The Typing Question: Who Gets to Decide Your Enneagram Type?

One of the first questions people ask after they learn about the Enneagram is “how do I find out my type?” It’s such a simple question with a surprisingly complex answer.

Enneagram teachers are trained that people must self-type; this is a central tenet of the Enneagram. Even if I’m an Enneagram expert, I can’t tell you your type. You need to recognize your own habit of attention.

To explain why it’s so important that you self-type, understand that the Enneagram is a map of human motivation. While you’ll find lists of behavioral traits for each type, these traits radiate out from a habit of attention. And since your attention is an internal process, only you can recognize what it is you pay attention to the most.

But here’s where it gets tricky…

We all have blind spots, cultural overlays, family of origin influences and more. Each of us is a totally unique individual with our own set of experiences, brain chemistry and temperament. With this as the backdrop, it can be easy for someone to misunderstand or misread their own habit of attention.  For example:

• I’ve met Type Eight Challengers who thought they were Type Nine Peacemakers because they imagined they were much more mellow and accommodating than they objectively were.  
• I met a Type One Perfectionist who thought, for over 20 years, that she was a Type Eight Challenger.  She overidentified around the theme of anger, and this led her to misunderstand her true motivation.  
• I participated in an advanced Enneagram training where during the workshop, a Type Three Achiever realized her Type Two Giver behavior was actually her trying to fill the role of “good girl.” On day one of the training, she sat with the Type Two group but by day three, she had moved to be with her fellow Type Threes.

As you can see from these examples, motivation is a tricky thing to identify. The good news is there are plenty of tools and tricks that can help us along the way.  Let’s take a closer look at who and what can help you find your type.

External Mirrors to Help Find Your Type

Your Family and Friends 

While you might not necessarily see yourself clearly, your friends and family can give you clues into your true nature. Ask those closest to you to give you a list of four or five words they might use to describe you. This exercise can be both fun and illuminating, especially if you start to notice trends or common words or phrases. 

You can think of this exercise as a 360-degree review of your personality. If you don’t feel comfortable asking others, ask yourself the question: what words would my partner use to describe me? My best friend? My parents? The answers can give you valuable clues.

Experienced Teachers

Input from experienced teachers can be extremely useful in uncovering your true type. While reputable teachers won’t tell you what type you are (because ultimately, they don’t know what is going on inside your mind), they can invite you to explore different types or subtypes based on their experience and training.  

The renowned Enneagram teacher and author Beatrice Chestnut said that she learned she was a Self-Preservation Type Two when some of Claudio Naranjo’s students invited her to explore that personality subtype. She admits that she didn’t relate to the “child-like” elements of the description until they told her to take a closer look.  And when she did, while uncomfortable, she was able to identify places where she was keeping herself small and helpless. Their input helped her recognize herself and through that recognition, she grew. 

Online Communities

There are plenty of online communities dedicated to the Enneagram, from the Enneagram subreddit of over 65,000 members to the Personality Cafe forum with over 175,000 members. One of the most popular topics in these online communities is people asking for help to determine their type. This crowdsourced approach can be useful because you’ll get people from all walks of life sharing their thoughts. 

Online communities can offer valuable support but they are most useful as data points rather than conclusions.  While strangers might be able to give you useful tips and share their experiences, it is highly unlikely they know the inner workings of your mind better than you do.  Get opinions from these forums but use your own discernment.

Structured Tools to Help Find Your Type

Online Assessments

Online assessments can be another useful data point in determining your type. These tests are designed to zero in on your habit of attention and can give you a solid starting point for your Enneagram exploration.  

Start with Truity’s Enneagram assessment, and take other tests if you wish, keeping a light touch on the results  because no test has 100% accuracy. Extensively researched, highly rated Enneagram assessments can be useful data points, especially if they all point to the same number. 

Typing Interviews

Another way to gain clarity is a typing interview with an experienced Enneagram typer. This is a big part of my work and over my 10+ years of walking people through a very structured typing process, I have learned how the different types answer the questions.  This context can be really useful for people who are confused or vacillating between two or three types. 

The key here is to work with someone who has deep experience and a structured process. As the Enneagram becomes more mainstream, people who don’t have a firm grasp of the system sometimes offer typing services. If done incorrectly, it can add to the confusion.

Find Your Type Using Your Own Experience

Type-Specific Workshops

One of the most effective ways I’ve seen people “find themselves” is through type-specific workshops where people of one Enneagram type share their internal experience. These narrative tradition panels have been a way of teaching the Enneagram since the system’s early days. 

I myself participated in a Type Seven panel that helped another panelist realize he wasn’t a Type Seven.  We sat next to each other for 90 minutes sharing our internal experience with the audience. At the end, he turned to thank me “Your testimonial was so useful! I’ve realized I’m not a Type Seven after all. I’m not thinking about any of the stuff you are describing. I think I’m actually a Type Eight with a strong Type Seven wing…” Hearing people who are the type talk about their inner world can be a fast track to typing clarity.

Consider Factors like Culture and Neurodiversity

Culture absolutely impacts the expression of your personality so taking a close look at how you might be influenced by your environment is another important piece of the puzzle. Chichi Agorom, a Self-Preservation Type Five Investigator and author of  The Enneagram for Black Liberation: Return to Who You Are Beneath the Armor You Carry, speaks openly about how Nigerian culture impacted the expression of her personality style. She adopted Type Eight behavior to fit in despite the fact she is a Type Five.

The same is true for neurodiversity and the Enneagram.  I had a fascinating typing interview with an autistic friend who wasn’t sure if she was a Type Two or a Type Five. Normally, these two types don’t get confused as their habit of attention points in very different directions. But her neurodivergent camouflaging made self-typing a challenge. A conscious exploration into how your brain type might be impacting your behavior and attention can give important clues.

But In the End…

Even with all of these tools and tricks, none of them can definitively tell you your type because I’ve seen every tool get it wrong. Friends and family carry their own biases. Even the best online assessments sometimes miss the mark. Experienced teachers can unintentionally steer someone in the wrong direction. Online communities sometimes amplify confusion rather than offer clarity. Workshops are powerful but not foolproof. And even seasoned typing interviewers can misread someone. The human psyche is nuanced and layered, and motivation is not always easy to see.

But the good news is that even the very process of finding your Enneagram type contributes to your personal growth. For people who have to work hard to find themselves, the intense self-observation required is exactly the work of “waking up” and moving towards higher consciousness that helps us grow. And the one universal thing I have noticed in all my years of helping people find their true type is that when they do, they seem to relax. It is like they meet themselves, maybe for the first time. And it feels good. 

So in the end, who gets to decide your type? You do, because growth only begins when recognition happens from the inside. And that’s part of the magic of the Enneagram.