Personality types and traits are something that interests not just psychologists but even common people. Why shouldn’t it? Who doesn’t want to predict how they’ll behave in certain situations? Who doesn’t wish to know themselves and their friends and family to the deepest levels? And yes, who doesn’t want to use the excuse “I can’t help it, it’s my personality” when dealing with difficult situations? That’s right nobody. Everyone is intrigued by the term ‘personality and everyone wishes to use that as an excuse to understand everything about themselves and the world. So here’s an article for all those independent enthusiasts, looking to know more about their personality or those who want to know the job that suits best with their independent self. Today’s topic- Enneagram Type 4 Careers.
This article will be talking about one of the most popular personality models – The Enneagram Model, and use one of its personality types to describe the best career options for people that fit in the said personality type. If you’re wondering what the model is and thinking that you’ll be zoning out in this article so it’s better to leave now, don’t. This article is for all kinds of people – from the no-clue ones to I-know-everything ones. Read on, and you will have a clue and also the desire to read more. The experts can amuse themselves with an interesting read, and give an informal touch to their academic knowledge with this blog. With everyone staying then, let us move forward.
A Refresher or a Revelation- The Enneagram Personality Model
Making the job of psychologists easier, Oscar Ichazo proposed the Enneagram Model of personality. One of the most elaborate models, the Enneagram model proposes 9 types of personalities, with their subtypes, and even intersections between 2 different types altogether. All those who think they’re too different to be like anyone else, I can guarantee you, you’ll fit in one of these types at least. Be proud of yourselves and enjoy the journey to know yourself.
The model believes, that each personality type is driven by a core belief about how the world functions. It is this belief that shapes their behaviors and thoughts – from why they eat pineapple on a pizza to them overreacting to your criticism. However, it is not that simple to understand the human personality. If it would have been, all of us would have been psychologists. The Enneagram model understands this, and the personality types it proposes are interconnected with each other. This means that people can portray some traits of one personality type but also have traits from some others. So, what are the personality types then?
The Nine Types of Personality
Here are the 9 main types of personality that the Enneagram model proposes. We won’t deal with complications just right now. Read the list and try to figure out your type before we move to the details.
1. The Reformer – These people are idealists and wish to be perfect in every sense. They have a purpose in life and are driven by it with great self-control. They are the ones who follow the rules and would be really hard on themselves for slipping up once in a while.
2. The Giver – These are the ones who love to please everyone and who care about everyone. You would find them neglecting their needs only to satisfy the needs of those they care about. They wish to be loved and accepted and would help people even going out of their way.
3. The Achiever – These are the success-oriented people who wish to become successful in life and are practical. They are mostly liked by people and want to be felt valuable. They are highly motivated and fear failure.
4. The Individualist – These people can be understood as the self-absorbed ones. They wish to be unique and different from others. The individualists also wish to experience deep emotions, and fear of being flawed. Apart from having a strong sense of self, they are also very creative.
5. The Investigator – These are the logical ones who want to understand everything and find a reason for everything that happens. These people find comfort in objective data rather than emotions. This is the reason why they fear being overwhelmed by the needs of people.
6. The Loyalist – These people prefer being in a safe and stable environment. It is these people who are always prepared even for an apocalypse. They do not like uncertainty and being unprepared. They would often neglect their needs in a relationship to keep it stable.
7. The Enthusiast – These are the thrill-seekers and adventure lovers. Sitting idle is not their cup of tea and experiencing emotional pain is a nightmare for them. Their way out of such a situation is distracting themselves and keeping themselves busy at all times.
8. The Challenger – These are the ones always ready to accept a challenge and feel confident about succeeding in it. They are the dominant, bossy ones who would stand up for something they believe in. They fear not being able to control their surroundings and being powerless.
9. The Peacemaker – These people like to go with the flow and are easy-going people. However, they do tend to agree to most things, even when they don’t wish to. This tendency is because they like to keep the peace in relationships and would want people to stay with them.
