Question of the day is whether or not I am an introvert. Several people have challenged the statement that I am which appears in the 100 things about me on this site. I have a hunch that they might be right. Maybe it is time to revise that list.
I’ve been doing enneagram and Myers-Briggs tests at similarminds.com. These suggest that I am in fact a 3 rather than a 4 on the enneagram and an ENFP rather than an INFP.
All this is very interesting. I first did these things when I was being assessed for ministry whilst I was in London. I think that I am a very different person indeed, for a number of reasons, than I was then. I guess it was about 10 years ago now.
Now I am left thinking about who I am. All kinds of assumptions about myself that arise from being an introvert are no longer valid.
Re: Type
I don’t fully trust online Enneagram tests. I think you are better to do these working through a book (thus speaks the introvert in me!) or in a group with a trained Enneagram practitioner. The core of who we are doesn’t change, in the Enneagram — once a FOUR, always a FOUR — but we do develop our wings, and the other points on the Enneagram. I wouldn’t be surprised if your THREE wing had developed, which is about acheiving and being successful. People often mistake me for a FIVE because I have such a massive FIVE wing — I’m definitely FOUR through-and-through.
I don’t know enough about MBTI to comment on that. Other than that those who do know about it seem to think that it offers a good snap-shot of where you are NOW, whereas the Enneagram looks at the core of who you are and how you got there. ‘I’ or ‘E’? Where do you get your energy? When I did it at TISEC I scored very borderline on that one (I scored just 7 in favour of Introvert), but I know that there are times when I get my energy from being alone and from my own reading and thinking. At other times I crave the creativity that only a connection with others can bring me.
I try to do the Enneagram each year. It’s been interesting to see how I have developed in the other ‘types’. Being married to an EIGHT (‘The Boss’) I have developed my EIGHT, NINE and SEVEN … okay, not so much the SEVEN!
Keep exploring, that’s what I say.
Re: Type
I’ve just taken the Advanced Enneagram test on similarminds.com and I came out as a ONE. I’m not a ONE, I’m a FOUR! However, FOURs go to ONE in strength and I am feeling very organised and on top of things at the moment so I’m not surprised that I scored very highly in that area. So, don’t trust the online tests, they can be a good rough indication of where you are just now, but no more than that. IMHO.
Gareth
Re: Type
I appreciate what you say, Gareth, but there are a number of possibilities which you don’t allow for.
The most obvious of these is the possibility of mis-identification. It might be argued with either of these personality systems that they were prone to misreadings at times when people are under the greatest pressure in life. [The precise contrary could also be argued too, but bear with me]. This presents an obvious problem when they are used by people in trauma. The fact is, they are often used at unsettling times in people’s lives – job interviews, career planning, selection for ministry, ordination training etc. The question is, is the person that we present to the world at such moments the person that we really are.
I’d hate to think that the person that I was when in TISEC ordination training is the person that I really am.