Personality patterns and systems of how we operate – Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Human Design
By seeing the patterns, you can see how everything is connected. We can develop discernment for universal laws and structures, and navigate accordingly. Like solving a puzzle, you can follow the clues to your best life.
Most of us feel like we must fight our trajectory in some way in order to prove or improve something. But that’s not necessary. Knowing and seeing the patterns, including how your unique system functions, you can learn how to swim with the current rather than against it.
I found the following three systems to be the best at discerning these patterns: Myers-Briggs’ 16 personalities, the Enneagram, and Human Design. Here are short descriptions of each.
Myers-Briggs’ 16 personalities
Myers-Briggs created a system to delineate the 16 personalities, which consist of 4 opposing pairs that fall under the following categories:
The four pairs fall under the following categories:
- Extraverted (E) and Introverted (I)
- Sensing (S) and Intuiting (N)
- Thinking (T) and Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) and Perceiving (P)
The 16 personality types are (take these names with a grain of salt):
| ENFJ – Networker | ISTJ – Researcher | INFP – Individualist | ESTP – Doer |
| ESFJ – Socialite | INFJ – Prophet | INTP – Philosopher | ESTJ – Manager |
| ESFP – Entertainer | INTJ – Mastermind | ISFJ – Giver | ENTJ – Leader |
| ENFP – Dilettante | ISTP – Craftsman | ISFP – Philanthropist | ENTP – Idealist |
Description of each aspect of your personality:
| Extroverted – Active, outgoing, likes to take initiative, and talks more than listen. Reenergizes by being with other people. Processes thoughts, emotions, and information through external feedback. |
| Introverted – Quiet, reserved, and self-sufficient. Reenergizes through alone time instead of socializing. Processes thoughts, emotions, and information internally. |
| Sensing – Trusts facts, as well as past and present experiences. Pragmatic, realistic, observant, and lives in the now. |
| Intuiting – Trusts gut instincts and prefers to focus on the future instead of the present. Introspective, creative, and imaginative. |
| Thinking – Makes decisions based on facts and research rather than emotions. Head rules over heart. More pragmatic and logical. |
| Feeling – Makes decisions based on feelings and values. Heart rules over head. Empathetic and motivated by appreciation. |
| Judging – Prepares and plans ahead. Strategic, responsible, and organized with a strong work ethic. Prefers to stick to schedules and enjoys using checklists. |
| Perceiving – Preferring to go with the flow and not watch the time or follow too many rules. Spontaneous and enjoys keeping options open. Better at starting projects. |
Each personality type is made up of 4 main cognitive functions. What are cognitive functions?
Cognitive Functions are mental processes that show us how we understand and interact with the world based on either the introverted or extroverted attitude of each mental process (sensing, intuiting, thinking, feeling, judging and perceiving). Your first four functions are the most important ones because we use those most often. For instance, you will either have extroverted or introverted intuition in your first four functions stack. The attitude and the order where the function fall determines your type.
| Extroverted judging = Action | ||||||
| Fe: social harmony, doing work for other people, helping others | ||||||
| Te: goals; works hard to achieve objectives; gets stuff done | ||||||
| Introverted judging = Deciding | ||||||
| Fi: what feels right/values; satisfying their own moral standards instead of others; artistic | ||||||
| Ti: analyzes/problem-solves; finds solutions to problems; has no end goal; tries to find a goal through reason | ||||||
| Extroverted perceiving = Exploring | ||||||
| Se: sees things as they are right now; acts/improvises in the moment in the outer world; loves directness, hates mind games | ||||||
| Ne: sees in context/reads between the lines; sees multiple meanings; nothing is literal; sees how things relate to other things | ||||||
| Introverted perceiving: Knowledge | ||||||
| Si: follows routines without improvising; photographic memory; detail-oriented; masters specialty | ||||||
| Ni: overall gist; sees the bigger picture; likes to understand not master; synthesizes information into a single insight and can make predictions | ||||||
Your first function is your dominant and it’s the one you go to for everything. Your second function is your auxiliary or the trusted side kick who will always come to the rescue, especially in times of trouble. Your third function is the tertiary or the one where you feel the most insecure, so it compensates by working too hard. And your fourth and last function is your tantrum function that starts to cry and bang its fists against the floor every time it’s faced with challenges.
