#unsortable

[futureempressoftheuniverse]

That’s it. I’ve taken the Pottermore test four times now and gotten four different answers. What does it all mean? Am I unsortable? (Whatever, I’m still sticking with my first result...)

[anomalous-pluviophile]

i think the last one is a really good segue into this one (from @theprogressofspring) because some of the questions are almost the same. at least one is. and the others are temptingly similar and yet frustratingly different. anyway. here we go.

Are you motivated Externally or Internally?

internally for sure. i’ve joked before that i only have one source of motivation: because i want to. there might be a complicated calculation behind it (...i don’t feel like it right now, but it serves one of my goals, perhaps not the most important one, but on the other hand it’s time-sensitive...) but whatever the reasoning, it’s entirely internal. i almost never do anything for a cause, a belief, or in service of a group.

Slyths and Claws are more interested in self-reflection and self-improvement. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about their environment, but their solutions are going to come from within rather than be inspired by their surroundings.

this for sure. my inner world is my kingdom...that’s where i spend a lot of my time and that’s where shit gets done. most of my interaction with the external world is via a sort of system of imports and exports— information and experiences are imported from outside, examined and processed, then the raw materials are used in the creation of products such as poems or code that are exported back to the outside world. and i certainly spend a lot of time introspecting and improving myself...perhaps a bit too much time to be honest.

Are you motivated by what others think of you? Or by what you think of yourself?

for the most part, i care more about what i think of myself. i have high standards and tend to be my own worst critic. i like affirmation...who doesn’t?...but it tends to ring false to me if in my heart of hearts i don’t agree. i had a bit of a problem as a schoolkid with people calling me smart when i hadn’t met my own standards...i was pretty dismissive and like...not nice. on the other hand, sometimes i’m absurdly jazzed about my weird outfit or my totally inconsequential video game achievement, and i don’t give a hoot if anyone else cares.

the major exception would be when other people’s opinions of me have a direct and concrete impact. for example, i care (perhaps grudgingly) what my boss thinks of me, because if he thinks i’m incompetent and lazy, i’m probably getting fired. situations like that, where someone has enough power over me to harm me directly with their disapproval, make me uncomfortable to begin with.

i’m kind of confused by the further explanation:

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are motivated by how they think of themselves....I’m talking about how they will feel about themselves and their part in a group/movement/the world.

is this a different spin on the question or is it simply geared toward people with a very different self-concept than mine? personally, how i feel about myself has nothing to do with group membership. i don’t think of myself as a part of something bigger than me or anything like that. when i do participate in a group, usually i don’t share much of my true self.

Are your actions driven by your passion? Or by your goals?

interesting and fun question ^^ because not only are the two options not opposites, one needs a bit of both to get things done. as a shameless nerd, i certainly have a fair share of undirected passion...i’ll work on a puzzle just because it’s fun to solve, or go down a wikipedia rabbit hole and end up learning about the legal codes of ancient Iceland. but i would never live a life led by whim and curiosity alone. the great majority of what i do is in service of my goals.

the way i see it, someone driven by passion would take 5 different open-ended sorting hat tests because they had a free moment and felt like it. i’m doing it because i’m eternally driven to understand myself better, and one of the ways i do that is applying various classifications, serious or otherwise.

Hufflepuff and Slytherin have goals they need to summon passion for. They are results-oriented Houses; passion comes second to getting shit done.

see, i don’t usually need to consciously summon up passion for my goals...if i’m trying and no particular drive is showing up, that goal is probably less of a goal and more wishful thinking. actually, i sometimes need to push myself a little to do something that’s not on my goals list, even if it is inherently appealing, such as getting enough sleep.

~

on the three questions, respectively, i score Slytherin/Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw, and Slytherin/Hufflepuff for a hilarious three-way tie. once again proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that i’m not a Gryffindor! and nothing else in particular.

[brionnnne-moved]

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