[Steel Magnolia]

I notice that many people (including myself) have had past mistypes when it comes to their Enneagram personality type. Seems to be a fairly common thing. But just out of curiosity, is there anyone here who got it right the first time? I'd be interested in hearing your story.

 

[Pete The Lich]

i know i have a Type E personality
so im quite certain i am a type 3w4

 

[Steel Magnolia]

Well, we all have a Type E personality. Did you always believe you were a 3w4? What led you to this conclusion?

 

[Flatlander]

This is actually why I jumped right into being typed via thread before I studied the system (also rather than being typed by test). Self-classification is a tricky business, and more objective points of view to start with, based on an outsider's analysis - THEN studying the system to consider it against other options - seems like a good plan for giving a more stable starting point.

I think I was typed correctly, as a 5. The full description clicked very readily for me, and I don't see much that fits myself in most of the other enneatypes. Somewhat on 8, 9, 3.

 

[Wake]

For the first two weeks of getting into the Enneagram I thought I maybe a 5 because I was reading enneagraminstitute.com's definition with a bias by looking past things that didn't quite match up and agreeing with it. I read various descriptions of 1s at some point when I started to care and knew it was correct. So ya, when I became enthusiastic about learning my type I became certain within the day.

 

[Lunarprox]

Threes can sometimes mistype themselves when they mistake the more superficial features of their personalities as indicators of their type. I didn't get it right the first time, the 5 description was spot on though.

 

[sleepyhead]

I took the Riso and Hudson 144 question test (I think in Personality Types) a few years ago for work before I knew anything at all about the Enneagram. At that time I came out as a 5 first and 4 second but I didn't look into it any further - my co-workers seemed to think it was a good fit. I knew at the time the test wasn't the most reliable measurement but I didn't really understand how to look into it further.

At some point we did a workshop on the Enneagram and that's when I started to become more interested. When I really began reading the 5 description I knew it was correct. The only other type I strongly related to at the time was 4 but it became clear pretty quickly that 5 was my core type, and 4 was my wing. Part of the workshop was talking about mistypings and that you can only really type yourself so that was a very helpful place to really start looking into things. I also started learning about the Enneagram strictly through books so I had a lot of really in depth descriptions of all the types to study.

 

[Owfin]

I got the 6 right the first time...

 

[JungyesMBTIno]

I got type 5 right the first time, like 3 years ago. And I essentially got the wing right on the first guess also (wing 4), even though I was far less confident about it for a very long time.

 

[cyamitide]

I thought my type was 5 for the longest time because I figured that I am indeed withdrawn, oriented at acquiring knowledge, and can be stingy with my time and resources. I didn't consider type 1 since 1 descriptions are so heavily stereotyped into some kind of moralistic preacher type that they didn't sound anything like me. It wasn't until I read about enneagram types attention styles that I've discovered that indeed I am in a habit of constantly comparing and contrasting things to figure out which one is better and that this thinking style belongs to type 1.

 

[sorry_neither]

I got 5 right off the bat, there was no question about it. But I did assume I was a 5w4, falling for the "w4 is art and w6 is science!" BS because the only info I could find on wings at the time was pretty weak. Learning about tritypes helped clear that up.

 

[JungyesMBTIno]

@cyamitide

Yeah, the 1 stereotypes are pretty ridiculous. Pretty recently, I concluded that I have a 1 gut fix, but for the longest time, I highly doubted it, since I didn't relate to being uber moralistic and preachy at all *blech*. I think the website you found is the best 1 description out there!

 

[Mizmar]

I think the website you found is the best 1 description out there!

I believe those are from Helen Palmer's book The Enneagram. In it she describes the attention styles of the different types.

 

[Steel Magnolia]

Thanks for the the replies, everyone.

I am a type 6 who initially mistyped as 1. I've taken various versions of the Enneagram, and read through various descriptions of 6 and 1 ( many different articles- the specific source is eluding my mind atm, but if/when I remember, I'll try to find some links of some the online stuff that helped me).

The first time, I typed out as a 6, and read through the description, my reaction at a lot of the descriptors was nervous laughter, followed by "Yeah, I do that". My husband was next to me, and said, "With that reaction, are you sure you're not that type (type 6)?" And that was a good point, because I think I was reacting that way because I was seeing myself in that description.

The difference between Type 1 and Type 6 anger styles seemed to help clinch things for me. Also, the varied nature of Type 6 kinda made me go, "Oh, okay, so this explains why I feel like a walking contradiction" (Note: that definitely does not apply to all type 6s. But type 6 seems like a very unique E-type because it is so varied- that's what I like about it). And the phobia/counterphobia aspect seemed to help clarify some of my real life behaviours, too.

So that is my story.

 

[Curiously]

Overall, I would say I had a good idea I was a Type 5 from the start. Someone I had met early on when I first started on PerC suggested I should look into Type 4. When I looked into Type 4 and compared and contrasted with Type 5, I naturally saw more of myself as a Type 5. I've also met some Type 4s in the real world, so I was better able to see some fundamental differences between these two types. While I'm open to the possibility of being mistyped, for the time being and given all the readings I've done so far on the Enneagram and especially on Type 5, I do consider myself as a Type 5.

 

[Master Mind]

I did, as I've always been about self-knowledge and self-awareness my entire life. Intrapersonal intelligence is one of my strengths.

 

[Owfin]

Ooops, double post. Move along.

 

[Owfin]

I am a type 6 who initially mistyped as 1.

O rlly? :wink:

 

[Nienna]

I got my tritype right from the 1st time, except before I thought it was 974 and now I think it's 947.
I once thought I was 945, but after reflecting, 5 doesn't really fit.
I'm still thinking sooner or later I'll find out I'm actually mistyped, but from everything I've read so far, my actual type fits me well.

 

[LimeDegree]

I took the test once in my first month here, but wasn't really interested in the eneagram material (it didn't seem very relevant, and I hadn't studied enough to know about tri-types). I looked at the second and third enneagram descriptions as possible alternate results, based on probability or something. Anyhow, the test results weren't accurate enough, although to their credit, they did get a lot of the same numbers, just in different positions.

Several weeks later, I posted an in-depth perspective on my goals in group situations, and @eyenexepee noted (very much appreciated, by the way ) the similarities with Type 6. Reading about type 6 hit extremely close to home, there just seemed to be some concerns/tendencies not explained by the descriptions. When I found tri-types, and got to reading all of them in detail, I realized I was dealing with some combination of 6, 4, and 8. Determining which of the three was my primary took a lot of reflection and comparisons, but in the end the concerns that are attributed with 6's still hit closest to home, the growth point explained a lot, and the more extreme behaviors of 8 seemed the least influencing in my life. I'm still uncertain how important the order is when listing the last two, by the way, if someone can explain the relevance...? The wing behaviors actually matter the least to me, while the subtype information seems the most important of all.