How do ILIs/INTps survive in real world

[FarDraft]

(For transparency, my type is most likely some INTx. Not sure which one just yet.)

Get better at Te, lol. You value functions that are perhaps the most useful for the corporate world (Te, Se), so you are at no disadvantage socionics-wise.

Here's some relatively more useful advice. Personally, I find it difficult to maintain regular routines. Somewhat embarrassingly, I used to not brush my teeth at night since I was too lazy to walk to the bathroom and do it. Likewise, maintaining regular exercise routines are very difficult since I just don't care enough about those things. However, they are important. So, I started small. I forced myself to brush my teeth twice a day every day with no exceptions. I then began doing 50 pushups in the morning and at night every day with no exceptions. I then began systematizing other important things like drinking water, eating healthy, and shit like that. While I'm not nearly as active as some Se ego type, I've begun streamlining my life and making small things more efficient. The mentality has led me to want to change other aspects of my life that are not as efficient as they can be. For example, if I'm studying for an hour something that could have been understood in 30 mins, I force myself to figure out ways to not get as distracted or something.

EDIT: despite ths last paragraph not being that optimistic, I think it still may be too optimistic or at least beyond what I'm capable of. I have begun brushing teeth and doing pushups, but I do admit that there are days I skip out due to laziness and that I'm not really applying this to other aspects of life. Energy is hard to come by and the benefit doesn't seem worth it in a lot of instances.

The key for me was to start very small and then continuously do that small thing until it became commonplace/habitual. Then, add something else and continue to do that regularly until it becomes commonplace. And so on and so forth. When your life becomes streamlined you begin to dislike all the wasted time and inefficiencies so you remove those. The most important thing is to not do too many things at the same time or add in another routine prior to one settling. Otherwise, you'll feel more inclined to break one routine since you've "done enough by following through on the others today".

As far as I know (I'm in uni too, so take this with a grain of salt), surviving in the real world is about grinding out tasks that you may or may not want to do for some reward, usually financial compensation. That means not screwing around and wasting time. It takes common sense (which ILIs are usually good at) since you have to not be stupid with who you deal with or which tasks you decide to take up (although you often have no choice here). With time and luck, promotions come and a greater reward comes with perhaps greater effort put in.

I too would like to do something I love (that also makes a lot of money). However, the world often doesn't work like that and to end up doing something that you love often means do a lot of things first. It's too often I see people throw away their lives because they wanted to "do what they love" and they end up hating what they love because they can't survive off it. Don't be stupid with this stuff. Be pragmatic about it and realize what's needed to be done for basic comfort first.