how to leverage your enneagram type to achieve your goals
talking with Myrna from Enneahealth about goals and enneagram types
If you don’t know about enneagram types yet, first of all, where have you been, and second of all, you’re in luck.
Because for this post I got to interview a pro. And as much as I love the memes and quizzes, I’ve needed an expert to match my enthusiasm and really break things down.
If you are unfamiliar with enneagram types, the enneagram is a personality type based off of 9 numbers. For a brief overview, hop over to Truity and read through it. You can also take a test through their website. There are various enneagram tests out there, this is just the one I took and enjoyed.
now let’s get into the interview!
Brittney: Hi Myrna! I’m so excited to be interviewing you because I’ve been following you for awhile, mostly through Instagram, and I always genuinely look forward to your content. Every time you post something new for my enneagram type, I gobble it up straight away and save it to reference later.
But for those who aren’t following you - yet! - can you explain a little about what you do and how you got into enneagram?
Myrna: I’m a certified enneagram and health coach and it is SO my jam! I primarily support women in seeing themselves with such clarity so that they can grow in self compassion and break down their self defeating patterns as they create health and the life they desire to have. We hold ourselves back in SO many ways just based on our limiting beliefs and self defeating patterns and the enneagram is such an incredible tool to illuminate those traps we get into so that we can do the self work to grow through it.
struggles and core fears based on type
Brittney: So something I really wanted to focus on today is our personal growth, particularly in relation to pursuing our goals and sort of breaking out of our comfort zones. I feel like our personality types play such a huge role in how our approaches differ, and it seems like this gets overlooked too often. If you don’t mind, I’d love to go through each type and talk about some struggles and solutions for each type when it comes to pursuing and ultimately achieving our goals.
What are some of the most common blocks each type tends to struggle with when it comes to leaving our comfort zone and going after our goals in full force?
Myrna: For all types, our struggles are mainly rooted in our core fears and how we cope or strive to avoid/manage that fear.
Individual types:
Type 1: Comfort zone is doing whatever is needed to complete something in just the right way. They fear making mistakes or being wrong. Often this leads to analysis by paralysis, overworking, and insane amounts of stress.
Type 2: Comfort zone is helping others, whether others want it or not. Their fear is in being rejected and being thought needy worthless. Often this leads to not focusing on their own needs or going after their own goals, but instead focusing on and supporting the needs and desires of others.
Type 3: Comfort zone is succeeding and doing whatever is needed to succeed. Their fear is being exposed or thought incompetence or inefficient. Often this leads to workaholism, so they’ll achieve their goals - but may not do so in a way that leaves them feeling balanced.
Type 4: Comfort zone is in being uniquely themself. Block comes in not knowing their place, feeling like something is missing within them, and unsure of their next step.
Type 5: Find comfort in competence and knowing their stuff. Block comes in when they begin to fear and hoard their resources, minimize their needs, and withdraw from others.
Type 6: Comfort in having a plan, guidance, and support. Struggles with analysis by paralysis - scared to make a move because they want to ensure they have all the information needed and support with the decision being made.
Type 7: Comfort in being happy and having a great time. Block or struggle is in their desire to fill themselves up with experiences and seeking out fun activities as they strive to avoid being deprived or in pain.
Type 8: Ultimate goal is to protect self and those close to you. Struggle is when you’re constantly pushing yourself on life to get the things you desire - you burnout.
Type 9: Comfort zone is comfort itself. Having stability and peace of mind. Struggles with conflict or when losing connection with others. Not aware of personal goals, desires, and needs.
coping with our unique blocks
Brittney: Building off of that, what are the ways we can avoid or cope with these blocks, based on our types? What are the most efficient ways of approaching our goals or big life changes?
Myrna: We don’t want to avoid the parts of us that keep showing up. We want to work with it. So for example, as a 1, I cringe when things are unsettled and get hyperfocused on the details of making things happen - even if it takes my focus away from all the things that truly matter to me.
Instead, as I work to approach goals in a healthier way, I accept that not everything will be perfect, accept that the unsettled space is okay, and can trust that my 1ness will ensure that the details get addressed with a task. I can write a note to ensure I won’t forget where I left off (i likely won’t) and walk away from the task to tend to the things that matter most.
Trust in the parts of you that you fear. In other words, if you fear conflict - it won’t happen overnight, but it is possible for you to accept that conflict is 1. Inevitable, 2. Needed, and 3. Survivable. You will be okay if you’re put in that type of situation.
Individual types:
Type 1: Have a goal hierarchy. So for example: bare minimum goal is to run 2 days a week, happy place is 3 days, stretch goal is 5 days.
Type 2: This is all person-specific. For twos though it can go one of two ways - and there may be a world where both exist. 1. Recognize that your needs are important and set goals with wiggle room so you can accommodate others, and/or 2. Incorporate others in your goal either as an accountability partner or in serving them or something. Twos will likely stick to a goal that’s more others focused than self focused.
Type 3: Similar to 1s in that goals can become like a taskmaster. As a 3, identify the root to a goal - is it aligned to your vision and dreams for your life, or is it about your image. I suggest doing a root cause analysis, and the best one I know of is Seven Levels Deep!
Type 4: Root in the why of your goals, and focus on the progress (Seven Levels Deep could be helpful here too!). You give too much weight to how your goals make you feel so it's important that they’re aligned with your values and that you can be reminded of the why often throughout your day.
Type 5: Trust your analytical nature and take goals one step at a time, without getting stuck in paralysis by analysis.. Know it’s okay to stretch yourself just a little bit and feel even just a bit incompetent - you’ll learn and figure it out!
