An ancient tradition that homes in on your deepest, most emotionally driven motivations, the modern-day Enneagram typology presents a roadmap to overcoming your fears and empowering a more conscious life. Get to know your Enneagram type — and how to use that knowledge to move into more joy and fulfillment.
When it comes to self-development, living in this day and age has its perks. There’s an abundance of tools and resources that offer nuanced wisdom into your innate nature — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually — with the end goal of supporting your personal growth.
Some are time-honored systems like astrology and numerology that go deep, addressing not just your personal identity and emotional needs, but also your bigger-picture soul purpose. Then, there are more modern personality profiling mechanisms, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, StrengthsFinder, and the Big Five, which offer assessments of your strengths and weaknesses.
The Enneagram, on the other hand, shares commonalities with both types of these frameworks, blending age-old wisdom as it relates to personality with specific, modern application.
“Compared to other personality frameworks, which often describe what people do, the Enneagram describes why people do what they do, focusing on the behind-the-scenes, very elusive motivations of fear, desire, and need,” Joanne Kim, a licensed therapist specializing in Enneagram therapy in San Jose, California, tells DailyOM.
The Origins of the Enneagram’s 9 Personality Types
“Enneagram is an ancient tradition that’s been around for thousands of years, though not in the way that we know about it now,” according to Kim. Although its exact origins are a bit blurry, it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that South American philosopher Oscar Ichazo began to develop the modern framework that people know and use today. It was Ichazo's student, a California psychiatrist named Claudio Naranjo, who really crystallized the system and started teaching it — and brought it to the United States.
“I think it’s the most comprehensive system of understanding our personality that I’ve come across,” Doug J. Moore, PhD, a psychologist, life coach, and spiritual teacher, shares with DailyOM. “Systems like Myers-Briggs [a self-report inventory designed to identify one’s personality type] have their value, but the Enneagram offers a much more expansive window into who we are and what our potential might be. It’s a beautiful tool in helping us learn how to transform the ego, as opposed to transcending it.”
Interested in learning more? Check out Speak With Purpose, Not Impulse
The Benefits of Knowing Your Enneagram Type
There are nine Enneagram types, symbolized as a circle with nine points and a bunch of angles, which “indicate the specific journey of a person learning to grow beyond their type,” says Kim. By identifying your type, you become aware of certain behaviors you’ve been repeating that keep you stuck in fear. The end goal? To move beyond these subconscious habits and into an expanded sense of consciousness that allows you to live the life you truly desire.
When Kim, a type 4, initially came across the Enneagram in her supervision training as a pre-licensed therapist, she was pretty skeptical. “What people described didn’t resonate, and so I dismissed it. Since then, I’ve discovered type 4s have the reaction of dismissing things because they don’t want to fit into any box, but be different and unique.”
Enneagram offers an expansive window into who we are and what our potential might be.
After learning that finding your Enneagram type is an inherently personal journey, Kim was open to start her own personal study. When she read The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self Knowledge, in which psychotherapist Beatrice Chestnut lays out the intricate workings of each type’s motivations and defense mechanisms, she was sold. Since then, Kim says, “it put my own growth and healing process on hyperspeed. I realized that, for more than a decade, I had been actually creating my own suffering. Once I stopped engaging on autopilot, those points of suffering naturally resolved.”
Moore, a type 9, discovered the Enneagram after he was already a practicing psychologist. “I learned more about myself than I did in all the years of graduate school and doing my own individual therapy.” Not only that, but it also gave him practical pointers on how to move forward in his awakening and spiritual development.
Kim has found the framework especially beneficial in her work as a therapist. “Once I started integrating the Enneagram into my therapy sessions [by helping clients discover their type and the behavioral patterns that come with it], the average number of sessions that clients needed drastically declined. I feel that it helps others unlock potential more readily and heal from the deep wounds that they didn’t even know they had by driving better behavior patterns.” A systematic review of the Enneagram in the Journal of Clinical Psychology conducted in 2020 found it supportive for personal and spiritual growth.
Another surprising benefit: Understanding all nine types means having a deep realization about the people in your life, Moore points out. “It’s a way of having more compassion and appreciation for others. It’s a lightbulb moment of, oh, that’s why they do that. That’s just their personality style showing up.” It’s especially helpful in navigating parenthood and partnership alike.
