How Judging and Prospecting Personalities Get in Their Own Way

Or how your strengths can become blind spots and turn effort into self-sabotage.

Image from 16personalities.com

What’s Coming Up

• Why Judging types’ ability to commit fully is their superpower – and how that same commitment can trap them in paths they later regret

• How Prospecting types’ flexibility helps them grab opportunities quickly – and how they can lose interest when things feel more demanding than expected

• How your strength can also become your blind spot (and why it’s hard to recognize when effort turns into self-sabotage)

This is part of a complete personal agency series– catch up on earlier articles to learn about the 5 components of agency, and more!

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When it comes to achieving our goals in life, some people (like Judging personality types) are quite good at committing fully and following through. Others (like Prospecting personalities) are stronger at seizing unexpected opportunities quickly.

But here’s the tricky part: your biggest strength can quietly become your biggest obstacle. And it doesn’t even feel like self-sabotage when it’s happening.

Grab a fresh tea or coffee, and let’s look at how this plays out for Judging and Prospecting personalities.

How Judging Personalities Achieve What They Want

People with the Judging personality trait often excel at something a lot of people struggle with: closing the door on other possibilities to focus on one path.

My mother is a prime example. She happens to be a Judging personality type (ISFJ) and she taught me a very important lesson early on in life: Choose a way forward and don’t look back.

Or, in other words, decide on a path and don’t let yourself be consumed with regret or “what ifs” had you chosen differently.

Judging personalities are particularly good at this. When they decide they want something, they commit. They don’t keep backup options warm or constantly second-guess themselves – they choose and move forward.

Imagine a Judging type who wants to relocate to a new city. They pick the city, visit once or twice, then sign a lease. Doubts might creep in – what if this doesn’t work out? But they don’t let those doubts derail them. They push through them instead of letting them keep them stuck, and ultimately move forward with their decision. (This is harder for Turbulent Judging types, by the way, compared to Assertive ones.)

That ability to commit despite doubt is what creates momentum. And momentum turns goals into reality.

How Judging Types Block Themselves

But Judging types are far from infallible, and here’s where it gets tricky: