Beyond Personality Labels

Walking with my wife recently, she shared insights from an article about her Myers-Briggs Type, noting how it seemed to capture her personality more accurately than her Enneagram type. She felt the MBTI mirrored her behaviors and preferences closely, while the Enneagram descriptions didn't quite fit her self-perception. This conversation spiraled into a deeper exploration of how we engage with personality frameworks.

I shared with her a perspective that's been pivotal in my own journey with the Enneagram. Instead of seeing type descriptions as rigid labels, I view them as starting points for introspection. "How might this characteristic manifest in ways I'm not fully aware of?" I asked. This approach has unlocked many doors for me. For instance, learning that my type tends to exert effort to stave off anxiety didn't initially resonate because I rarely feel anxious. Yet, this statement invited me to explore deeper, revealing that my seldom feeling anxious was precisely because of the safeguards I had unknowingly erected. These walls, meant to protect me from anxiety, subtly dictated many of my choices, convincing me that things were "not a big deal," when, in fact, they were mechanisms to maintain my internal equilibrium.

This realization wasn't instantaneous but unfolded through consistent engagement with the Enneagram, offering a language to articulate and understand patterns of behavior that had remained beneath the surface. As we delved into her decisions and behaviors with curiosity, not to diagnose but to understand, we uncovered the silent influence of personality patterns.

Personality assessments, whether MBTI, Enneagram, or others, should be treated as invitations to inquiry rather than definitive answers. They're tools to peel back the layers of our conscious actions to reveal the underlying motivations. It's why I've crafted a unique assessment that approaches this exploration as a dialogue, an ongoing conversation with oneself, rather than a static test.

Reflecting on this, the profound lesson is the transformative power of self-awareness that such frameworks can facilitate. The Enneagram, with its focus on unconscious drivers, may initially seem harder to connect with than the behavior-focused MBTI. Yet, its value lies in the depth of personal insight it can provoke, revealing not just how we act, but why—insights that are crucial for genuine personal development.

If this journey of self-discovery intrigues you, I encourage you to reach out. I've developed an assessment that treats understanding your personality type as an exploratory process, a way to start a conversation about yourself that goes beyond surface-level attributes. By engaging with this assessment, you're not just categorizing yourself; you're embarking on a path of self-exploration.