ISTJ. The Monitor

At first glance, ISTJs may appear serious, formal, and proper. They tend to love traditions and old-school values that uphold patience, hard work, honor, and social responsibility. Their manner is often reserved, calm, quiet, and upright but they might also surprise you with their quirky off-the-wall humor once you get to know them. They also tend to be very loyal to their inner circle such as family, close friends, and teammates.

ISTJs tend to gravitate toward work that involves inspecting or monitoring compliance to a particular set of rules. They find a steady and repeatable routine to be comforting and value the predictability such a routine brings. 

An ISTJ's ability to overlay the past onto present situations can give them an uncanny grasp for creating a solution that might seem like an extraordinary degree of common sense to others. 

In addition to a traditional outlook, ISTJs possess a logical and efficient mind that stresses the importance of objective criteria. Their inner rulebook provides a guide for getting things done efficiently while they strive to be impartial when dealing with people. For an ISTJ, there is ideally a template that can be applied to any area of life.

The relationship with possibilities is often antagonistic. That is, for ISTJs possibilities are often seen as something to eliminate so that things can go according to plan. You may be very creative in your ability to identify these possibilities and make plans to keep everything on track. Surprises are usually not welcome. Predictability is preferred.

As an ISTJ your relationship with your own feelings may be somewhat ambivalent. That is, at times what you feel about something may be very important and serve to guide you in life decisions. You may also find yourself bubbling with enthusiasm about something. However, most of the time you'll find yourself prioritizing logical and proven approaches when making a decision, especially in the workplace.

When an ISTJ is under extreme stress they may find themselves overwhelmed by negative possibilities that could happen in the world around them. In that case, they may become very imaginative in dreaming up negative possibilities. They may also freeze, cease the ability to imagine any possibilities, and revert straight to what happened in the past that didn't work. If there is no past precedent they may be draw a complete blank.

ISTJ Quotes

“[I am not] one of those thoughtless people who always uncritically accept what is new as necessarily better.”

-Joseph Ratzinger (Pope)

“By how much one has more experience of things past, than another, by so much also they are more prudent, and their expectations the seldomer fail him.” - Thomas Hobbes

“Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” - Warren Buffett

"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected." - George Washington