Enneagram to change your life

There are very few things I wish I had done earlier - after all, we're always executing or making decisions to the best of our abilities at a given time.

When I got my Enneagram result from a typing interview, something changed in my brain - and eventually, in my life. Getting to know your Enneagram type is probably the one thing I wish I had done when I was in high school. A pleasant, peaceful feeling of ‘My life makes sense now!’.

I also want to disclaim that I studied general psychology and was on my way to potentially becoming a psychologist. I completed 5 semesters of courses, covering a wide range of topics from developmental psychology, social psychology, statistics, cognitive psychology, learning about different methodologies of personality assessments, clinical psychology, etc. So I was familiar with a number of methodologies and personality tests.

One of the main reasons that drew me to studying psychology at a university was my deep interest in understanding how humans function - and, more importantly, how we can grow and develop as personalities, in a healthy and sustainable way. How to find out what's next for us.I'm surprised I had never heard or learned about the Enneagram. It was only after I worked for a US client of mine with a presence in the mental health space.

Enneagram typing interview was something each one of their team members had to complete. I only read and studied more about it after I completed the interview. And it blew my mind, in a good way.

My past experience with doing personality tests like The Myers-Briggs, Big Five, Introvert/Extrovert types and others after I completed them was: "So what?". I learned my type - that made sense, but there was no motivation, nor a clear follow up on what I could do with my result. I probably learned something about myself but in the end, it didn't have that much value or any real impact on my life.

If you decide to find your Enneagram type, I strongly encourage you to do it with a professional in an interview-style, instead of doing an online test.

The Enneagram experience is different in so many ways - you can do your research online, so I'll just put together a couple of points highlighting my perspective:

Enneagram instantly enhances your self-awareness and personal growth. Once you understand your Enneagram type, you gain deep insights into your core motivations, fears, and emotional patterns. It helps you recognize your strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth, enabling greater self-awareness and guiding personal development.

It provides a roadmap for self-improvement by highlighting blind spots and suggesting practices to overcome limitations and enhance positive qualities - for example, socializing/any other activity might not come to you naturally. However, you identify the things you might want to do in order to improve the quality of your life.

It offers a framework for understanding human behavior - this is particularly helpful when it comes to relationships. Understanding not only yourself but others and their motivations/why they do things you might not fancy or understand. There are nine distinct personality types and how they relate to each other. This helps make sense of individual differences and patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

EXTRA TIP: after you learn your type, go ahead on youtube and look from sessions where certain people (the same type as you) talk about themselves and their experience, how they see the world.

Now, on a more personal note…

About 13 years ago, when I started to enter the workforce, I felt the immense pressure by the environment to specialize. I worked in political marketing but wanted to switch industries. It was incredibly hard to pick a single path and even harder to find a job that I'd identify with. I accepted this as a journey and that I had to start somewhere, with something. My first few jobs were really a set of experiments. I was ok with trying things out, seeing what I enjoy and leaving if that wasn't down my alley. The only way to find out was to iterate. Not the best approach from the HR's perspective.

An actual picture of me realizing public affairs in Brussels is not the way to go.  

I had a constant dichotomy - I wanted to specialize in something, but I didn't know what it was. I was always interested in a range of topics, industries; there are a lot of things that fascinate me. I could envision almost any path and going for it, becoming an expert. Yet I found it really hard to commit. And the market was so much different from what it looks like today.

We definitely value generalists more now in 2024 - it's such an important thing to be able to learn by yourself and learn fast, adjust, level up your skills as new technologies/AI come.

I finally understood what was happening after understanding my Enneagram type. I felt a huge relief - there was nothing wrong with me. It's just the way I function - and, more importantly, I think I might have been able to find peace and go with another 'specialized' trajectory as well.Now I have an understanding of what I'm doing, why I'm doing it and, most importantly, enjoying it. :)

Eventually becoming a specialist in a position and space that has tremendous benefits if you're not a specialist! :D

Learning my Enneagram type motivated me to work on/discover myself in a more focused way and eventually find a therapist. I specifically searched for the ones that have experience with the Enneagram - and it's been great!

Curious to learn more about your experience with Enneagram - let me know in the comments. :)

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