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Type 3. Motivator

Tip! Click on the books on the left to read different author's descriptions for this type.

The description here was salvaged from Dave's Enneagram Site, when it was about to be deleted in 5/98. Check his new site for updates.
Naranjo
E-Type Structures
Palmer
-E-gram
E  in Love & Work
Pocket E-gram
Riso and Hudson
Understanding E-gram
Discovering Your Type
E-gram Transform.
Baron & Wagele
E-gram Made Easy
Are You My Type?
Keyes
Emotions and E-gram
Hurley & Dobson
What’s My Type?
Callahan
E-gram for Youth
Excerpts from Enneagram Books
   Palmer - The Pocket Enneagram
 

Point Three: The Performer

Worldview
The world values a champion. Avoid failures at all costs.

What helps Performers

  • The key word is "Stop." Leave time for emotions to surface before hurrying to the next task. Find the fear of feelings that underlies an urgent desire for activity.
  • Learn the difference between doing and feeling. Note when activity is mechanical. Robotlike work suspends feelings.
  • Notice when fantasies of success replace actual abilities.
  • Stay with problems rather than veering off to new projects, discrediting critics, or reframing failure into success.
  • Pay attention to postponement of feelings. "I'll be happy after the next promotion," "We'll have more time after I get a raise."
  • Notice when you feel like a fraud. "Nobody sees behind my mask. Only what I do is seen."
  • Note unrealistic fears of failure when the work pace lessens.
  • Be aware when self-reflection or support group sessions become a task to master or the next job on the schedule.
  • Learn to recognize feelings. Threes may have to start by naming the sensations that underlie feelings. "My face is hot" or "My belly feels tight."
  • A definite time limit for self-reflection softens the fear of emotionality. Begin with thirty-minute breaks and then back to work.
  • Get support in making feeling choices rather than staus choices.
  • Allow people to love who you are rather than what you do.

Helen Palmer

The Pocket Enneagram:
Understanding the 9 Types of People
Harper & Row, 1988, 90 pages