ESFP. The Performer

If you're an ESFP, being in the center of what's happening probably makes you come alive like nothing else. All eyes are on you. The moment is right here and right now. There is no other place that matters more. Putting in a great performance means a total commitment to the moment. Could there be anything more exhilarating or more meaningful than that?

A performance could take place in many different scenarios. It could happen in the emergency room while saving a life just as it could happen in the theater or in the movies. It could happen while selling a house or a diamond necklace just as it could happen while talking someone down from a ledge.

In any case, getting the details right is of ultimate concern and in many cases getting the feeling right is important too.

Life is to be lived directly if it is to be lived at all. Too much planning and routine takes the life out of life. You need to be able to think and act spontaneously. You're at your best when you are facing each moment without influence from the past or the future. In this manner you can feel into each moment deeply and truly, letting your actions flow from there. A good day is unpredictable, full of moments where you must think on your feet.

Learning is done best by taking action. A rehearsal involves action. Practice involves action. Other forms of study involving too many concepts and too much reading are a recipe for suffering.

You tend to be very observant of other people. You note every nuance in their facial expressions and can often empathize with their plight.

Life is sensual. The physical world of color, sound, smell, touch and taste can evoke strong feelings, so you work to make your environment a place that evokes positive feelings. Your environment starts with your own appearance. What does your appearance say? What does it provoke? It's almost always better to provoke something than nothing. Boredom is to be avoided and being boring might be equal to being offensive.

You need a variety of sensual experiences to feel alive. Life is a feast and it's meant to be taken in fully. It is an offering not to be wasted. You are a part of that feast, that spectacle, that drama that is meant to be fully experienced.

At your best, you take life as it is and you take people as they are. You don't waste time and energy judging by some external standard. The standard is exactly that which appears before you.

When under severe stress you might start creating underlying meanings that aren't there. You might zero in on a particular and unsettling interpretation of your circumstances that seems unshakeable. Dreams and symbolism may flood your consciousness, becoming overly important, distracting you from the here and now. On the other side of sensory reality are the symbols, dreams, theories, and metaphors that tie the particular to the universal. If you spend most of your time in the sensory realm your ability to perceive the other side will likely be inaccurate and distorted. The flood of intuitive information is your consciousness trying to make sense of a foreign world where you have little experience. While it is worthwhile to be curious about what it all means. It's probably best not to rely on these intuitive perceptions or take them too seriously. This is true especially if there's a world-ending flavor to them. Concrete actions like making contingency plans can be helpful.

ESFP Quotes

"[I want Starbucks to be a place where] you are swept away by attention to detail. ... [We're a company] that's about multiple sensory experiences, and it's about romance." - Howard Schultz

"I never want to be boring, so therefore I aspire to always be interesting, experimental and entertaining." - Katy Perry

"I was always the kid in school who tried to get attention. ... I'd do little unexpected performances." - Leonardo DiCaprio

"You better live every day like your last because one day you're going to be right." - Ray Charles