Differences btwn ENFJ and INFJ

I'm a fairly balanced ENFJ with a strong Fe as well as a strong Ni - which basically translates to me being happy both introverted and introspecting, or extroverted and gregarious. 



How Fe allows a person to become extroverted is that no matter what the situation is, how dire, or how draining, the Fe-user has an inherent pull to engage the other person. At the same time, engaging other people adds to our energy - i.e. the more we engage the other person, the more energized we get.

Practically, one of the biggest differences between ENFJ's and INFJ's is the amount and use of this energy. ENFJ's are not uncommonly likened to a perpetual energy drink. The more we get of people, the more we want of them. 


My experience with the ENFJ energy
- One of the biggest noticeable difference b/w ENFJ's and INFJ's not by looking at how we socialize, because the functions pretty much hold most of our socialization methods constant [with respect to judgement of people, using instincts to read people, helping them etc] ... but how much we socialize. INFJ's though can be outspoken, able to lead in certain group situations will eventually tire of extended social contact. Whereas, the ENFJ will continue to go. We interact in much the same way as INFJ's ... it's just that we interact with more and more people given the opportunity and for longer hours. 

- With positive interactions [it's important to note this because our energy drains in negative interactions], ENFJ's continue to maintain a strong level of energy before, during and after the interaction. Even though we are planners and love to go by the appointment book, we are a little more inclined than INFJ's to be spontaneous and engage in impulsive plan-making. We can normally switch between spontaneity and planning depending on the situation being perfectly happy in either scenario - as long as the end result allows us to engage our Fe with respect to pleasing people.

The Key Difference in Relationship Management

- Being social animals, ENFJ's actually have very defined standards of maintaining relationships. It can be broken down into a science. Sometimes, we make many friends depending on mutual fulfilment of needs. E.g. If there is a certain interest that I have in a particular trade / craft / science, then I would actively seek the friendship of the person that is involved in that trade so that I can get as much information about that craft straight from the horse's mouth. 

This may seem a little selfish - however, how Fe works in this scenario is that we prefer to offer our help / service to the other person with their trade / craft in order to become friends. It becomes a symbiotic friendship. We repeat the same process with other individuals till we reach a point where all of our own needs are being met through our social interactions - and also our own need to give is being met by allowing us to do favours to the person we're involved with <-- this is actually our most preferred mode of behaviour.

Like the INFJ's, ENFJ's are also drawn towards the down-trodden underdog. We have a strong need to provide some sort of a service to the ailing individual [for ENFJ males, the Damsel in Distress is the ultimate temptress]. The difference is that INFJ's would be more inclined to talk the person through their problems whereas ENFJ's would be more inclined to invite the person for an intimate walk, an engaging phone-call, a coffee 'date'. Also, the difference is in how much we can engage the other person. If the other person really needs, we can engage them for a full 10-15 hours before feeling ourselves getting worn down.

Now imagine the above and trying to do that as an INFJ for about 5-10 people at the same time. That would be I think one of the key differences. ENFJ's are more inclined to take more people on as projects then INFJ's would.

We have a very keen memory [when it comes to people's problems - not day-to-day routine things] and also the ability to compartmentalize our feelings for different individuals. 
Are ENFJ's as Committed as INFJ's?

One of the most common questions I've seen is that just because people see the ENFJ as a social animal, they immediately assume that an ENFJ would probably be an emotional, or a physical cheat. That is interestingly not the case. An ENFJ, though extremely social is very unlikely to cheat on their SO's. One of the reasons for this is that our Fe is at it's max when thinking about the SO --- therefore no other individual gets the same priority. Even when feelings start developing --- we get an immediate warning from within that forces us to realize that we may be erring and could potentially be causing harm to our SO - therefore even though we have many friends to fulfil some of our emotional needs, we don't let them get to a point where those friends would "replace" the value of our SO.

Do ENFJ's have deep thoughts about saving the world like INFJ's?

Another question that comes up frequently is whether ENFJ's are capable of using Ni the same way as INFJ's to have deep thoughts about the world or not? ... and the answer is yes ... ENFJ's are very much the same in their use of Fe Ni as the INFJ's --- the difference comes in that INFJ's are more likely to be literary authors of the revolutionary statement whereas the ENFJ would be the most likely person to carry the message to the people. A classic example of a saviour ENFJ is Martin Luther King.

Are ENFJ's Introverted?

Depending on the development of the Ni and the balance with Fe, ENFJ's can be just as introverted as INFJ's or INTJ's. Because we maintain such a large network of friends and social friendships [most of which are based on us being the service providers] we have to retreat into ourselves for long periods in order to engage Ti [which is traditionally our weakest function]. At times it takes us 1-2 days or even weeks to analyze a logical situation and come up with an appropriate response to a social dilemma. And in that time, we retreat from the world. Because of this need to mull over social situations, ENFJ's are considered to be one of the most introverted of the extroverted types.

Individuals with an equally developed Ni and Fe can be happy both alone as well as around people

Individuals with a less developed Ni can only be alone for a certain amount of time before needing social contact. 

The biggest difference?

The biggest difference between an INFJ and ENFJ imo is pretty much the number of social relationships welike to have. There's never really an "enough is enough" attitude for an ENFJ until and unless those particular social interactions start draining on our emotional reserves. Even then we don't actually door-slam people - being Fe-dom doesn't allow it. Our door-slam is a begrudging one i.e. we accept if another person wants to door-slam us ... but our doors remain open. 

Thoese were some of the key differences I've noticed based on myself and interactions with other ENFJ's [the ones that I can think of right now - I'll keep adding more as I see them]. If there are more questions, I'll be happy to answer. And if you guys have differences between INFJ's and ENFJ's, please feel free to post.