A prospecting personality is one of the personality traits revealed by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. It relates to how a person organises the world around them and the information they take in.
The opposite of a prospecting personality, also sometimes known as a perceiving personality, is a judging personality. These traits are represented by a P or a J and come at the end of the 4 letters that represent your personality type.
A person with a prospecting personality is usually flexible and adaptable but requires mental stimulation to feel fulfilled.
Our lives are often plagued with unexpected changes and sudden curveballs that can knock us right off the track. Especially in recent times, we really can’t know what’s coming next.
Fortunately, people with prospecting personalities are very flexible and adapt well to surprises. This could be changes in their environment, routine, or personal life. Whatever the cause, they’re likely to thrive with the changes.
A person with a prospecting personality is very comfortable with change. In fact, they often prefer a lifestyle that allows for regular changes in any aspect of their lives. Without change, they might feel trapped or claustrophobic and will definitely feel bored.
For this reason, they tend to avoid committing to things, from relationships to jobs, and can even extend this desire to be flexible as far as where they live, such as always choosing to rent or live in mobile homes.
Freelancing, part-time or odd jobs are perfect for people with a prospecting personality. They might choose not to enter into long-term romantic relationships too.
People with prospecting personalities think outside of the box. They are happy to break from tradition in order to complete a task or solve a problem. Instead of following tried and tested routes, they often veer off the path to try out alternative methods that will lead to the same solution.
They tend to see the bigger picture when it comes to completing tasks and focus on the outlines rather than the finer details, sometimes to their detriment. While not following the same patterns as others is often a great idea and a sign of creativity, it can sometimes lead to failure or time-wasting.
No one likes feeling bored, but for those with a prospecting personality, boredom can be torturous. They need to feel mentally stimulated and interested in what they’re doing in order to feel that their life is fulfilling.
If their career, or even their personal life, requires them to do the same tasks and activities over and over again, they are going to lost interest and motivation very quickly and could become stressed and depressed.
To feel optimistic about their lives, they need the opportunity to try new activities, or at least the freedom to try new methods to complete the same tasks.
To a person with a prospecting personality, failure is an opportunity to try something different. Sometimes, they might even enjoy failures, albeit secretly, because it offers them a chance to try a brand-new creative solution. If the task was completed successfully, the opportunities to try different methods would be gone.
Failure is rarely a concern for someone with a prospecting personality, not only because they appreciate the chance to start all over, but also because they don’t usually carry the same baggage others do. They don’t take failure personally or feel hung up on it. They are able to let go of any negative feelings and simply start fresh.
People with prospecting personalities have a gift that allows them to turn even the most boring, repetitive daily tasks into interesting activities that they’re happy to do. This is because boredom is such a problem, and they need interest to finish tasks.
They use skills like their creative thinking and flexibility to develop new ways to do routine tasks that keep them stimulated enough to finish.
Unfortunately for those with a prospecting personality, focus is not one of their strongest traits. They lack the motivation necessary to complete a task that they aren’t interested in, resulting in many unfinished tasks pilling up on their “to-do” list.
They often have a restless spirit and will jump from task to task depending on what has their interest is at that moment. If something becomes uninteresting or they are forced to complete it in a way that doesn’t excite them, then they are quite likely to move on to something else of more interest before the initial task is finished.
Due to their tendency to think creatively, people with prospecting personalities like to explore as many options and possible routes to a solution as they can come up with. This makes it very difficult for them to choose one and stick with it.
They usually play out a number of different scenarios and consequences of their actions before settling on a single one. Even then, they are likely to want to go back over it again and again for fear of making the wrong choice or coming out with the perfect solution too late.
It is possible for a person with a prospecting personality to be too flexible – sometimes, being too easy-going can make you unreliable. The urge to be spontaneous, as well as an innate need to be engaged and excited by everything they do, means someone with a prospecting personality doesn’t always follow through.
They might be late to meetings, cancel at the last minute, or even try to make last-minute plans. This is because ideas come to them all of a sudden, and they can’t deny the creative urge.
Despite their flaky nature, people with a prospecting personality are often easily forgiven by their loved ones as they make such good friends. They are naturally empathetic and attuned to the feelings of the people around them.
Their ability to think creatively helps them understand the ways other people think because they aren’t limited to one way of thinking. This makes them good people to confide in and are a valuable part of anyone’s support system.
Having a prospecting personality makes a person naturally easy-going and relaxed. This can come across as a casual approach to life, from their career to their personal relationships. Being forced to follow traditions and rules can feel stifling, so they often choose to follow their own instincts instead.
This might mean dressing down for occasions and events or skipping small talk on a first date. In some cases, it might even lead to diverting from the expectations in some very formal settings.
When you have a prospecting personality, thinking creatively is the default. This means that following rules and orders set out by others feels unfulfilling and boring. To thrive, this type of person needs to be choosing their own path and has to be given the freedom to think for themselves.
With a casual lifestyle that always spontaneity, flexibility and regular changes, someone with a prospecting personality can be a very creative and productive person, as well as a great friend.
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You are right about point 1, 2, 4, 5, 6,7,8,9 and 11, but you confuse perceiving trait with intuition trait, which is equivalent to number 3 and feeling trait, which is equivalent to number 10 in this article. These traits have different functions.