Last week, I heard someone asking about someone’s enneagram. I was intrigued about it so I immediately googled it (on a side note… I find it funny that google is now a verb. How crazy is it?). Any way… where was I? Right! The enneagram is a personality system of nine types of personalities. While it’s uncertain whether this type is genetically determined, many believe it is already in place at birth. The nine types (or “enneatypes”, “ennea” means “nine”) are universally identified by the numbers 1 to 9. These numbers have a standard way of being placed around the Enneagram symbol.
Because I was curious as to what mine would be, I took the test. There were some questions within the test that just “clicked” in the sense that they very eloquently described how I feel/behave in some circumstances. For instance:
I accumulate lots of knowledge to counteract my lack of self-confidence (this one hurt lol)
Change-whether to a new job or a new school makes me more anxious than it does most people
I have been told I am a perfectionist and I suppose it is true (got a comment way to recently about this)
I seldom compromise my principles
I see all points of view when there is a dispute, so it’s hard for me to take a side
Sometimes I am too critical of others but I am much harder on myself than I am on others
and my personal favorite…
It really bothers me when people don’t say thank you 🙂
Initially—without knowing much about each of the type—I thought I would either be a type 3 or a 6. The test results said I am most likely a type 1… The Reformer. After reading the description, I cannot say I am surprised.
The Reformer: Perfectionists, responsible, fixated on improvement.
People of this personality type are essentially looking to make things better, as they think nothing is ever quite good enough. This makes them perfectionists who desire to reform and improve; idealists who strive to make order out of the omnipresent chaos.
Ones have a fine eye for detail. They are always aware of the flaws in themselves, others and the situations in which they find themselves. This triggers their need to improve, which can be beneficial for all concerned, but which can also prove to be burdensome to both the One and those who are on the receiving end of the One’s reform efforts.
The One’s inability to achieve the perfection they desire feeds their feelings of guilt for having fallen short, and fuels their incipient anger against an imperfect world. Ones, however, tend to feel guilty about their anger. Anger is a “bad” emotion, and Ones strive sincerely and wholeheartedly to be “good.” Anger is therefore vigorously repressed from consciousness, bursting forth in occasional fits of temper, but usually manifesting in one of its many less obvious permutations – impatience, frustration, annoyance and judgmental criticality. For this reason, Ones can be difficult to live with, but, on the high side, they tend to be loyal, responsible and capable partners and friends.
Ones are serious people; they tend to be highly principled, competent and uncompromising. They follow the rules and expect others to do so as well. Because they believe so thoroughly in their convictions, they are often excellent leaders who can inspire those who follow them with their own vision of excellence. Reform movements are frequently spearheaded by Ones.
Ones are often driven and ambitious, and are sometimes workaholics. But whatever their professional involvement, they are definitely active, practical people who get things done. They are natural born organizers, listmakers who finish everything on the list, the last one to leave the office, the first one to return, industrious, reliable, honest and dutiful.
The relentlessness of their pursuit of the ideal can make Ones tense people who have a hard time relaxing and who unnecessarily deny themselves many of the harmless pleasures of life. They tend to be emotionally repressed and uncomfortable with expressing tender feelings; they generally see emotionality as a sign of weakness and lack of control. They are seldom spontaneous. They have multiple interests and talents however; they are self-reliant and seldom run out of things to do.
I think that for the most part, the type nailed it on the head. Like… workaholic? count me in! eye for detail? here for it! self-denaying? who? me?
the-pickwick.com 