The thought of exercise has never excited me. In fact the thought itself bores me to this day. But when your once skinny body turns into a basket of rolls, you start having to consider it. So I recently started running and it’s been an eye opening experience.
I started by running at a fast pace. I wanted to do my two miles and move on. But I could only run for 5 minutes. I ran out of breath and my legs were burning. I was only able to run 1/4 of a mile.
As I practiced, I got better and found a few principles that are easily applied to INFPs:
- Slow the hell down! I had an idea that I needed to go fast. But I couldn’t complete my goal of 2 miles when I was going too fast. When I slowed down enough that I didn’t lose my breathe, I was able to run 2 miles in 30 minutes without stopping. The entire time I had to remind myself “Slow down. You’re doing great. Keep a steady pace. Finishing is more important than going fast.” My emotions kept trying to make me go fast but I knew I’d burn out if I gave in. Think of this next time you start a project and want to get the entire thing done now. Don’t burn through all of your creative energy at once and be forced to quit.
- Ignore the Pain. Unless you’ve injured yourself, you have to ignore the pain and discomfort. Your body tolerates a lot more than your mind thinks it does. But your dislike of pain causes you to quit prematurely. Your legs burn. So what? That just means the muscles are growing. It’s universally known throughout the exercise community that PAIN IS GOOD! Keep pushing even though you feel pain. Same goes with your creative projects. How likely are you to give up or come up with a new idea when you hit a road block? Work through the problems and take a step back to see if there’s a better way to get around them.
Remember these principles when you feel like staying up all night to work on a project that you’ll never finish (because you’ll move too fast and burn out). Or when you’re at work and want to start something before planning everything out.
Have any other principles that can help INFPs be more successful? Get out of your head and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Phrasing in self-talk can make a difference. You can use “you can” when you want to direct yourself into a new habit by instructing yourself to do particular tasks or to modify speed or intensity or other elements.
This is not to discount the usefulness of an imperative for certain individuals or just for periods of time when that construction works best. But you can unleash more power available from self-talk by the calibration of wordcraft for such sensitivities as an aversion to being told what to do, for example.
I’ve found other phrases, but “you can” is an especially powerful one. It circumvents the internal don’t-tell-me-what-to-do reaction, and still delivers the energy, encouragement. For me it carries nurture, and helps me feel cared for, important enough to be the recipient of this act of self-care. It helps when I need gentleness and acceptance in addition to a push.
Applied to the need to slow down in exercise and projects, it’s “You can slow down” and “You can save your energy.” I’ve successfully used “You can relax,” “You can wait a little longer,” and “You can focus,” for other needs.
Thank you for the astute observation and recommendations.
Nice post! I am an infp too and found your blog. It creepy how much this is actually about myself. I felt also exactly the same.
I don’t know, but I think it’s nice to still get some new inspiration while finished a project you have started on. Watch a movie, tv-serie/program, just relaxe, read a book, go for a walk, etc.
I feel the exact same way 🙂 Slow and steady always won the race.
How do you know so much about me!!!?? LOL. It’s scary, but I must admit it’s eye opening and helpful. I just stumbled upon your blog and it’s helping me feel better about my life and make sense out of all the chaos.