The Enneagram
It’s a system of personality typing that focuses on fixations rather than simple personality traits. These fixations have a pattern for each specific type that show you how you conceptualize the world, manage your emotions, and behave.
I’ve studied from the following experts:
https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions,
And many enneagram books over the years, including the works of Helen Palmer, Eli Jaxon-Bear, and Don Richard Riso with Russ Hudson.
It takes time to learn the enneagram system, as well as your type. Unlike with some other personality tests that narrows down your pattern with a quick and easy test, knowing and understanding your enneagram type could take years of honest self-inquiry.
The enneagram patterning system breaks down into 9 types, 3 sub-types and two wings for each type. Below are just the 9 types and their general traits:
| Type 1: The Perfectionist – rational, idealistic, principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic. | ||||||
| Type 2: The Helper – caring, interpersonal, demonstrative, generous, people-pleasing, and possessive. | ||||||
| Type 3: The Achiever – success-oriented, pragmatic, adaptative, excelling, driven, and image-conscious. | ||||||
| Type 4: The Artist – sensitive, withdrawn, expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental. | ||||||
| Type 5:The Philosopher – intense, cerebral, perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated. | ||||||
| Type 6: The Trooper – committed, security-oriented, engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious. | ||||||
| Type 7: The Enthusiast – busy, fun-loving, spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and scattered. | ||||||
| Type 8: The Warrior – powerful, dominating, self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational. | ||||||
| Type 9: The Peacemaker – easygoing, self-effacing, receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent. |
The 3 subtypes come from our 3 instinctual drives that are primarily subconscious—social, sexual, and self-preservation. Knowing your subtype will help you determine your type, especially if you’ve had a hard time identifying your pattern.
For a more detailed description of each type and subtype, I would recommend reading, Beatrice Chestnut’s “The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge” and listen to the Enneagram 2.0 podcast with Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes.
Human Design
HUMAN DESIGN is a cutting edge decision-making tool that can help you find your place in the flow and release conditioned behavior in order for you to live in peace, be fully satisfied, feel successful, or simply live with delight. Human Design is not a belief system, religion, tradition, or mind-dominated knowledge. You do not need to take my word or anyone else’s word for its validity. Human Design is an experiential and practical tool for you to become your own best guide and authority of your life.
Here’s an example of a chart:
There are 4 different types and their unique strategy on how to best navigate this plane of reality:
Manifestors – The ones who initiates and needs to inform others (Strategy) of what they’re doing in order to minimize backlash and anger (Not-Self Theme) so as to feel at peace (Signature).
Generators/Manifesting Generators – The ones who respond (Strategy) to their environment by only working on things they love either step-by-step (Generator) or by skipping steps and moving very fast (Manifesting Generator) in order to feel satisfied (Signature) and not frustrated (Not-Self Theme).
Projectors – The ones who gets recognized for the unique things they do by waiting for the right invitations (Strategy) and hence, feel success of their efforts (Signature) instead of bitter (Not-Self Theme).
Reflectors – The ones who need to wait for a full moon cycle before making decisions (Strategy) in order to enjoy the world for what it is (Signature) and not feel disappointed (Not-Self Theme).
Your Authority – This aspect is what you should listen to before making decisions. Half of the population is meant to make decisions only in the now and the other half never in the now. There are variations within these as well.
Do you feel ready to find out where you belong in the flow? Get your FREE CHART: https://humandesignamerica.com/chart
My learning manual explains what each of the components in your chart mean. You can subscribe and email me for a free PDF.
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