How Extroverted Thinking (Te) Types can be Lazy (INTJ/ENTJ/ISTJ/ESTJ)

I discuss how types known for efficiency can be lazy too.

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[JR-zyss]

I’m not lazy I’m just highly motivated to do nothing

[meredithwhite]

It isn't laziness. It is effort efficiency :P

[mjr]

INTJ female here. OMFG this describes me so much. I never really thought of it this way but I procrastinate on boring job requirements because I know I will be able 'whip them out' when it gets to the zero hour. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[jonathanmezzenga]

Today, most work places do not incentivize getting things done fast. They pay you salary or by the hour to sit at your desk or at the work site for minimum 8 hours a day and the folks who can be efficient and work faster are punished because they either get their work done and sit around or there is always more work to be done and they don’t feel motivated to work quickly since they know they’re still gonna be stuck at work once the task is completed.

[shadowthewarlord]

Ha, as a young ENTJ, can vouch lol. My family is absolutely convinced I’m lazy cause all they ever see me do is what I want to be doing. Fact is I can finish all the work for all my classes, all my jobs and chores in roughly 3hrs. Now admittedly it’s not usually the best job, but it’s certainly B’s or above in schoolwork and good enough to keep any major problems from arising.
My mom has just realized recently that I am results oriented. I don’t care how good the work is, or how hard I work, or how I get there so long as I get the desired results with less loss.
Another thing. I’ve noticed. I am more than willing to have things go badly and wind me in trouble so long as it means less work for me or it accomplishes a goal that I find worth the pain.

[ryanquick]

as an INTJ myself, i call it CONSTRUCTIVE LAZINESS.

(or)

getting things done in THE MOST EFFICIENT MANNER POSSIBLE.

[TransparentLabyrinth]

To draw a distinction, I think for Se (maybe high Ne too) this manifests as a sort of "I'll be able to improvise in the moment, so I can handle it then." Which may be somewhat true, but some tasks can only be rushed so much. It sounds like for Te (maybe Te-Ni combo in particular?) you're doing this thing of plotting it out in your head beforehand, which saves you a lot of time when you come to it. Not in details necessarily, but in wrapping your head around roughly what you're going to do with that time and how you're going to do it, so when you get there, there are few surprises and little need to stop and process new information.

[ParkerHorejs]

Thank you! As an INTJ, the idea that you can get into a cognitive trap thinking you are lazy is extraordinarily relatable. I often feel that I am failing somehow when I put the absolute minimum time into things, but the reality is that during those short times I am able to accomplish a lot more than most people can in the same time period. I also realized that a lot of the time I am procrastinating because I know I will be able to get the work done no matter how close I get to the deadline; there's something in me that just clicks when I'm under a time pressure and it's easier to get the work done. I'm not sure that's the healthiest way to do it, it's just what I've noticed.

[jimmys]

I think the meaning of laziness is more “wanna do nothing” rather than “not working hard” and that comes from fear of reality. So in my opinion in*j and en*p are the types that can be easily lazy in a general sense especially in*j.

[periwinkle]

I as an INTJ tend to schedule my tasks in such a way that I can get maximum done in the least amount of time.
I value economy of effort i.e I have to do things in short bursts of energy and then do my own thing which is retreating to my own room to be with my thoughts or reading or watching YouTube videos.

[susankievman]

All I can say is WOW! As an ENTJ female, I do operate the way you describe, and I did not realize that. I was thinking that I am unmotivated. In fact, I am averse to doing mundane chores that dont have a high purpose or a deadline. But when something has to get done and it is important or timely, I am on it! I feel so much more motivate when I have a goal and a schedule that I make to get it done in the steps that i need to accomplish it. I think this will help me with my work. Work smart, not hard!

[sirbradfordofhousejones]

Thanks for the tertiary Te shoutout! ESFPs definitely do this, as well. I need deadlines or else I’ll minimize the task as something I can just easily complete “later.”

[DaniElleLuminati]

<--- ENFP. I was always the first one done with tests and assignments at school, etc. Totally resonates lol.

[thugbin]

Most of the time, I move because of a perceived deadline (and it stresses me out in the process of course), but I have trouble "inventing" my own deadline and brainwash myself into believing in it.
I don't feel happy when I complete something because it's just one thing in the ocean of things to do.
An analogy for it could be the leveling process in mmorpg : happy of the progress and rewards at the beginning, numb when you get to lvl 67 after farming and farming again because the promised satisfaction is at lvl 99, far away from where you are.

[fosskytheanswerer]

Nice... Yep, having deadlines helps a lot.
Already setting personal deadlines, minimum time to study/read, ...

Works great. And results feel great.

[Ithil]

People are always surprised when I say I can only work well under time pressure but that is a very good motivation...

[tengdayz]

The problem is that we are smart enough to not allow ourselves to be tricked, even by ourselves. So if we get too far ahead of our responsibilities, we then slack off. I think you touched on the critical point. It's about managing the weight of responsibilities. We need to do something, to keep it in a comfortable range. Which means not removing too much or too little responsibility at a time. It's hard to break the habit of over or under doing it. It's hard to let go of feeling so light while ahead, and so strong getting there. It's weird to shift less weight around, and it feels like a blow to the ego to not do so much. In practice it allows our fi a chance to add it's contribution to the conciousness of our subjective existence, and then, even se and the other unconcious functions. The ego is the volitional force due to an imaginary reward of some kind of Godship to make any function dominate, we do much better though, when we are free to use whichever one is most resourced at the moment. Even the weaker ones.

[artisanrox]

This is immensely useful with regard to the modern corporate working environment where you might play a phone game for "down time" (because everything is done!) but this is taken as "lazy" simply because you're also not making a spectacle of yourself "working hard".

[nope]

as an estj, i can sooo relate to that. your video was so helpful. bc i'm pretty sure i'm a Te dominant, i just have COMPLETELY other priorities than tge stereotypical estj and i always doubt if i were an estj and even videos about cognitive functions described high Te as incredibly workaholics. but i was always certain that i am indeed a Te dominant, i just use me Te ti maximize my freetime, bc i know that i usually dont need a lot of time for something bc idk i'm a pretty efficient and quick person. i prioritize my freetime due to my mental illness and no certain goals. and i also relate a lot to deadlines. no matter how close i was to a deadline, i could ALWAYS ace it. and the mentality und belief, that i am able to write a paper 8 hours before deadline made me basically god because i did turn it in even earlier than the deadline and got an A minus. also, i like feeling like god when i can manipulate my mind and time and somehow the teacher into the belief that i can do anything.

[rickostern]

Lazy, I like it.

People need to recognize me as lazier and stop my suffering of being unpaid labor on final class project.