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As an intellectual you are driven by curiosity. You are limitless in your ability to consider a concept or situation from every angle and often arrive at wise conclusions in doing so. You seek the truth in every aspect of life.
You are a thought-provoking leader. Your ability to consider all angles provides valuable insight to your team and your curious mind drives conversations and brainstorming. Your keen intellect sparks greater mental energy in those around you and keeps life full of wonder.
As a deeply introspective person, time alone for you is imperative to ponder new developments and decide on a course of action. You want to get things right and feel a deep responsibility to do so.
As an intellectual, you believe that knowledge is power. You choose facts over intuition to guide your decisions. You are likely to explore every angle of a situation and gather as much information as possible, which leads you to draw conclusions and take note of small details that others may miss. Sometimes this causes heightened anxiety and can make you hesitant to make the final call.
You fear being wrong, letting others down, and unknown variables. Fear is a healthy emotion that alerts us when it is time to get prepared. Fear alerts us to the fact that something needs assessing. When you live in the space of fear it can become paralyzing and confusing. The feelings of anxiety and overwhelm can present themselves as guarded and tense. The opportunity is to embrace the fear as your friend. Shift the shallow breath to a deep breath and ask yourself, “Is this fear justified?” If so, “What do you need to prepare for?” It is also an opportunity to shift your story. Are you telling the story of right vs wrong, collaborative accountability vs individual responsibility, or skeptical vs confident?
So, before you read the shadow side, I invite you to see this as an opportunity for growth. Your inner critic can twist things into right and wrong. Your intentions are pure, yet they can create discord in your collaboration.
When the intellectual is not serving you to be your best, your fast-paced thinking may launch you 5 steps ahead of those around you. It might be hard to slow down and give others in your team the space to be curious and contribute to the conversation. Moving on to the next step without allowing others to be heard can leave them feeling unappreciated. Embracing the silence and allowing others the opportunity to process their thoughts will allow you to stay connected. Your quick mind is something others hold in high regard, but taking time to acknowledge their contributions before moving on to the next step is important. This acknowledgement offers others a boost of confidence by making them feel valued and, thus, more likely to keep contributing.
As an intellectual, you likely have an extensive vocabulary and a wealth of background knowledge, but others may get overwhelmed with excessive information and obscure words. Your colleagues may find themselves intimidated or unable to fully absorb what you are saying. It can sometimes be more effective to stick to the basics and allow others to ask for more information if they would like it. Your wealth of information is an asset to your team, but it is important to be aware of times when you may be going over the heads of those around you. Your gift of curiosity can come in handy to ensure that you are connected in your communication.
Being an intellectual, you like to gather and consider all the information before making decisions. Your dedication to the truth is admirable, but sometimes it can overcomplicate things and draw out the decision-making process. Others on your team may want a decision faster than you are ready to make it, at which point it would be helpful to assess whether this is fear holding you back or if your desire to take more time is justified. By assessing your confidence vs. skepticism, you will gain insight into the benefits of moving forward.
Things are not always easy for the intellectual. You feel uncomfortable with the unknown and deeply responsible to those around you for getting things right, so making decisions can be paralyzing for you. As a deeply introspective person, you need time alone with your thoughts to comfortably move forward, which can be difficult when those around you would prefer to move forward quickly.
Intellectuals make good judges, scientists, inventors, and philosophers.
Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series
Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones
