Enneagram 1s: Seven things you need to know

When I first stumbled upon the Enneagram, I had no idea what to think. I mean there are nine different types or lenses through which we see the world and if that’s not enough, you can go deeper with wings, and arrows, and subtypes. In my own personal journey, when I applied the Gospel to the map of the Enneagram, I found a tool that helped me build self-awareness of where I was at, identify what was holding me back in becoming who God made me to be, and the steps to take to build thriving and strong relationships with God, myself, and others.

All of that to say, I think it might be helpful - whether you’re new to the Enneagram or have been following along for a while - to cover each of the nine types. Our focus today is Enneagram Type 1s, also known as the Reformer. So if you’re ready to learn more about the Reformer for yourself or to understand someone you love, I’ve got you covered with seven things you need to know.

1. At Their Best

   Our type 1 friends at their best are ethical, reliable, productive, wise, idealistic, conscientious, orderly, and self-disciplined. They thrive on creating order our of chaos and doing the right thing.

2. At Their Worst

   The Enneagram is an equal opportunity tool and will not only reveal your superpower, but also what happens when your strengths get overdone. At their worst - when their strengths are overdone - Type 1s can be judgmental, inflexible, dogmatic, critical, controlling, anxious, and jealous.

3. Core Fear

   When seeking to identify your type, one of the most important things to pay attention to is your core fear and which one you resonate with the most. The Type 1s core fear includes fear of being bad, evil, angry, wrong, inappropriate, corrupt, irresponsible, and condemned.

4. Core Desire

   Type 1s’ core desire is to have integrity, balance, to be virtuous, ethical, and in the end be a good boy or good girl.

5. Core Weakness

   This can also be called the emotional struggle. For type 1s, the core weakness surrounds anger and resentment. Because they want to be appropriate and do the right thing, type 1s do not always embrace anger fully. This tends to turn their anger into resentment which can sometimes be expressed as criticism.

6. Growth & Stress

   All types on the Enneagram have arrows for growth and stress. These arrows indicate another type’s traits that you can take on during these circumstances. For type 1s, they tend to take on the average to unhealthy traits of type 4 and can start to feel indignant that expectations are not being achieved for themselves and others, while also turn their anger inward and move toward sadness and depression.

   When they are growing spiritually, emotionally, and relationally, type 1s tend to take on some of the traits of a healthy type 7. They will become less critical, more self-accepting, more enthusiastic & optimistic, and have more fun while embracing spontaneity.

7. The Message Their Heart Longs to Hear

   Each Enneagram type has a wounded childhood message that helps form their type and a message their heart longs to hear. For our type 1 friends, their wounded message is “It is not okay to make mistakes” and they long to hear “You are good”.

There you have it. Seven things you need to know about type 1s, the Reformers. Here’s the thing I love about the Enneagram. It helps us understand why we do what we do and why our people do what they do. It can help you walk in the fullness of who God made you to be and thrive in your relationship with God, yourself, and others. If this resonates with you, and you’d like to learn more, I’d love to chat. I offer a free 30 minute discovery session to answer all your questions about the Enneagram and what your next steps might be for learning more.