ISFJ Weaknesses

ISFJ Weaknesses

Humble and Shy - The meek shall inherit the earth, but it's a long road if they receive no recognition at all. This is possibly ISFJs' biggest challenge, as they are so concerned with others' feelings that they refuse to make their thoughts known, or to take any duly earned credit for their contributions. ISFJs' standards for themselves are also so high that, knowing they could have done some minor aspect of a task better, they often downplay their successes entirely.

Take Things Too Personally - ISFJs have trouble separating personal and impersonal situations – any situation is still an interaction between two people, after all – and any negativity from conflict or criticism can carry over from their professional to their personal lives, and back again.

Repress Their Feelings - People with the ISFJ personality type are private and very sensitive, internalizing their feelings a great deal. Much in the way that ISFJs protect others' feelings, they must protect their own, and this lack of healthy emotional expression can lead to a lot of stress and frustration.

Overload Themselves - Their strong senses of duty and perfectionism combine with this aversion to emotional conflict to create a situation where it is far too easy for ISFJs to overload themselves – or to be overloaded by others – as they struggle silently to meet everyone's expectations, especially their own.

Reluctant to Change - These challenges can be particularly hard to address since ISFJ personalities value traditions and history highly in their decisions. A situation sometimes needs to reach a breaking point before ISFJs are persuaded by circumstance, or the strong personality of a loved one, to alter course.

Too Altruistic - This is all compounded and reinforced by ISFJs' otherwise wonderful quality of altruism. Being such warm, good-natured people, ISFJs are willing to let things slide, to believe that things will get better soon, to not burden others by accepting their offers of help, while their troubles mount unassisted.