Personality Type Blog

On any typical day, the Enneagram Type 1 is on a quest to do what’s right and ensure everything they do meets their expectations, with very little room for error. They set mile-high standards for themselves that make perfect sense to them but baffle others. These Enneagram types are called “the Perfectionist” for a reason! 

You have plenty of goals you want to achieve. But, you’ll be the first to admit that you aren’t really making any progress.

Even worse? It feels like you’re being left behind. It’s as if you’re beginning a marathon and everybody else is whizzing past you at record speed—while you remain at the starting line with your feet stuck in the cement.

What gives? How come everybody else seems to be scoring these big wins while you stay in place? Let’s look at a few potential reasons. 

As an Enneagram type 8, I am a natural goal-setter. 

Since I was very young, I remember setting targets and goals to reach. These ranged from New Year's resolutions to grades for my classes in school, and splitting university into a four-year plan to accomplish everything I wanted to do. In my working life I’ve done the same – and I still have a whole list of things I want to achieve this year!

ISTJs are aptly described as the “Inspectors” of the Myers and Briggs personality system and if you can remember that, everything else makes perfect sense. 

Our thought process, our behaviors, our decisions, all come from a place that looks at the world as a whole and constantly places individual pieces into their logical positions therein. In general, we inspect things in order to improve and maintain them.