Learning more about your Enneatype
An Enneagram is a system of personality typing, based on the patterns evident in how we interpret the world, and in how we manage our emotions as we do so.
Combining traditional wisdom with modern psychology, the enneagram is a comprehensive, powerful and versatile system for understanding ourself and others. It has a variety of uses, including:
- Personal development and spiritual growth.
- Developing successful relationships at home and at work.
- Increasing self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
- Increasing personal and professional effectiveness.
- Understanding our patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.
- Supporting our strengths and developing our potential.
- Identifying our limitations and associated blind spots.
- Becoming more understanding of other people’s behaviours.
- Managing our personal reactivity.
The Enneagram is essentially a model of the human psyche, which is principally taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types (often called ‘enneatypes’), defining them in relation to the corresponding points of the geometric enneagram symbol, and referencing the subtle connections between each personality type.
The nine enneatypes are not rigid divisions, so there is no such thing as a pure enneatype. Each enneatype is influenced by its neighbouring types, and the neighbouring types are known as “wings”. Most people have one dominant wing (e.g. a Two with a Three wing), but for some people both wings influence them equally, in which case the wing isn’t usually referred to. The types are distinguished by unconscious motivations and preoccupations, which produce patterns of perception, feeling, and behavior, which can be gifts or obstacles to the personality.
You can find your dominant Enneatype by taking this online test.
Type 8: The Challenger
– A Powerful, Confident, Confronter
– Afraid of being hurt, controlled, vulnerable or weak
– Afraid of not being protected or in command
Eights strive to be strong and self reliant.
They prefer to be important and assertive.
Eights are therefore maverick and entrepreneurial, hence the key to their transformative growth lies in channelling this charisma for positive change in the world around them.
Want to dive deeper?
Self-development and Coaching with The Enneagram is a self-paced course designed to unpack the nature and instincts of each Enneagram type. You will learn how to apply the Enneagram to your personal and professional development as well as that of your colleagues or coaching clients.
