Enneagram personality type is a system that describes nine personality types and their respective wing types. The nine types were placed around the enneagram diagram by Oscar Ichazo in the 1960s. The personality types are defined based on an emotional aspect. Each type has its own driving force as well as a core emotion. Enneagram personality type 7 is also known as ‘the enthusiasts”.
These types have a zest for life and are always on the lookout for new adventures and experiences. They like to have a fully planned calendar when it comes to professional and personal life. They never say “no” to any plan, even if it is last minute. These types are firm believers of the saying ‘sleep when you are dead. They are considered to be the life of the party and are fun and joyful to be around. They tend to be the friendly and bubbly co-worker who is always there to help and support you. They are charismatic and natural leaders. They tend to be attracted to dynamic, flexible careers, which allow them to socialize a lot and give them an adrenaline rush. They are extremely productive and can work well in a group. They have a way with people and are often considered a favorite by many. They tend to get promoted quickly due to their hard work and charismatic behavior. Some of the careers that allow them to thrive are:
- Event Planner
- Fitness Instructor
- Entrepreneur
- Flight Attendant
- Publicist
- Blogger
- Life Coach
- Travel Agent
- Bartender
- Artist
- Travel Writer
Some of the careers that the personality type 7 should avoid are:
- Doctor
- Accountant
- Customer Service Representative
To understand why these personality types choose these careers, we need to understand the type 7 personality better.
Enneagram personalities are divided into three triads depending on the way they make decisions and their core emotion. The three triads are the Head or the Thinking triad, Heart or the Feeling triad, and the Gut or the Instinctive triad. The heart triad consists of enneagram personality types two, three, and four. The head triad includes enneagram personality types five, six, and seven. The gut triad consists of enneagram personality types eight, nine, and one. The heart or the feeling triad relies on their feelings while making decisions and their core emotion is a shame. The head or the thinking triad relies on their thoughts while making decisions and their core emotion is fear. Finally, the gut or the instinctive triad relies on their instincts or ‘gut feeling’ while making decisions and their core emotion is anger.
Why is the Enneagram personality type 7 included in the Head or the Thinking Triad?
This personality type consists of individuals that are adventurous and fun-loving. They encourage others to be more social and to enjoy each other’s company. They are the life of the party. They are spontaneous and love the adrenaline rush that accompanies spontaneity. However, their dominant emotion is fear. Under the influence of this emotion, they tend to be cold and insensitive to other people and tend to be unstructured and impulsive.
How does Enneagram personality type 7 overcome fear?
Under the influence of fear, type 7 tends to make rash and quick decisions which relieve some of the anxiety caused by fear. Organizing their life and completing the tasks they have started will be helpful.
Healthy Ways for the Head Triad to Get Over Their Fear
- Connecting with people.
- Journaling
- Identifying their fears.
- Coming up with a routine that they are comfortable with.
- Working on their self-confidence.
- Getting to know themselves better and being more comfortable with themselves.
- Understanding the situations that are stressing them.
- Expressing gratitude.
- Understanding their values.
- Being more curious.
- Seeking honesty and truth.
Enneagram Personality Type 7 Wings
Each enneagram personality type has two wing types. The two wing types of type 7 are Enneagram type 7 wing 6 and Enneagram type 7 wing 8. Type 7w6 are type 7s, but they share some of the traits with type 6. Similarly, type 7w8 are type 7s with some traits of type 8. Type 7w6 loves adventure and new experiences. But they tend to complete their prior commitments due to the influence of type 6. Type 7w8s is energetic, fun-loving, and protective. They are hard-working and tough due to the influence of type 8.
Enneagram Personality Type 7 Strengths
They are fun, active, adventurous, and energetic. They have a good sense of humor. They tend to be impulsive and quick, creative thinkers. They are broad-minded, flexible, and work well in groups. They can quickly adapt to change and pick up new skills. They can balance all their aspects of life and never run out of energy.
