DISCOVERING YOUR ENNEAGRAM NUMBER
Probably the best of all ways is to hear the Enneagram taught in a workshop, through a curriculum facilitated by someone well-versed in the Enneagram, or listening to an Enneagram teacher. The modern Enneagram’s roots are as an oral tradition where questions can be asked, caricatures of each number can be painted, and real-life stories that reveal insight into each number can be told. Through these, a person can listen and “compare” to themselves, watching for the intersection of their motivation with the corresponding Enneagram type.
We suggest two ways to begin to find your number. We offer a 90 minute, 5 part video series along with reflection questions. You may find more information about that HERE. If you would rather read a book, the book we recommend as the best primer of the Enneagram and that works best for this processing of narrowing to one’s type is that of co-authors Suzanne Stabile and Ian Morgan Cron: The Road Back to You. Reading the opening chapters to gain an initial understanding of the Enneagram wisdom is step 1. Then a person would read through each of the 9 types, seeking to recognize which of the types resonates with them as the type they identify with the most. The key in this reading is to remember and pay attention to what motivates you. Enneagram teaching includes sharing how numbers tend to behave. However, the key is reflecting on the “why” behind the behavior.
Now, we recognize that someone coming to the Enneagram might not want to have to wait through reading the whole book to figure out their type. So another way of moving through the book that doesn’t tell someone their number (like an inventory or test – see Why NOT Enneagram Inventories or Tests? for more on why we aren’t meant to be “told” our number), but does shorten the initial process for narrowing towards a number is to do the following:
Read chapters 1 & 2 to be introduced to the Enneagram as mentioned before.
Begin the narrowing process toward finding your core style by using the checklist found on the first page of each number chapter. Look at the check list for each type and put a mark next to the statements that resonate with you about yourself. Total up the number of statements that you checked for each type (e.g. – type 8: 5 of 20; type 9: 12 of 20; type 1: 11 of 20; etc…). Now, read the chapter of the three types that had the highest number of statements checked. Finally, based on this reading, decide if one of those three types resonates as the description of you, particularly at the motivation level of who you are. If none of them truly resonated, then move to the 4th highest checklist number and on from there.
This reading process does not guarantee that the chapter you resonated with is your core type. You may need some time “living” as that number, observing its characteristics within you in your daily life especially driven by the motivation. We use this process, however, rather than a test or inventory because it guides you through self-reflection to the self-identification of your type which is more accurate than a test or inventory telling you your type.
Ultimately, the Enneagram journey is just that: a journey of non-judgmental observation of yourself in light of the Enneagram wisdom about each number in order to see which of the Enneagram motivations reveals itself as your “why that you live by.”
And if you are still processing, contact me for a one-on-one session. Through my asking of questions as well as sharing about the Enneagram numbers, I will help you narrow and discover the Enneagram number you identify with as your core. I won’t tell you your number; that’s not my job nor am I able to do it. Only you truly know your motivation. But, through questions and Enneagram teaching, I will guide you in the self-identification process.
