Understanding Personality Types
How the enneagram helps you discover how and why people think, feel, and act the way they do
Each person is born with a unique personality.
The formation of our personality is mostly learned through circumstances, our primary caretakers, and other people, but our specific preferences are believed to be inherent in us by the time we are born.
Unfortunately, most of us are almost-if-not-completely unaware of our patterns…leaving us controlled by these innate invisible forces — or worse, becoming doomed to repeat a painful past.
Have you ever felt stuck doing the same things over and over again? Have you ever wondered why people stay in the same cycles of bad relationships? Why can’t we overcome patterns of negative thoughts or self limiting beliefs?
This leaves us feeling like a walking contradiction at times.
“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”
― Richard Rohr
In order to live in a new way, we need to break the pattern. But to break free, we must understand ourselves first.
By connecting our patterns into grouped personality types, we are able to predict learning styles, motivations, behavior and character traits — information which has enormous implications in terms of marketing and other business practices.
The Enneagram is one such means of defining these personality types.
It is a framework that groups people into nine basic personality types, each represented by a number. Its origins are unclear, although some say it has its roots in early ancient history. Ennea means “nine” in Greek, and gram refers to “model”.
In brief, the nine personality types are as follows:
Type One:
The Perfectionist, The Reformer, The Critic, Impatient & Orderly.
Type Two:
The Helper, The Giver & the Loving person.
Type Three:
The Achiever, The Performer, The Motivator & The Effective Person
Type Four:
The Romantic, The Artist, The Individualist & The Connoisseur.
Type Five:
The Observer, The Thinker, The Investigator, The Innovator & The Sage.
Type Six:
The Loyalist, The Trooper, The Devil’s Advocate & The Trouble-shooter.
Type Seven:
The Adventurer, The Epicure, The Optimist & The Generalist.
Type Eight:
The Challenger, The Leader, The Top Dog & The Champion.
Type Nine:
The Mediator, The Abdicator, The Peacemaker & the Equalizer.
The numbers used to designate each personality type are intended to provide an unbiased shorthand way of indicating a person’s traits without passing shame or judgement. The numerical ranking is of no significance.
No one personality type is better or worst than the other, with each having its own assets and limitations.
However, interestingly, some types are often more desirable than others in any given culture or group, not because of the superior value of a particular type but rather because it has the qualities which that particular society rewards.
“The Enneagram is a tool that awakens our compassion for people just as they are, not the people we wish they would become so our lives would become easier.”
― Ian Morgan Cron
It is widely believed that a person can only have one place/number on the Enneagram, which will not change with time. What will happen as a person ages is their characteristics may soften or become more pronounced as they grow and develop.
It is also believed that we are strongly influenced by the numbers on either side of our core personality type. For example, although my core traits are that of a type 5, I may be heavily influenced by type 4 or a type 6.
Having first determined your weaknesses and strengths to find out which personality type you are, you will need to look into the descriptions of each personality type in detail to find out more about your motivations and character.
Here’s a great starting place to discover your type:
Ian Morgan Cron, author of The Road Back To You, has one of the most accurate and in-depth assessment to understand your enneagram type. You can find the test here: https://ianmorgancron.com/assessment
The enneagram is just the beginning of a deeper journey
When you dive deeper into your type on the enneagram, a whole new side of life will unfold.
Using the enneagram, you’ll not only begin to understand and experience greater acceptance for yourself…you’ll also be able to connect more deeply with others.
I encourage you to start your deeper journey of self discovery today.
To a new adventure,
-Bryan J. Switalski