Enneagram Personality Type 7 Weakness
During low periods, type 7 comes across as cold, insensitive, self-centered, arrogant, and rude. They start new projects to ignore the stressful thoughts or situations. The new thing that they try to escape the stressful condition could range from taking a vacation to substance use. They take on too many responsibilities and tend to leave mid-project when things get too much. These individuals are prone to boredom if the activity, people, or situations are no longer exciting. They can also come across as narcissistic at times. Moving from one person to another and from one place to another to escape stressful conditions can make them lose the sense of groundedness and live in a fantasy world.
Enneagram Personality Type 7 Emotional Habits
Their low emotional habit is gluttony. They find it extremely hard to control their desires. This often leads to binging of new experiences, activities, drugs, and alcohol. Their high emotion is sobriety. Reducing the use of alcohol and drugs and being grounded keeps them organized.
Enneagram Personality Type 7 Motivations and Stressors
Enneagram type 7 is motivated by new activities and experiences, creative aesthetics, interacting with new people, concerts, house parties, get-togethers. But, on the other hand, they tend to feel stressed and burned out by strict schedules, limitations, constant negativity from others, rules, loneliness, lack of freedom and choice, boring and repetitive activities.
Enneagram Type 7 Careers
Enneagram personality type 7 works well in fields that allow them to use their imagination and creativity. They also do well in fields that are constantly changing and provide them with new and exciting opportunities. They usually feel inspired and productive when:
- They get to innovate and explore new concepts.
- When the type of work they do is not monotonous.
- They get to spend time outside instead of being stuck in a cubicle.
- They get to be creative and use their wild imagination.
These conditions may not be present every day. This can make them feel discouraged and bored. These types are prone to burnout and boredom, especially when:
- They are made to do the same type of work every day.
- Assignments and projects get monotonous and repetitive.
- They are not able to connect with their colleagues.
As discussed at the beginning of the article, type 7 are extroverted, and they love a dynamic work environment. Therefore, the best career options for them are as follows:
Event Planner
This area of work is dynamic. It constantly changes depending on the weather, time of the year, and nature of the clients. Type 7 thrive in this field as they get to use their creative thinking and imagination and put them to good use. The work is quick and challenging at times. And we all know by now that type 7s love a good challenge as it gives them an adrenaline rush. Type 7s can quickly get on the good side of their clients due to their people skills and charisma. This job also gives them a lot of experiences to boast about later.
Fitness Instructor
This job allows them to interact with a myriad of individuals. It is also exciting and lets them be active. They get to push their physical boundaries by working out almost every day. This job gives type 7s a flexible schedule which lets them balance out aspects of their life. Fitness instructors are expected to be energetic, fun, and optimistic, and type 7s bring just that and sometimes more to the job.
Blogger
A blogger has to have a planned and exciting schedule. This aspect of the job excites type 7. They get to be on the lookout for exciting and adventurous activities to fill their calendars. Also, the activities are different every other day allows type 7s to enjoy a work schedule that is not monotonous. The career tends to be flexible and has a personal aspect to it which again excites type 7s. Sharing their experiences and stories with the world is the definition of paradise for type 7s.
Flight Attendant
This job allows them to be always on the move. Traveling from one place to another almost every other day fulfills type 7s dream of wanderlust. They get to boast about their experiences filled with excitement and adventure to their friends. Even though the job is filled with routines, the excitement of travel masks their dislike of routines. At the end of the day, they can say that they traveled worldwide or at least from one country to another.
Life Coach
Their optimistic attitude and the ability to see the big picture and good in almost everyone make them excellent candidates to be life coaches. They have a natural talent to get along with people and to have people listen to them. They can also understand people very well and give them tips to live their life to the fullest. When you combine these abilities with an entrepreneurial outlook, you get a perfect life coach.
Entrepreneur
Type 7s have the ability and imagination to come up with grand plans. Their ability to adapt to change, people skills, and charisma make them good entrepreneurs. They like the rush of making quick decisions that make or break their business. In this career, they are likely to be self-employed. This allows them to work without any rules that they find boring. They can also take breaks when they feel burnt out because they are their boss.
