) yet we need to use our will to have a structure and to work at the right time. However because habits are unconscious actions, they dont drain our willpower. As a result, by creating habits for things like start working when we should (remember habits can be very complex sets of actions) we can ensure that we constantly combat procrastination without being drained by forcing ourselv to follow a logical but unnatural course of action.

To conclude, I strongly recommand you to read the book for a better understanding on the mechanics and ways to change or create new habits.