How to Identify Your Enneagram Type
Because the Enneagram describes our very internal motivations, it can be difficult for some individuals to know their type, Kim shares, as self-awareness and honesty are required. Another reason it can feel elusive? “We have all nine of these aspects within us,” Moore tells us.
All of us have one dominant Enneagram type, which most experts believe is something you’re born with, but we might also be influenced by one or both of our adjacent personality types. For example, if you’re a type 2, you could share characteristics of types 1 and 3.
Read on to see which type truly resonates with you. And if you find yourself uncomfortable with one in particular, that may be because you recognize yourself in there!
The 9 Enneagram Types
Enneagram Type 1: The Reformer
Biggest Driver: To “fix,” perfect, and refine in order to feel safe. “I like calling them the improvers,” Kim says, “because their main mode of operation is to sense that things in life, themselves, or other people could be better or should be better.”
Greatest Strengths: “Type 1s are like scalpels,” Kim shares. “They tend to be very focused and detail-oriented, because they’re directing concentrated energy on making change happen.”
Moore adds, “They can really look at a system and know how to reform it so that it’s functioning better and healthier.”
Pain Point: “The 1 can get into some perfectionism, compulsiveness, and desires for control,” says Moore. “While those can be assets, they can also be liabilities.”
How 1s Can Grow: There’s a big motivation for inner work because they have such strong internal values. Moore suggests channeling energy toward self-compassion and acceptance.
Enneagram Type 2: The Helper
Biggest Driver: To feel liked and loved. “They’re looking at life and wondering if they have enough value and worth,” Moore explains.
Kim adds, “I like to think of them as ‘the befriender’ because there’s a heavy emphasis on relationships, and on using connections with others to get their own personal needs met.”
Greatest Strengths: Their warmth and high emotional intelligence. “They’re very loving and caring people who really want to just open their heart,” Moore says.
Pain Point: They’re so focused on attuning to others that they fail to get their own needs met. This not only leads to resentment, but also a lack of awareness of their own needs.
How 2s Can Grow: Type 2s get the opportunity to relearn who they really are. “Ultimately, the 2 is about balancing helping others and helping themselves,” Moore says.
Enneagram Type 3: The Achiever
Biggest Driver: A need for external validation as proof of worthiness. “There’s a lot of emphasis on being in the spotlight, receiving positive affirmation and feedback, and being seen as successful,” Kim says. (Interesting note: The United States, as a country, is considered a type 3.)
Greatest Strengths: Type 3s can be really productive and efficient, exuding a superpower-like energy as they check off box after box of their long list.
Pain Point: “They’re doing things according to what they intuit is successful in their environment, not necessarily what they themselves want to do,” according to Kim. For 3s, everything needs to be quick and under control — without leaving time for rest. This can make them not only crash and burn, but also be less empathetic to others.
How 3s Can Grow: “Their work,” per Moore, “is to learn how to just be — and to bring that balance between doing and being.” Cultivating presence can help them reconnect to their intuition and ultimately help them find and express their authentic selves.
Enneagram Type 4: The Individualist
Biggest Driver: To feel deeply. “They’re living life with a sense that something essential to them is missing, and that’s what sets them apart,” Kim says. “Sometimes I call 4s the romantics or the artists, but they’re really focused on the need to leave their mark on the world — or it’s like they don’t exist.”
Greatest Strength: Strongly connected to their inner world of emotions and thoughts, 4s are introspective, thoughtful, and focused on finding meaning in life.
Pain Point: “There is this sense of there being this huge hole,” Kim reflects. “Often there’s a feeling of them deserving bad things to happen.”
How 4s Can Grow: Type 4s have a tendency to get lost in the emotion of a moment, says Moore, who suggests leaning into emotional regulation techniques.
Enneagram Type 5: The Investigator
Biggest Driver: To be competent and self-sufficient out of scarcity. “Type 5s experience a fear of not being safe or not being a part of something,” Moore says. “There’s a void, an emptiness they have to fill up.”
Greatest Strengths: They’re the researchers, always in pursuit of knowledge. “The upside to the 5s is they can really get immersed in the details,” Moore says. “They make great financial advisors and engineers because they’re in their head.”
Pain Point: “The 5s compensate for the emptiness they feel by improving upon or accumulating things, and getting lost in the details as part of that accumulation,” Moore explains.
