The Enneagram: What’s My Type?
Harness the power of your personality to help you make the changes you want.
Your personality has a direct impact on your life, including eating and exercise, and your ability to change. If you are not aware of your personalities motivations and drives, you can become a slave to them, making change even more difficult.
When you begin to understand your personality, you can work with it to help you in all areas of your life, including food, eating and remaining physically activity, as well as in understanding relationships and successfully negotiating your career. And the Enneagram is a great way to do this.
How To Determine Your Enneagram Type
There are nine Enneagram "types." Each type has the same basic motivations and views the world in similar ways. As you learn about your type you will learn more about your gifts and positive qualities. You will also learn more about your self-defeating tendencies, blind spots, and ways to get yourself stuck.
It is often difficult to face ourselves with the level of honesty the Enneagram provides. Know that there is no one pattern that is better than any other. Each has fascinating positives, and equally fascinating negatives associated with it.
Enneagram tests are interesting and can lead you in the right direction, but they can give inaccurate results, primarily because the Enneagram so expertly reveals our shadow side, and most of us do not know our shadow side well.
When Karin first identified her type, she found her type, but then discounted much of what she read, “Except that is not me. Neither is that. Or that.” Then, weeks later, she would be doing something and realize, “Oh my goodness, that is exactly what the book described, and I AM doing it!”
Below are brief descriptions of each type. Which one best describes you?
Enneagram Type Descriptions
Type 1: The Reformer
Perfectionists, responsible, fixated on improvement
Ones are essentially looking to make things better, as they think nothing is ever quite good enough. Their minds are constantly scanning for what is wrong, with themselves, those around them, and the world. This makes them perfectionists who want to reform and improve, who desire to make order out of the omnipresent chaos.
Type 2: The Helper
Helpers who need to be needed
Twos essentially feel that they are worthy insofar as they are helpful to others. Love is their highest ideal. Selflessness is their duty. Giving to others is their reason for being. Involved, socially aware, usually extroverted, Twos are the type of people who remember everyone's birthday and who go the extra mile to help out a co-worker, spouse or friend in need.
Type 3: The Achiever
Focused on the presentation of success, to attain validation
Threes need to be validated in order to feel worthy; they pursue success and want to be admired. They are frequently hard working, competitive and are highly focused in the pursuit of their goals, whether their goal is to be the most successful salesperson in the company, be the best dancer, or the "sexiest" guy in their social circle.
Type 4: The Individualist
Identity seekers, who feel unique and different
Fours build their identities around their perception of themselves as being somehow different or unique; they are thus self-consciously individualistic. They tend to see their difference from others as being both a gift and a curse - a gift, because it sets them apart from those they perceive as being somehow "common," and a curse, as it so often seems to separate them from the simpler forms of happiness that others so readily seem to enjoy.
Type 5: The Investigator
Thinkers who tend to withdraw and observe
Fives essentially fear that they don't have enough inner strength to face life, so they tend to withdraw, to retreat into the safety and security of the mind where they can mentally prepare for their emergence into the world. Fives feel comfortable and at home in the realm of thought. They are generally intelligent, well read and thoughtful and they frequently become experts in the areas that capture their interest.
Type 6: The Loyalist
Conflicted between trust and distrust
Sixes essentially feel insecure, as though there is nothing quite steady enough to hold onto. At the core of the type Six personality is a kind of fear or anxiety. Sixes don't trust easily; they are often ambivalent about others, until the person has absolutely proven herself, at which point they are likely to respond with steadfast loyalty.
Type 7 - The Enthusiast
Pleasure seekers and planners, in search of distraction
Sevens are essentially concerned that their lives be an exciting adventure. They are future oriented, restless people who are generally convinced that something better is just around the corner. They are quick thinkers who have a great deal of energy and who make lots of plans. They tend to be extroverted, multi-talented, creative and open minded.
Type 8 - The Challenger
Taking charge, because they don't want to be controlled
Eights are essentially unwilling to be controlled, either by others or by their circumstances; they fully intend to be masters of their fate. Eights are strong willed, decisive, practical, tough minded and energetic. They also tend to be domineering; their unwillingness to be controlled by others frequently manifests in the need to control others instead.
Type 9 - The Peacemaker
Keeping peace and harmony
Nines essentially feel a need for peace and harmony. They tend to avoid conflict at all costs, whether it be internal or interpersonal. As the potential for conflict in life is virtually ubiquitous, the Nine's desire to avoid it generally results in some degree of withdrawal from life, and many Nines are, in fact, introverted. Other Nines lead more active, social lives, but nevertheless remain to some to degree "checked out," or not fully involved, as if to insulate themselves from threats to their peace of mind.
Getting Clarity on Your Enneagram Type
The best (and probably the most fun) way to determine your type is to attend an Enneagram workshop. Check out our Events page to learn about upcoming workshops. You may also want to sign up for our Gainesville Enneagram Community Facebook page.
From an Enneagram Workshop Participant
"I realize that everyone has different ways of reacting to situations. I used to find myself asking why people acted a certain way and why they didn’t think like me, but it is because not everyone thinks like me and that is okay. I really think this self-awareness is what I have been searching for for SO long and is what I really needed to truly grow. It has opened up a whole new world to me."
~ FG, Gainesville
Want to Learn More About the Enneagram?
We recommend the following books:
Wisdom of the Enneagram - a great book with which to get started, don't miss the end, which describes how to use the Enneagram for spiritual growth
The Enneagram Made Easy - a very easy, and fun, guide to the Enneagram, with cartoon drawings to take it all in. Their other books are also recommended, including one for parenting and typing kids.
The Enneagram in Love and Work - good introductions on each type, and an excellent section on how each of the types relates to each other in work and love relationships.
The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul - an in-depth and deep book focusing on spiritual growth and the Enneagram, recommended only after having a basic understanding of the Enneagram.
Also, visit the Enneagram Institute website for in-depth descriptions, tests, workshops and more. Also, the Enneagram School of Awakening, which is where Karin got most of her training, has online classes.