Who’s Who? How do you know?
Enneagram has developed several personality tests that require the participant to agree or to disagree with a statement relating to some actions and thoughts. Each of the statements talks about one of the nine personality types. Whichever type the participants agree with the most, is their personality type. However, neither human personality nor the Enneagram model is too simple to classify people into one type of personality and end it there. The traits of a person and therefore their personalities are influenced not only by their genes but also their environment. This means that a person can have traits of more than one personality type. But how does the Enneagram model account for this?
The Enneagram model is presented in a circle with 9 points for each personality type. Inside the circle, there is a triangle connecting the types 3, 6, and 9. The other types are connected by an irregular hexagon. Such an arrangement depicts the interdependence and interconnectedness of all personality types. While determining the personality type of a person, the model also considers the traits of the types beside each other. For instance, the type 9 personality has the types 8 and 1 beside it. These types are called the wings of the main type. Every person can have the traits of their wings as well, helping them fly in the world (your dose of jokes to keep you interested).
And that’s not all, the irregular hexagon connecting the personality types also has a story of its own. That hexagon depicts the past and the future personalities a person might have. Huff, that seems a lot, doesn’t it? How do we understand all of this in such a small article? The good news is, that we don’t. As mentioned earlier, this article will only talk about the type 4 personality – the individualists and give a glimpse of their probable professional lives. Now that the no clue ones and the experts are on the same page, we can move to our topic for today.
Singling out the Individualists
For the sake of this article, we will be focusing on the type 4 personality to talk about in detail. They are individualists so it is only suited for us to talk about them individually (another dose of jokes). These people are unique and have a strong sense of their identity. Which means they won’t hesitate to call me out if I say something that they dislike about themselves. This is why here’s my short disclaimer for all individualists reading this article – You all are amazing regardless of the weaknesses and fears I might end up pointing out further. With that taken care of, here am I introducing the individualists.
Is There A Need For an Introduction?
Who wouldn’t recognize someone who stands out of the crowd? There’s is no introduction at the surface level for the individualists. One small description is enough for them – The person standing out of the crowd, making you automatically think there’s something different about them is usually a type 4 person. But knowing them better, the way we are trying to do here needs a deeper understanding of their beliefs, fears, habits, strengths, weaknesses, and of course their working preferences.
The Unknown Fears
Even though the individualists might seem strong and proud of their unique identities, they do have some fears revolving around the same. One of the biggest fears of individualists is to be flawed and feeling like an outcast. Their different personality might make them find it difficult to connect with others, because of the fear of being misunderstood and rejected by others. The type 4 personalities also have a unique way of presenting themselves, as well as a high level of creativity. This leads them to always wanting to do something or the other in the best possible way. However, such a trait is also the reason why they fear not having an impact on the world.
The desires of the type four people are thus to be able to express and embrace their uniqueness. They wish to be authentic and in an attempt to do so, they might identify more with the traits they feel they lack or adapt the traits of their friends and family to appear genuine. They have creative and artistic ways to express themselves and would always like it when people appreciate their true self expressed through their creative endeavors. It is because of the fear of being misunderstood that individualists choose to express themselves in subtle creative ways.
Is Uniqueness All That There Is?
If the introduction has made you believe that there is nothing more to the individualists other than the fact that they are unique, you’re wrong. There are other traits of the type 4 personality people which I would now highlight along with their strengths and weaknesses. Individualists have a distinctive outer presentation and have unconventional yet charming personalities. As they tend to focus on the aspects they lack and fear being treated like an outcast, they might have an expression of misery at times. Regardless, they do tend to be passionate about expressing themselves and being proud of the way they are.
Their Strengths
- One of the greatest strengths of type 4 personality people is that they can connect with and understand their emotions deeply. As individualists tend to focus on themselves and dwell on their traits and the feeling of being different, they can recognize their emotions and thoughts better than other types. Such a tendency is good for people as it helps them take control of themselves and intervene timely in case they are having some problems
- Individualists are imaginative and can come up with unique and creative ideas. Out-of-the-box thinking helps them stand out and make people respect and look up to them. In a competitive world, it is important to offer something that is original and can bring something new to the market. Such creative and fast thinking also helps in developing greater problem-solving skills and maintaining one’s calm in difficult situations.