Adds Kim, “They tend to experience other people as being invasive, when in actuality they are the ones who may be too focused on boundaries.”
How 5s Can Grow: Moore suggests 5s develop their social skills — particularly empathy — and learn to be more present and grounded through the breath.
Enneagram Type 6: The Loyalist
Biggest Driver: Security. “Enneagram Type 6 has a contrarian, questioning mind, in that they tend to think of what others don’t think about, especially around danger and risk,” Kim explains. “In order for them to be safe, they need to find out all the potential risk factors and to prepare for them.”
Greatest Strengths: They excel at troubleshooting, analyzing, and seeking solutions. Per Moore, “They can be quite loyal — to an idea, an organization, a sports team, or a country.”
Pain Point: They’re usually in their head, scrutinizing, says Moore. Kim adds, “I think they have what’s called a pre-traumatic stress disorder. They create scenarios in their mind, and then they freak out about going out into the world, even though they’re far better capable and prepared than they give themselves credit for.”
How 6s Can Grow: “Out of all the types, they need meditation,” Moore says. A regular grounding practice, such as yoga or tai chi, can help this type feel safe while getting out of their comfort zone.
Enneagram Type 7: The Enthusiast
Biggest Driver: Freedom — and avoiding pain and boredom like it’s their job. “They’re going to experience being in a body as feeling confined,” Moore says. “It just feels like a trap.”
Plus, Kim says, “They have a busy mind focused on what the next new or fun thing is, and they’re good at getting out of the mundane drudgeries or responsibilities of life.”
Biggest Strengths: Fun and dynamic seekers, they’re great brainstormers, with a depth of ideas at the ready. You’ll often find them in high-powered positions.
Pain Point: Type 7s often feel anxiety, and typically rebel when told what to do. “They might come to therapy because their partner dragged them there because they were tired of being dismissed,” reflects Kim.
How 7s Can Grow: Finding dominion, or inner authority, is key for the 7. By making presence a part of their life, they’ll feel more organized and in true control.
Enneagram Type 8: The Challenger
Biggest Driver: Independence for themselves and others. “In order to feel safe, they compensate through strength and power,” Moore explains.
“They’re big-picture, action-oriented people who don’t have much patience for details or planning,” Kim says. “They’re the ‘shoot first’ types, and rarely give attention to the ‘ready’ or ‘aim’ stages.”
Greatest Strengths: Type 8s take charge, per Moore, often serving as leaders and CEOs with vision and courage. They’re firmly rooted in the physical, in the “here and now,” in a kinesthetic, body-based way of functioning.
Pain Point: Naturally assertive and ready to show aggression when necessary, they can dominate others even without consciously meaning to. Adds Kim, “They tend to steamroll over other people, but it really is to avoid being trapped by vulnerability.”
How 8s Can Grow: Moore advises working on connecting to the heart. In addition to cultivating compassion, a gratitude practice can be particularly helpful.
Enneagram Type 9: The Peacemaker
Biggest Driver: Oneness. “Oftentimes, they’re interested in self-discovery and spiritual natures because of seeking that oneness at the personality level,” says Moore. “They have this merging quality, and will often sweep things under the rug in order to have peace, oneness, and connectedness.”
Greatest Strength: “They’re good at finding the overlapping similarities between people, and uniting them for the sake of peace and harmony,” per Kim. This ability makes them great mediators, psychologists, and counselors, adds Moore.
Pain Point: Kim says, “To prevent tension or conflict, they might do things like placate, avoid conflict, people-please, and stay quiet. Though they hate being ignored, their autopilot makes them invisible.” Moore adds that 9s can go through life kind of numb to who they really are.
How 9s Can Grow: “Their work is to recognize that we’re already connected — and to really show up in an authentic way,” Moore says.
Additional Resources
Still can’t decide on your type? (For the record, it took me two hour-long calls with the experts here to determine, at long last, that I’m a 9. And apparently, 9s are the most confused about their type, so go figure.) If you’re in need of additional insights, Moore suggests reading Don Richard Risso’s The Wisdom of the Enneagram. Or you can take a test from The Enneagram Institute for $12, or meet with an Enneagram therapist.
No matter what your type is, the Enneagram gives you the wisdom to lead you down a path of increased self-awareness, authenticity, and, ultimately, greater fulfillment.
