Enneagram Type 3 (A complete guy)

In this article, we will discuss Enneagram Type 3. We will describe type 3 personality, their fears, and desires. We will also discuss their strengths and weaknesses along with their attitude to emotions, sources of stress, areas of growth, and their motivations. In the end, we will shed a light on their childhood, work performance, and romantic relationships.

After you’ve enjoyed the ”Enneagram Type 3” mentioned below, I would recommend you to take a look at ”Self Improvement In Enneagram Type 3” too.

Enneagram Type 3

People with Type 3 personalities are ambitious and enthusiastic.  They are flexible, adaptable, and driven to achieve their goals.  They have a special ability to act according to their environment.  This means that they can re-adjust their roles,  actions, and their expressions according to the people around them and the nature of the setting. 

Enneagrams

Enneagrams are a map or typology of human personalities. It was developed by George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, Oscar Ichazo, and Claudio Naranjo. It has nine personality types that are split across 3 triads i.e. Feeling triad, Thinking Triad, or Instinctive Triad. 

It describes a person’s fundamental psychological orientation based on the triad quality i.e. emotion, intellect or instincts most characteristic of his or her personality. 

Enneagram Type 3: The Performer

Basic fear 

Type 3 personalities are most afraid of failure and feeling worthless.  Their underlying belief is that if they are successful and accomplished,  they are worthy of love.  In other words, their sense of self is dependent on receiving validation from others on how successful they are in life professionally,  academically, or even in their personal life.

Basic desire 

Type 3 personalities want to be accepted and appreciated by others.   They want to be admired by people for their accomplishments.  Accordingly,  they set big goals and make every efforts to achieve them.  This gives them a chance to validate their sense of self-worth and get praise from others for their success.

Type 3 and emotions

These personalities can adapt to different settings in a natural manner.  They sort of take it as playing a character rather than being themself. Accordingly, their emotions change based on the role they are playing. They modify their responses based on what is deemed acceptable by their audience. They have difficulty connecting with their emotions. Usually, they avoid addressing them.

The Strengths of Type 3

Type 3 has many strengths. These include the following:

• These personalities are driven to achieve success and accomplishments in their life.
• While moving towards success,  they also encourage and motivate people in their surroundings.  They help others join them on their journey.
• They have a good ability to connect with others especially in professional situations.  They can also understand people and their thoughts.
•  Generally,  people find their high confidence and charisma quite attractive and are drawn to them.
•  At the workplace,  these personalities are quite efficient and employ practical thinking to get the work done.

The Weaknesses of Type 3

Type 3 also has many weaknesses. These include the following:

• These people are quite concerned about what other people think of them.  This makes them focus a lot of their energy on their personal image. 
•  They find accepting failure quite difficult.  In the same way, the failure of others is also unacceptable to them.
•  At times,  they disconnect from their feelings and avoid addressing them.
•  As mentioned earlier, self-image is quite important to them. So, if people perceive them to be overly competitive and insensitive,  they find it difficult to accept.

If you’re facing this, it may be a good idea to seek the help of a therapist or other mental health professional. You can find a therapist at BetterHelp who can help you learn how to cope and address it.

Possible areas of growth for Type 3

Type 3 can grow as a person by the following:

• It is important that these personalities acknowledge and accept when they unintentionally deceive themselves or others by trying to distort their self-image.
•  They need to understand that their success is not the only thing that defines them.  Their value lies beyond their accomplishments and public self-image.
•  They need to learn to step back and look at what they have achieved in their life.  It is important that they appreciate and express gratitude for what they have accomplished so far rather than trying to continue to move towards more accomplishments.
•  They need to start to be themself instead of trying to act how they think others want them to be.  Learning to be authentic and original can be quite important for their self-growth as a person.

Source of Stress 

Type 3 gets stressed by the following:

• Many times,  due to their concern of having to maintain a charming and acceptable self-image,  these personalities are driven to fulfill the expectations of other people.  However,  when they constantly feel that they have to entertain others,  they get stressed out.
•  Whenever they face failure in life a few times in a row or they face difficulty in solving Complex problems,  these people feel down and worthless.
•  The negative perception of others towards them can be quite stressful for them.
•  Connecting with their own emotions and making peace with whatever they are feeling can be hard for them.

Workplace and job

People with Type 3 personalities work best in environments that give them the opportunity to set and accomplish multiple goals.  They also enjoy expanding their social network.  Using their relationships to pursue and move forward with their ambitions can be quite motivating for them. 

When other people request them to meet and win over someone,  they feel energized.  Similarly,  when their Boss provides them with new opportunities and responsibilities and their colleagues admire them for their accomplishments,  they feel valued.  When other people listen to their instructions,  it gives them a sense of importance and control. 

Work can be draining for them especially if they are criticized and ignored by others.  If their colleagues do not like them or if their Boss does not give them credit for their work,  they feel exhausted and low.  Whenever people disrespect their authority,  they get upset and stressed.

These people are driven and secure in themself.  They are self-assured and hope to reach their dreams and goals.  They are action-oriented people who struggle to achieve success.  Jobs that may be good for them include lawyers,  surgeons,  politicians, financial analysts,  and investment bankers. 

Motivations

They are energized by the following:

• Whenever they accomplish their goals,  it gives them a feeling of fulfillment and control.
•  Acceptance and love of others is quite motivating for them.
•  Whenever they come across new goals that they want to achieve,  they feel energetic and motivated to get started as soon as possible.
•  Meeting new people and engaging in public speeches inspires them to be their best self that is appreciated and admired by others.

Romantic Relationships

In their romantic relationships,  these personalities work well with Partners who help them to take a break from work and appreciate what they have already accomplished.  If they are married to someone who is also work-oriented,  these personalities should remember to set a special time aside for their relationship.

These personalities contribute optimism and adaptability to their romantic relationship.  They have strong people-oriented energy and enthusiasm that can energize their relationship.  Their ability to communicate effectively can also be beneficial for them.

However,  these personalities have difficulty acknowledging their role in a romantic relationship.  They find it difficult to be emotionally vulnerable with their partner.  Similarly,  at times they can get too invested in their work and ignore their relationship as a result.

 For their relationship to work,  it is important that these personalities learn to let go of their control and express their emotions.  They can learn to identify and ask their partners what their expectations are and how they can work to fulfill them.  Similarly,  they need to pay special attention to taking out time and working on improving their relationship and ensuring that their partner is satisfied with them.

Type 3 Childhood/development

 During their childhood, type threes learned that they were loved and valued by their parents based on their achievements rather than who they were.  Often,  they were praised and awarded with a look of approval upon achieving something.  In order to gain that approval again,  they started achieving trophies and A grades. They developed a belief that if they want love, they need to accomplish goals and success. Thus, their sense of worth became dependent on how much accomplish rather than who they are as a person.  They also believe that,  if others knew their real self,  they would reject and abandon them. So, they continue to move ahead towards success in the hopes of being loved and accepted by others.

You can check out the childhoods of the 3w2 and 3w4 subtypes in depth.

 FAQs: Type 3

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed enneagram Type 3. We found that people with Type 3 personalities are ambitious and enthusiastic.  They are flexible, adaptable, and driven to achieve their goals.  They have a special ability to act according to their environment.  This means that they can Re-adjust their roles,  actions, and their expressions according to the people around them and the nature of the setting. 

I hope you found this article interesting. If you have any queries or comments, please state them in the comment section 😊

Citations

https://www.crystalknows.com/enneagram/type-3

https://www.psychologyjunkie.com/2020/03/10/the-childhood-wounds-of-every-enneagram-type/#

Personality Types – Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery by Don Richard Riso with Russ Hudson

The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson