The Enneagram - Type 3 (The Performer)
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Third of a 9 part series highlighting the Enneagram. Others in the series are:
The Enneagram - Type 9 (The Mediator) (GC2E134)
The Enneagram - Type 8 (The Boss) (GC2DBY6)
The Enneagram - Type 7 (The Enthusiast) (GC2DBXC)
The Enneagram - Type 6 (The Loyalist) (GC2DB71)
The Enneagram - Type 5 (The Observer) (GC2DA49)
The Enneagram - Type 4 (The Tragic Romantic) (GC2DA10)
The Enneagram - Type 2 (The Giver) (GC2D8RM)
The Enneagram - Type 1 (The Perfectionist) (GC2CZKJ)
The Enneagram ("ennea" means "nine") has roots going back to ancient Sufi mysticism, and describes 9 different personality types and their interrelationships. It helps us understand our own type and how to cope with our issues; understand our work associates, family and friends; and to appreciate the predisposition that each type has for higher human capacities such as empathy, omniscience and love.
The Enneagram was popularized by the Jesuit order in the 20th century. It is a personality typing system (similar to, but quite different from, the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicators). Each person is one of nine different and distinctive types, though all of us have characteristics found in each of the types. I am a 9, for example. Discovering this, and working with it, has been very informative and helpful to me.
While it's uncertain whether one's type is genetically determined, many believe it is already in place at birth. Enneagram authors have attached their own individual names to these numbers. Helen Palmer for example names them: 1. The Perfectionist; 2. The Giver; 3. The Performer; 4. The Tragic Romantic; 5. The Observer; 6. The Devil's Advocate; 7. The Epicure; 8. The Boss; 9. The Mediator. People of a particular type have numerous characteristics in common, but they can be quite different. It depends, among other things, on each person's level of mental and emotional health. Unhealthy (neurotic) people from a particular type can appear to be quite different from healthy ones of the same type.
For more in-depth information go to my now archived cache "The Enneagram (overview) GC8A196
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Type 3 - THE PERFORMER The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptable, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious
Type Three in Brief
Threes are self-assured, attractive and charming. Ambitious, competent, and energetic, they can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic and poised, but can also be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them. They typically have problems with workaholism and competitiveness. At their Best: self-accepting, authentic, everything they seem to be—role models who inspire others.
Basic Fear: Of being worthless Basic Desire: To feel valuable and worthwhile Key Motivations: Want to be affirmed, to distinguish themselves from others, to have attention, to be admired, and to impress others.
Examples: Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Pauley, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, Sharon Stone, Madonna, Shirley MacLaine, Sting, Paul McCartney, Dick Clark, Whitney Houston, Ted Danson, Michael Jordan, Shania Twain, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarznegger, Billy Dee Williams, Truman Capote and Barack Obama.
Type Three Overview
When they are healthy, Threes really can and do achieve great things in the world. They are the "stars" of human nature, and people often look up to them because of their graciousness and personal accomplishments. Healthy Threes know how good it feels to develop themselves and contribute their abilities to the world, and also enjoy motivating others to greater personal achievements than others thought they were capable of. They are usually well regarded and popular among their peers, the type of person who is frequently voted “class president" or “home coming queen” because people feel they want to be associated with this kind of person who acts as a stand-in for them.
Healthy Threes embody the best in a culture, and others are able to see their hopes and dreams mirrored in them. Threes are often successful and well liked because, of all the types, they most believe in themselves and in developing their talents and capacities. Threes act as living “role models” and paragons because of their extraordinary embodiment of socially valued qualities. Healthy Threes know that they are worth the effort it takes to be “the best that they can be.” Their success at doing so inspires others to invest in their own self-development. Threes want to make sure their lives are a success, however that is defined by their family, their culture and their social sphere. In some families, success means having a lot of money, a grand house, a new, expensive car, and other status symbols. Others value ideas, and success to them means distinguishing oneself in academic or scientific worlds. Success in other circles might mean becoming famous as an actor, or model, or writer, or as a public figure of some kind, perhaps as a politician. A religious family might encourage a child to become a minister, priest, or rabbi since these professions have status in their community and in the eyes of the family.
No matter how success is defined, Threes will try to become somebody noteworthy in their family and their community. They will not be a “nobody.” To this end, Threes learn to perform in ways that will garner them praise and positive attention. As children, they learned to recognize the activities that were valued by their parents or peers, and put their energies into excelling in those activities. Threes also learned how to cultivate and develop whatever about them is attractive or potentially impressive. Everyone needs attention, encouragement, and the affirmation of their value in order to thrive, and Threes are the type which most exemplifies this universal human need.
Threes want success not so much for the things that success will buy or for the power and feeling of independence that it will bring. They want success because they are afraid of disappearing into a chasm of emptiness and worthlessness: without the increased attention and feeling of accomplishment which success usually brings. The problem is that, in the headlong rush to achieve whatever they believe will make them more valuable, Threes can become so alienated from themselves that they no longer know what they truly want, or what their real feelings or interests are. In this state, they are easy prey to self–deception, deceit, and falseness of all kinds. Thus, the deeper problem is that their search for a way to be value increasingly takes them further away from their own Essential Self with its core of real value.
From their earliest years, as Threes become dependent on receiving attention from others and in pursuing the values that others reward, they gradually lose touch with themselves. Step by step, their own inner core, their “heart’s desire,” is left behind until they no longer recognize it. Threes are not known as “feeling” people; rather, they are people of action and achievement. It is as if they “put their feelings in a box” so that they can get ahead with what they want to achieve. Threes have come to believe that emotions get in the way of their performance, so they substitute thinking and practical action for feelings. The fundamental dilemma of Threes is that they have not been allowed to be who they really are and to manifest their own authentic qualities. At a young age, they got the message that they were not allowed to have feelings and be themselves: they must, in effect, be someone else to be accepted. The attention they received by performing in a certain way was their oxygen, and they needed it to breathe. Unfortunately, it came at a high price.
(from The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Riso and Hudson p. 153-155) To take a short test to discern your Enneagram type click here: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp
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