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- CON- Hate being controlled. As an ENFP’s driving force is their extroverted intuition, or Ne, they find their main purpose in understanding the world as one big picture. In turn, they will immediately resist anyone that they feel holds them back from accomplishing said goal to experience life in its fullest nature.
- PRO- Strong empathy. Being intuitive feelers, an ENFP is always hyper-sensitive to the emotions of other people. They are constantly aware of how everyone in the room is feeling and will do seemingly senseless things to try and keep the mood of the group balanced.
- CON- Intensely emotional. One of the weakest functions of the ENFP’s personality is managing their extroverted feeling, or Fe. This, combined with their tendency to be oversensitive, can cause them to feel ALL of the feelings at once. So if you take an ENFP to the movie theater, please anticipate that at some point they will be crying on your shoulder.
- PRO- Excellent communicators. An ENFP will find that their people skills come to them quite naturally at an early age. This all stems from their ability to understand the subconscious behind what is and is not socially acceptable, as well as their lack of harsh judgment towards people whose ideas or actions diverge from the norm.
- CON- Impulsiveness. ENFPs tend to have a bad habit of acting on a direct feeling, as opposed to thinking about the idea before doing so. So yes ENFP, this DOES mean you should kindly listen to your ISFJ friend when they ask you not to obnoxiously sing happy birthday to them in public.
- PRO- Know how to have a good time. ENFPs have a real appreciation for letting loose and will jump at the opportunity to relax and forget their troubling self-created inner universe. Looking to go on a spontaneous weekend camping trip? Simply call up your ENFP friend… spontaneity is practically their middle name.
- CON- Too enthusiastic. Please calm down ENFP, not everyone is as thrilled as you are that your favorite piece of literature is finally being turned into a movie. Also, that ISTJ over there has giving you weird looks for the past hour.
- PRO- Too enthusiastic. Although this trait may seem to get in the way at times, an ENFP’s exuberance for life can excite practically ANYONE to become involved in practically ANYTHING. So because of their energetic and charming nature, they are able to lead others with total ease.
- CON- Incessant overthinking. Basically, an ENFP will always be looking for hidden meanings because they take absolutely nothing for face value. If you tell an ENFP that you “like” Lady Gaga… expect them to mentally reevaluate all of her lyrics for deeper meaning as well as a full translation of your feelings.
- PRO- Exceptionally personal. The ENFP tends to notice patterns in people’s behavior and will consequently spend many a late night pondering how a close friend or family member is actually feeling about something, while simultaneously determining how they’re going to help them out.
- CON- Easily stressed. All this overthinking and an ENFP’s brain quickly becomes a swirling mess of uncertainty about past missed deadlines, their own feelings, and what other people REALLY meant by what they say.
- PRO- Love trying new things. An ENFP is very aware of the importance of having a good time, which is why they’re always up to try something new in hopes that it could become their next favorite thing! This includes (but is not limited to) spontaneously taking up yoga, the ukulele, or perhaps a sushi rolling class.
- CON- Take on too much at once. Because ENFPs are such “YES!” people, this can lead to them not knowing when it’s okay to say no. Yes bewildered ENFP, it is very acceptable to say no. For example, maybe when you’re about to agree to help coordinate someone else’s event for them… for the third time this week.
- PRO- Extremely self motivated. The ENFP is practically the creator of the saying, “Do what you love, love what you do.” They believe so firmly in remaining positive while living their life to the fullest, constantly pushing themselves to thrive in nearly any given situation while keeping their eye on the ultimate goal of experiencing the world around them.
- CON- Independent…to a fault. Born with a fierce need for freedom and unlimited space for creativity, an ENFP’s constant craving for independence can sometimes cause them to completely push away authority figures or well-meaning friends who try to help them in their personal problem areas.
- PRO- Quite sociable. Because they are such passionate and driven idealists, ENFPs love to be constantly inspiring those around them to be the very best version of themselves possible. This quality of theirs will often deposit them in the midst of many different social circles, where they enjoy creating connections while helping others to bond.
- CON- Difficulty focusing. An ENFP’s brain is constantly jumping from one idea to the next, making it immensely hard to concentrate. Put an ENFP in a repetitive office job and they will immediately become bored by the routine of it, begin to feel stifled as a person, and start daydreaming about the trail mix they left in the breakroom.
