I have only met one or maybe two ENTJs in my life and I'm curious as to how tertiary Se and inferior Fi play out in the life of an ENTJ? Love your blog, lots a good information.
Excellent question since tertiary and inferior functions (tertiary functions especially) are often overlooked and ignored in favor of dominant and auxiliary functions.
Tertiary Se and Inferior Fi in ENTJs
The easiest way to remember it is this:
Tertiary Se (extroverted sensing): In ENTJs, tertiary Se syncs the mind with the body.
Inferior Fi (introverted feeling): In ENTJs, inferior Fi syncs the mind with the heart.
In ENTJs, some ways tertiary Se can manifest:
Thrill seeking behavior: I’ve skydived in Santa Barbara, cliff jumped in Bali, scuba dived in Catalina, zip lined in Jakarta, parasailed in Thailand, and I’m going dog sledding in Alaska in two weeks. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie within reason.
Attraction to material comforts: Owning a beautiful house, nice clothes, nice car, luxury goods, etc. This is what causes the other intuitives to misunderstand and skewer ENTJs for being ‘materialistic’ when that’s not necessarily the case. ENTJs are surprisingly low maintenance but when you’ve worked as hard as we have, sacrificed as much as we’ve sacrificed, and suffered as much as we’ve endured to get to where we are today you better believe we’re going to reward ourselves. Never apologize for that, ENTJs.
Heightened interest and appreciation for new sensations and new experiences: Trying new and exotic foods, traveling to new locations, sex (lots and lots of sex), new physical hobbies, building things, and essentially whatever feeds our five senses.
Most importantly, Se grounds the ENTJ in the present moment. For ENTJs, their dominant Te and auxiliary Ni operate inside their heads which can cause them to overlook fine details and logistical realities. Tertiary Se pulls them out of their minds and drops them into their immediate surroundings. It fortifies the link between the strategy (Te-Ni) to the reality (Se) and makes the ENTJ more aware, more realistic, and much more effective in the implementation and execution of ideas. This phase kicked in for me in my 20s.
Tertiary Se doesn’t mean impulsive or reckless behavior. That’s not tertiary Se, that’s stupidity.
In ENTJs, some ways inferior Fi can manifest:
Sentimentality. The infamous ENTJ sentimental streak is what makes all the other types go ‘awwwwwww’ and all the ENTJs go ‘ughhhhh’. Gushing with expressive feels and love for the person we’re with, attachment to meaningful objects and our inability to throw them out, reflection on our life journey and the people who helped us along the way, and intense nostalgia. I have a shoebox with my birthday cards going back 14 years that I can’t throw out. I also have panda speakers from my dad that sound like shit that I can’t throw away because he bought it for me using his last unemployment check. You cannot escape the feels.
Altruism. You see this in ENTJs who forego pursuing lucrative careers for ones with immense social impact (ex: CEOs of non-profit organizations, doctors who serve underserved low-income populations, military service, etc.). A lot of people like to type those leaders as ENFJs because ‘why would an ENTJ take a job that doesn’t pay a lot of money?’ Because there is power in purpose even if it doesn’t yield wealth. Give us a little more credit here, okay?
Loyalty. I credit the world famous ENTJ loyalty to Fi. This is what makes us stick by the people we love and defend them even if they’re fucking up and even if they’re wrong because we don’t want anyone to hurt them. Loyalty defies logic and it’s rooted in love. I can’t credit loyalty to Te, I attribute it to Fi.
Inferior Fi is pretty much a shit ton of contemplation, value-based assessments of everything the Te-Ni duo concoct, and the evaluation of motives, direction, needs, and desires. Its most important role for ENTJs is to sync the mind with the heart. Every ENTJ needs to harness inferior Fi to become a complete person.
Thanks for visiting and for the great question. I hope that helps.
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