Here comes a weekend.

Remember to avoid the sensory as a problem-solver. Sensory engagement is not your problem-solving gift.

Your inner caveman (or shadow) will tell you: React to your life full of problems by taking it easy this weekend. Drink, overeat, shop, run, write code, blast the music, draw pictures, watch movies. All weekend long.

But no, not a problem is solved there.

For others, yes. For us though, not usually. Sensation isn’t some kind of a big answer for us.

How to solve problems then?

Your gift for problem solving means extending and opening your thoughts to things that are causing your stress.

Don’t avoid them even though it is a weekend. You will benefit and enjoy the weekend more if you take simple steps now to understand your problems better. Write down your thoughts about them. Then, write down some possible approaches. If you get sucked into actually solving them, remember you’ll feel a LOT better afterward, and not just a fleeting sensory “better”, but a genuine feeling of release.

Remember your hyperbolic sensory function wants you to be extreme and seek the best of the best sensory experiences. Take a calm line there. Your real gifts are in perception and analysis. So perceive! Analyze. Do research. You got a problem? Run the numbers. Spreadsheet it. Diagram it. Mind map it. Through this kind of effort you will get life’s cheat codes handed to you.

Some sensory relaxation is important. But too much is quite common.

We also push ourselves as INTJs to use our senses to chase an amazing career. The weekend becomes our big practice session. Woo hoo, non-stop coding! Illustrating! Woodworking! Whatever it is, understand that you’re not using your first two functions here. Or your third. This is your fourth function, inferior extraverted sensing. Use it more than just a little bit for fun, and it will punish you.

If you must push it, remember that it is improvisatory. It doesn’t like all of your deep planning. It wants yo to just dive in and perform. That will make things easier.

Still, expecting to spend your whole weekend doing productive sensory/detail work is a fool’s errand for most INTJs. Especially the young ones who think they need to be a billionaire in order to match what their inner vision tells them about themselves. Do the math—there’s a part of your brain that’s quietly protesting that. It wants you to do the math. Run the numbers. How much will ever be enough?

Remember that anxiety can get bad on Sunday night. If you struggle with compulsive, anxiety-driven behavior, the stuff you’re not happy about, that’s when it’ll tend to really come out.

Thoughts of Monday are stressful. Especially if you haven’t thought about Monday yet. Don’t avoid it. Use Monday planning as a way to allow yourself to relax. Look at your Monday schedule with a little bit of distance. Say, “It won’t be so bad. I’ll do this and this and it’ll be OK.” Take just five minutes.

Five minutes, maybe ten max. Your weekend will be better after that, INTJ. Get your thoughts out of your head.

Enjoy the weekend guilt-free.

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