9 Life Strategies
The Enneagram describes 9 basic strategies that we use wrongly and unconsciously. This model helps us to open our eyes and see what unconscious behavioral stereotypes we use and why.
Oskar Ičazo presented 9 ego fixations and motivations that are presented for each Enneagram type and suggested development paths based on 4 elements: Motivation – Fixation – Strength – Being.
Motivation is our weakness that drives us and motivates us to do what we do. Very often, personalities deny that this is their weakness, but when a person admits it, a new page of life begins.
Fixation is a stereotype of behavior that a person constantly repeats, unconsciously believing that he will be happy when he achieves the desired result, such as status. When a person recognizes his patterns of behavior and inner motivation, it is as if he comes out of a closed circle and clearly understands why he does it, as Gurdjieff said, people wake up from sleep.
Strength is the opposite of motivation. We have all internal resources, but different types are motivated by different things. After Enneagram training, people become consciously aware of their own patterns of behavior and where specifically they repeat the same events and why.
Being is when people live in harmony with themselves and others. This state is reached when a person feels as if he is in a comfort zone and is consciously aware of his inner motivation.
The person is trying to achieve what they want to achieve or believe that something will bring them happiness, so there are repeated events that have already happened and we cannot answer why. During the training, the participants will have a very clear understanding of their behavior stereotypes and behavior patterns. They will realize that they and their clients/those around them often fall into a closed circle where fixation reinforces motivation and a person cannot escape from his closed circle. For example the third type (out of 9 possible types) is fixated and status-seeking, so they believe that other people value them for their work. 3-when they work a lot, they are afraid of not being appreciated or not having their own image and they don’t show their emotions, because they unconsciously think that showing emotions is a sign of weakness.
When the participants of the workshop become aware of their fixation, they will learn to use their strengths and neutralize their stereotypes, use their resources, use their talents and learn to get out of the closed circle (for example, type 6 personalities are always hesitant to make decisions, but they have the most courage, they best sees all risks, but must clearly set deadlines for decisions, otherwise the list of risks will never end).
Many people are exhausted from the heavy workload, solving their own and clients’ problems, life changes and they really need motivational training, thanks to which they would understand very clearly that we are all different and unique. People choose priorities according to their internal motivations, but very often they do it unconsciously. The Enneagram model is precisely the tool that will help you understand why you have chosen specific life strategies. Everything is in your hands. Only you are the masters and blacksmiths of your life!
Life strategies:
1st person – PERFECTIONIST – BE PERFECT and not make mistakes.
2nd – ASSISTANT – HAVE A LOT OF CONTACTS and be needed;
3rd – ACHIEVER – BEING EFFECTIVE and accepted by the group as successful;
4th – INDIVIDUALIST – TO BE UNIQUE and stand out from the group with creativity;
5th – OBSERVER – BEING DETACHED and independent from other people;
6th – LOYALIST – BEING SAFE and an accepted member of the group;
7th – ENTHUSIASTIC – TO BE ENTHUSIASTIC and happy;
8th – BOSS – BE STRONG and act to get the guppy to choose their strategy,
9th – PEACEMAKER – BE PEACEFUL and harmonious with yourself and those around you.
As e.g. 3rd MOTIVATOR/ ACHIEVER
The main (current) strategy is to BE EFFICIENT/SUCCESSFUL. 3-when they work very hard and are ambitious. They want to be the best at work and always strive to be successful, efficient and visible. 3-when they think they have to achieve their goals and even more than other people They value successful people very much. Under stress, Achievers strive for even greater visibility so that everyone notices them. They seek to cooperate with others so that everyone notices their achievements and personal attributes such as professionalism, intelligence or appearance. Under stress, image is more important to 3s than financial security.
An additional (could apply) strategy is BE SAFE (Strategy 6). For 3s, being safe is the opposite of being efficient, because then they have to be in a group and live like 6s, in a smaller or medium house, and not stand out from the others. Also, the 3rd loses the ability to be fast because you have to adjust to the pace of the group. So, for most 3s, this seems inefficient and they can become less energetic/less productive and less visible.
The supporting strategy is BEING PEACEFUL (Strategy 9). For 3s, this is how to reinforce their achievements and show that they are calm and always ready to perform various tasks. They enhance their image in this way because they believe that there is no task that a 3 cannot accomplish. But sometimes it happens that under stress, 3s (like 9s) retreat and wait for someone to give them advice on what to do. Peacefulness hides their fear of coping with a specific task that the 3 has taken on.
3-what is visible: when they are in the center and everyone admires them and appreciates their achievements. Taking care of themselves and others since childhood, 3s are fascinated by the fact that 3s know how to achieve what they want and at the same time ignite others, because they show it by choosing the most effective ways.