- PRO- Endless creativity. The ENFP has quite the knack for forming a quick and constant stream of new ideas, this can come in handy when they are debating, creating, or involved in absolutely anything improv. This also means that if you request an ENFP’s help in coming up with a name for your new kitten, they will happily create you an alphabetized list of appropriately cute names along with their latin meanings.
- CON- Massive people pleasers. Because of their intense desire to keep others happy at all times, ENFPs will occasionally agree with other’s opinions just for the sake of keeping peace. They will do pretty much anything for the ones they love, which can cause them to be used without them knowing or minding.
- PRO- Eternal love and loyalty. For all of their weaknesses and strengths, in the end, ENFPs will always find their greatest joy in the joy of the ones they love. Consequently, they will devote the most part of their energy into creating, sparking, and igniting a chain reaction of inspiration for themselves and others to use. Along with this inspiration comes a plethora of lasting joy and loyalty towards those that they actually choose to love.
The 20 Pros and Cons of Being an ENFP
Amazing description! Sooo spot on.
I relate to this article hardcore. Nice writing too!
I’m an ENFP and I love your article????????????it’s amazing and keep it up????????it’s hard being “US”, but tomorrow it will be easy????????stay motivated always????????????????
Ummm…we have introverted feeling, not extroverted?
ENFPs have extroverted feeling as the 2nd SHADOW function which makes it much more difficult to manage.
EXACTLY!
nope, we have introverted feeling as the second because we have extroverted intuition as the first… you can’t have two extroverted functions in a row.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this article. Very well-worded and clear description of the ENFP’s I know, including my best friend. Will be sharing!
I dont understand how you come to figure out what personality type you are?
Sooooooooo spot on. That is so me
This is meeeeeeee….ya im an original enfp ! My joy is in joy of people i love…and im enthusiatic in what new things world can give, im super loyal to people i love, im stresssed so easily cause i care about people very much…im a people pleaser, when i have an argument with any one, all my body shakes ! So i try to avoid it as much as possible
Had to laugh out loud a couple of times, reading your article. Great write!
Just my cup of tea, no offends intended towards your view ->
1. pro, 3. pro.
5. ok, finally a con. it could be a good con sometimes (like, your impulsiveness actually leads to the best outcome…), but in most cases, prooobably not. lol.
7. Well yeah, one of my best friends is istj, I undestand.. but the weird look is nice, it verifies our uniqueness. I am fully aware of the weird looks. If he gives me a weird look… well, he’ll get a funnier weirder look back. And then, he’ll start thinking, about what kind of look that was.
9. Overthinking in moderation is a virtue… although overthinking can sometimes be destructive, I have come to some revelations that turned out to be true. so not 100% con. more like, this “con” has pro’s and cons.
11. ok, con, fair enough
13. I understand… I’m not acutally in that boat… I do say yes often, but I also know when to say no… unstereotypical?
15. hmmm, more like avoid, but yeah maybe, it depends. Feel like it’s a bit like 1… They’ve given their opinion, if we don’t feel it’s constructive, then I don’t believe it to be a con if the “friendship” is not on pleasant terms, you know, we’re socially selective. So, but this depends.
17. con, nailed it.
19. what.. is this bad? What if it makes me happy that their happy? THen even though I’m being used I’m happy for their sake of using me? With that said, I’m a pretty nut case when it comes to agreeing when I’m in disagreement.. I can agree to disagree.. but I never agree when I firmly disagree… like, unless I’m in love or something.. but yeah. Anyway, only way this becomes a con, is if we know their malicious intent, catch onto it, and the aftermath ends up negatively. aka, it depends on the situation.
All in all, nice article, I understand why you consider the cons for cons, since the “norms” are set a bit different than from what my perceived opinion is.
Also, I think, it’s also a big con, that we’re often not good at the details, aka the “Si”.
Like, implementing our ideas, seeing what’s actually important inside our web of thoughts.
Like we’re awesome at analyzing things from tons of sides, but comming to a grounded decision, is very hard, whereass people like istj, will just be like: “it’s obviously this thing”.
Which often makes things clearer.
Though, in school as it is to day, it’s a horrible system for enfp (as well as others, but objectively looking at enfp now), because it’s often forcing us to use a lot of “Si” when we’re not so into that.
I honestly think the schools should make a new system more compatible to the mbti types…
though, let’s not get into that.
did I say my cup of tea? It was actually coffee..
Do we ever win? Will we ever finish, and prove them all wrong? Will they ever understand?