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Type One Principled, discerning, purposeful, rational, idealistic, orderly, hard-working, ethical, and conscientious. Want to have integrity and to improve things. Can become afraid of making any mistake, impatient, in denial of repressed anger and slip into being perfectionistic, critical, judgmental and convinced they are always right. |
Type Two Empathic, generous, warm-hearted, sincere, caring, altruistic, dedicated, and self-sacrificing. Want to help others, to love and be loved. Can lose track of their own needs, become people-pleasing, do things for others in order to be needed, and may slip into being flattering, prideful, seductive, possessive and manipulative. |
Type Three Ambitious, competent, charming, self-assured, goal- oriented, adaptable, and energetic. Want to succeed and advance in their lives.Can become compettive, workaholoic, deceptive, arrogant, and overly concerned with image and being seen as having status. |
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Type Four Creative, introspective, quiet, sensitive, self-aware, individualistic, romantic, and artistic. Want to understand their inner world, be unique and express themselves. Can slip into being moody, self-conscious, self-indulgent and self-pitying, feeling defective and exempt from the demands of everyday life. |
Type Five Insightful, curious, intellectually complex, alert, theoretical, independent, innovative, visionary. Want to understand the world and become skillful/knowledgeable. May become overly occupied with their thoughts, become too detached, eccentric, isolated, high-strung and slip into nihilism. |
Type Six Loyal, committed, reliable, engaging, analytical, hardworking, disciplined, responsible, team player, stable. Want to find/build security and support. Can become overly cautious, anxious,indecisive, reactive to authority, defiant, and slip into self-doubt, evasion and suspicion. |
Type Seven Enthusiastic, high-spirited, playful, productive, versatile, worldy, optimistic, accomplished, and spontaneous. Want to experience life and seek new horizons and have fun. Can becomes scattered, distracted, overextended and undisciplined, impulsive, and slip into hedonism, excess, and exhaustion.. |
Type Eight Powerful, self-confident, assertive, heroic, resourceful, decisive, protective, magnanimous and oriented to leading. Want to be strong, in control and independent. Can become overly proud, confrontational, never letting others close and slip into dominating, aggressive, cruel, intimidating, and terrorizing. |
Type Nine Easy-going, trusting, peaceful, gentle, accepting, stable, good-natured, kind, and supportive. Want to be in harmony with the world and at peace. Can become too willing to go along with others to avoid conflict, minimize unsetting circumstances and slip into being complacent, forgetful, passive, stubborn and denial of reality. |
To return to the Enneagram Introduction click here.
Remember - from the perspective of personal and professional development, the enneagram model of personality is not an end in itself, but is useful insofar as it gives us insight into our habitual modes of perceiving, deciding, valuing and behaving. Armed with that knowledge of ourselves, we can better awaken to our true selves, our inherent freedom and our authentic power.