[Why ENFPs may make fun parents]

When my son said that hippos don’t actually swim because they are “too heavy”, various neuron pathways fired in my brain and I did something unprecedented.

I wrote a story about Happy the Hippo that night. I finished it while watching the Thai drama “Deleted” on Netflix.

The ingredients were all there - I just went to the zoo that day and picked up more knowledge about hippos; I used to teach in a primary school and am familiar with the story mountain arc; and I have his toy animals, so image creation is no problem. ENFPs are great at finding the common thread and connecting seemingly disparate dots together. Once we’re motivated, we spring into action.

So yup, I now have a manuscript of a children’s book. I have also asked ChatGPT for its inputs, checked out Amazon for details on its Kindle publishing platform, and bookmarked the Book Creator website. I also have grandiose plans to edit and publish it on Kindle before my upcoming birthday, donate all proceeds to charity and earn some tax relief at the same time. Then for my son, I will use the FamilyAlbum app to print out a hard copy of my book for him.

So the creative ENFP mind works at lightning speed. As I grow older, I realise that not everyone can visualise the final product as intuitively as me. I have to explain my idea one step at a time.
You would think that with such a concrete plan, I would be hard at work editing my manuscript, right?

But nope, I’m only on page 3.
You see, I got distracted. Since I’m the in-charge of my school’s Spelling Bee, I wanted to pen a book that infuses spelling method. So when inspiration struck, that’s what I did. Wrote a story about Ms Bubble and her animal students, used Bing to generate images, published it on Student Learning Space and even announced it on SgLDC, a Facebook page for Singapore teachers.

So while ENFPs have ideas, not many of them get realised because they don’t have the stamina to execute the nitty-gritty. The shimmering promise of a BRAND NEW idea is more satisfying than honing an already existing one. And that’s actually okay for me because ideas are not a scarce commodity.

Which may explain why bureaucracy doesn’t sit well with ENFPs. Because it’s very obvious to me how I can implement something novel. When I care deeply about something, I will move mountains to get it done.
Anyway, I’m writing this as a form of accountability to myself: Edit “Happy the Hippo” 🦛 and publish it before end August