Publicist
Publicists have a hectic schedule. They are always on the move, launching an event or running press conferences. This kind of work lifestyle is extremely appealing to type 7s. They love the rush and excitement that comes with this job. They tend to find clients easily using their charm and people skills. They also have the capability to work under high pressure and get the job done.
Now that we know some of the careers that are best suited for enneagram personality type 7 let us look at some of the worst career choices.
Customer Care Representative
This job is not for individuals who tend to get bored quickly. Type 7 finds it difficult to stick to routines and talk to people about the same thing every day. Even though type 7s are naturally optimistic, they cannot talk to angry customers every day. This will cause them a lot of emotional pain. All these factors make this a terrible job for type 7s.
Doctor
Doctors have to follow a fixed routine every day. They have to stick to the protocol and finish all their paperwork before they call it a day. This is not what the type 7s would call an exciting day. They will get bored of this routine very quickly. On the other hand, jobs in the emergency field will give type 7s the excitement and adrenaline rush they need.
Accountant
Type 7s worst nightmare is to work in a cubicle. But, sadly, that’s what an accountant does. They are stuck in their cubicle all day, crunching numbers. They can’t be detail-oriented and analytical. They might enjoy working in the financial advertising roles, which lets them meet and interact with new people, but not as accountants.
Ways in Which the Enneagram Personality Type 7 Likes to Work
- Communication – They like it when people are optimistic and energetic while communicating with them. They are always open to new ideas and always encourage their peers to come up with new and exciting ideas.
- Meetings – They enjoy meetings that are spontaneous and exciting. They love to attend meetings that tend to be unconventional rather than sticking to routines. They also appreciate it when people are direct about their ideas.
- Emails – They prefer unofficial and friendly emails to official and professional ones. They tend to be casual in emails and always encourage others to do the same.
- Feedback – They welcome constructive criticism if it is provided optimistically.
- Conflicts – Conflicts can be resolved by providing them with a safe space to express their concerns and feelings. Compromise and coming up with solutions help to resolve conflicts.
Enneagram Personality Type 7 Professional Relationships
Type 7s work well with people who are dependable and practical. Since they are full of exciting and new ideas, they gravitate towards those that show interest in their ideas and those that have their ideas. Type 7s working with another type 7 can be tricky as they both need to reign in their wild ways and complete the work that they started. They tend to be more productive when they work with people who share their passion for adventure, fun, optimism, and creativity. They also find it easy to mingle with people ready to participate in new activities with them.
Their productivity and professional relationships hit a reef when paired with or have to work with individuals who are not open towards new activities or adventures or those who do not encourage type 7s to come up with new ideas and projects. Enneagram personality type 7 are adventurous, enthusiastic, and fun-loving. They are also friendly and kind. They are extremely productive if they stay away from careers and situations that bore them. These individuals encourage their friends and co-workers to have a good time and help them come out of their friend zone. They thrive in jobs that are dynamic and flexible.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Enneagram personality type 7 rare? Enneagram personality type 7 makes up 9% of the population. Hence, this type is not that rare.
- Who are some of the famous enneagram type 7s?
Some celebrities that are type 7s are:
- Elton John
- Miley Cyrus
- Katy Perry
- Robin Williams
- Jim Carrey
- Steven Spielberg
- Cameron Diaz
- Andy Sandberg
Some of the famous characters that are type 7:
- Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99
- Moana from Moana
- Mindy Lahiri from The Mindy Project
- Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place
- Fred and George Weasley from Harry potter
- How can a type 7 grow personally and professionally?
Type 7 can achieve personal and professional growth by improving their listening skills, understanding that they do not have to rush things, and savoring the moment rather than rushing to find new adventures. They are always rushing to experience and adventures. Experiencing something completely will allow them to appreciate life and the people around them.