Type 6: Be realistic and choose simple goals that you can achieve one step at a time. Accept that it won’t go perfectly as planned, and that that’s okay.
Type 7: Stay present with your current goal, breaking it into smaller parts to make it manageable. Celebrate the completion of each small part!
Type 8: Slow down! Goals give you clear vision, but you make decisions quickly and over rely on your gut. Check in with yourself to ensure that your goals are based on what you truly care about, and not just about challenging the status quo.
Type 9: Start by setting them. Not always your favorite thing to do, but you can move slowly toward your goals focusing literally one step at a time, giving yourself grace along the way.
At the end of the day, remember that goals are meant to encourage and inspire you, not beat you up and make you miserable.
on perfectionism and how it shows up
Brittney: On my blog and within my coaching, I focus a lot on perfectionism and indecision specifically because these are two things that have showed up continuously in my own journey. Then when I started working with people, these two things just kept popping up. They are things I definitely have to be mindful of every day. In a nutshell, how do you think perfectionism and indecision show up differently for each type, and how should people approach coping with these things?
Myrna: Perfectionism is the behavior. Why we do it varies. We live in a society that desires perfectionism - high standards, impeccable work, smart kids...we live in a society that thrives off of this. So each type strives for it for various reasons and in their own way.
Individual types:
Type 1: They want to get it right. Potential workaholics. Scared of getting judged.
Type 2: Gets them love and they’re wanted when things go well. Overextend themselves helping others. Scared of not being loved.
Type 3: They want to be seen as having it all together. Also potential workaholics. Scared of not gaining approval.
Type 4: Desire to be unique in their approach. Don’t want to fit the status quo, but are stuck in how to make it happen. Focus on outdoing your own best rather than comparing self to others.
Type 5: Perfectionism may show up in communicating their thoughts and ideas in a way that’s understood to others. Know that you are doing the best you can with the resources you have and that’s okay. Incredible even.
Type 6: Indecision is rooted in desiring to make the right decision. Worried about making the wrong decision and possible consequences of that decision. Lean in to trusting that you’ve considered all the scenarios and that you can make a decision, and pivot to the next best decision if that first one wasn’t the most ideal.
Type 7: Perfectionism tends to show up in wanting to do all the things to experience the fullness of all the things, but struggling to decide leaves them scattered and stretched thin. You are putting a huge barrier in your own way to the full satisfaction you desire. Excellence or full satisfaction can come from playful practice of experimenting all the things rather than seriously striving for perfection.
Type 8: Some 8s may tend to think “if i’m perfect, then I won’t be harmed or rejected or betrayed.” While this is true, the opposite unfortunately is also true, that even if you are perfect, harm/rejection can still happen. Trust where you can, and take it one step at a time. Also remember that the joy is in the journey, not the final destination.
Type 9: Nines desire to be unbothered by the world’s expectations. You are procrastinating the end result. Focus on the process instead of the end result. Know that in an effort to disappoint no one, you are disappointing yourself
Every type can work through their perfectionism by recognizing and accepting that they are okay, even when things go off plan. Give yourself grace, recognize that mistakes are part of being human, and perfectionism is boring and unrelatable.
“When perfectionism is driving, shame is always riding shotgun, and fear is the annoying backseat driver.”
In my coaching work, I’ve seen shame and fear kill more dreams than I care to admit. It’s disheartening. We have to give ourselves grace and allow ourselves to be imperfect authentic humans.
supporting enneagram types
Brittney: Okay really quickly because I want to respect your time, but I’m so curious: my top percentages when I took a test are 3 and 7, literally only by a few percent. I often feel the pull between these two types - wanting structure and stability vs. wanting spontaneous adventures. Sometimes the push and pull of this contrast can contribute to my own indecision about what approach to take when it comes to working towards my goals. Do you have any advice for dealing with the contrast when people are strong in more than one type, and how to play on those combined strengths rather than letting it lead to more confusion?
Myrna: Enneagram tests are soo tricky! So if taking a test you want to look at the two highest types and determine what resonates with you most. Use those types as a guide - if you find that neither is really landing for you, then I suggest going and checking out all the types...or check out my typing guide - link is in my bio [on instagram: @enneahealth].
To answer your question, you want to focus in on your core type and the strengths of that type. From there, you have access to 4 additional types through your wings and paths.
Use the strengths from those types to determine what characteristics serve you and incorporate that into your life. We’re nuanced human beings and some enneagram teachers believe that we’re actually all 9 types with different efficiencies for each type.
Ultimately the goal is to create balance and alignment to your true authentic self. Start with your core, grow in health there and as you do, you’ll begin to see the strengths of your other types really show themselves quite clearly without you having to do much - except it is much because the growth takes work and practice.
There are honestly so many takeaways from this conversation, and I really hope you can pull a couple of tips to help you identify your own blocks and learn new ways to move forward despite them. Knowing our own personality types can be so useful in pinpointing our strengths and weaknesses, and begin to work with them instead of against them.
Thank you Myrna for all your amazing knowledge!
how to find Myrna and more from Enneahealth:
On Instagram: @enneahealth DM me! For real, I’m there connecting with people often - it’s one of my favorite things!
On her website: Enneahealth.com [Coming soon!]
Typing Guide Freebie: https://enneahealth.kartra.com/page/typing-guide
3 Steps to Determine Your Type (IG Post): https://www.instagram.com/p/CFQbrlcASz9/
Your readers can schedule a free tips call here: https://calendly.com/enneahealth/freetipscall
You can also join her free challenge here:
Are you ready to Create Healthy Habits with the Enneagram?! Get in the challenge group and start earning some prizes today!! Join here.