Their Weaknesses
- One of the weaknesses of individualists is that they end up dwelling on the traits they lack. Even though type 4 personality people express their identity and uniqueness creatively, they do end up thinking negatively about themselves. Such fixation might hinder their growth and might stop them from appreciating their skills and excelling at their work. It is also because of such thinking that individualists seem to be withdrawn and reserved which affects their relationships.
- As individualists are deeply connected with their emotions and tend to think more about themselves, they have a tendency to react strongly to emotional hardships and withdraw themselves from people to deal with the same. Actions like these not only bring out a harmful way to deal with stress but could also harm relationships. It is important for type 4 personality people to act calmly after a bit of deliberation while dealing with their emotions.
How Do They Work?
Individualists prefer working in an environment that allows them to express themselves and remain independent. They do enjoy building meaningful relationships with their colleagues though. There are thus, certain work situations that encourage and motivate type 4s to work harder and succeed. There are also certain situations where individualists feel suffocated and cannot grow.
Strive and Thrive
- Individualists work best when they are encouraged and can healthily express their feelings about any situation or project. Their need to express themselves is one of the primary needs which needs to be fulfilled
- Type 4s fear being misunderstood and treated as an outcast. They tend to dwell on their flaws if they are in an environment that makes them feel like that. Thus, they work best with their coworkers when they are genuine and take time to understand them before judging their personalities
Strain and Drain
- Individualists cannot work and grow in a job setting that inhibits them from expressing their creative side and wants them to work according to set patterns and schedules. Type 4s are inherently expressive and creative and an environment that doesn’t let them be themselves cannot bring out the best in them.
- People with type 4 personalities are usually proud of themselves and have a strong sense of their identity and their likes and dislikes. They have a clear vision and a target for themselves which they wish to fulfill. They require a work environment where their colleagues and their seniors take them seriously without dismissing them and their visions. A dismissive environment doesn’t allow them to utilize their full potential.
Jobs Separate From the Mob
It is because of this creative, unique, and expressive personality, that individualists tend to work in professions that are separate from the common professions that most people choose. They need a job that can accept their unique personality and does not make them feel flawed or wrong. Reaching the end of this article, having made you sufficiently familiar with the individualists, I now present a few professions that type 4 people can choose to thrive in.
Actor
A different field for a different personality. One that allows people to not only be expressive but also creative. Working as an actor, individualists can not only express their feelings in a better way but getting in the mood and personality of different characters requires imagination and a deep understanding of emotions. Individualists excel in both these parameters. Being an actor, they can also choose to work on the traits they lack and bring them out in their characters thus preventing them from dwelling on those for long.
Writer
If you have a different way to express yourselves, no worries. An actor is not the only one who expresses themselves. Writers do the same thing but with an added element of a greater imagination. Giving birth to new lives and building them as you wish, is a great way to express yourself without really giving yourself away. And all the unique and special traits can be jotted down in your notebooks and given life in your favorite characters who are loved. Being a writer, individualists can project their fears and find a healthy way to cope with them. It allows them to be their true selves.
Artist
A picture is worth a thousand words, and for those who need to express themselves but are not really good with words, this is the route. Individualists can choose to be as creative and unique as they wish to be and it would still be appreciated. Being flawed would be the thing of the past when all kinds of art would be accepted if not as something known, then as an abstract form. A profession like this would allow them to embrace themselves and connect with people through different mediums and still be loved.
With this, I have come to the end of this mini-encyclopedia for Enneagram and the type 4 people diving into their professional and personal lives and making you enjoy surfing on their ocean of a personality. If you have come this far, I’m pretty sure you’ll be reading more about this interesting topic and who knows, write an article of your own.
