Reaching for Perfection: Enneagram Type One

 Enneatype One: The Reformer or Perfectionist: The primary motivation for a type One is to be right and to avoid being wrong. Ones are the perfectionists of the Enneagram and much of their energy is spent on remaining compulsively rational so that their lives can stay in order. Ones want to be good and fear being bad.In the levels of development that are part of the Enneatype system, an integrated (healthy) type One moves in the direction of type Seven and becomes more relaxed and fun loving. These high functioning type Ones channel their tendencies into  discipline, organization, and a strong work ethic. They embrace their love for  fairness, ethics, and truth and live these ideals to the best of their ability without imposing their expectations on others.At the average level of development, Ones are driven by their  ‘inner critic’  a set of self held standards that are quite rigid. Average Ones tend to be highly self critical and critical of others at the same time.Under stress, when an average One starts to disintegrate, they move in the direction of average Fours and become moody, introverted, and self indulgent. When moving into their lower natures, they become very rigid in their thinking, combative, and self righteous in a way that drives people away from them.

Are you a Type One? Can you identify a probable Type One in your life?

Famous Ones: Hillary Clinton, Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Nader, Judith Martin (Ms Manners), Martha Stewart, Charlton Heston , Eleanor Roosevelt , Martin Luther King, jr., Confucius, Aristotle, Queen Elizabeth II.