Type 1: Characteristics And Potential

Enneatype 1 makes  up a personality as complex as it is striking. He is the “Perfectionist”, that profile that strives almost every moment to be coherent, well-intentioned and always virtuous. However, it is common for him to hide a certain contained anger, certain wrong areas that prevent him from reaching his full potential.

Claudio Navarro points out in the always interesting book Character and neurosis that enneatype 1 is “an angry virtuoso”. He is someone characterized by a desperate obsession to improve the things that surround him without realizing that with this eagerness, he worsens his own life and also that of others.

Now, we should not see this set of traits as something negative or limiting. Quite the opposite. It must be remembered that the ultimate purpose of the enneagram is to serve us precisely as a valuable tool for self-knowledge. It is a way of knowing our “masks”, of deepening our needs, our deepest instincts, emotions, mental processes and, also, our potentialities.

Enneatype 1 has great resources and interesting skills in hand that, according to this approach, he can develop to the maximum if he deepens his character and conscience, working on those more problematic aspects. In future articles we will delve into the rest of the types in detail, but this time, we are going to know everything about this personality known as “the perfectionist”.

Enneatype 1, the desire to lead a coherent and error-free life

Anyone who has seen or read “To Kill a Mockingbird” will have in their memory one of the most wonderful characters in the history of literature: Atticus Finch. His profile, his will, his elevated humanity and his balance, perfectly symbolize the brightest and most developed enneatype 1, without erroneous or dark reverse areas to work on. His vital energy and sense of justice is the very imprint of the first of the characters of the enneatype.

However, before ascending to this pedestal, enneatype 1 tends to move through turbulent seas, through complex contradictions and highly frustrated scenarios where their aspirations are not always fulfilled. Let’s see below what characteristics this enneatype usually presents and, for this, we will take as a reference the description made by Claudio Naranjo in “Character and neurosis”.

• Obsession for details.
• Need to make lists of almost anything, as well as outlines, reminders, etc.
• Every task they carry out must be perfect. However, that need is at the same time a source of continuous frustrations because they are never satisfied. This behavior reaches the point of exhaustion, being able to involve others in this effort to the point of creating tensions and disagreements.

• They are conscientious, often inflexible, and scrupulous.
• They have a high sense of justice, of what is right and what is wrong (according to them), of what is desirable and correct.
• In his internal dialogue there are many “shoulds”, “I have to” and “there is that”.
• They do not usually delegate tasks to other people, it is difficult for them to team up or trust others in work matters because they doubt that they can be as effective as they.
• They are very attached to their things, their possessions, their family… It is an often insane attachment.

Likewise, a detail that Claudio Naranjo points out about enneatype 1 is that it usually presents an emotional background inhabited by anger. This dimension is what gives his character such rigidity and lack of spontaneity. This anger is nothing more than the result of so much accumulated personal frustration, and of the feeling that around him there is an excess of injustice, slovenliness or wrong doing that is beyond his control.

How eneatype 1 should be worked to achieve personal fulfillment

When enneatype 1 works properly on those problem areas such as their contained anger, their need for control or their extreme perfectionism, they can become profiles with high discernment, wisdom and good judgment. They can become authentic Atticus Finch capable of inspiring others, guiding and influencing in enriching ways.

Now, how to achieve it? Becoming aware of their wrong attitudes or zones. Let’s see how.

• Lowering his elevated idealism a few degrees.
• Lower the volume of that internal voice so critical, so hypocritical at times demanding a moral virtuosity that sometimes not even oneself can achieve.
• Reduce the “shoulds” and those self-impositions that we often put ourselves in prison, surrounded by such limiting demands.

• Learn to delegate, to trust others a little more.
• Understand that the world, people and many things that surround us cannot always be as we wish. Living is above all “being and letting be”, and that implies allowing others to act as they wish without taking our breath away, calming us down, or fueling us with anger and more frustration.
• The enneatype must make contact with their emotions and channel them, release them. All that contained anger must dissolve, all dissatisfaction must find better ventilated rooms where we understand that perfectionism goes hand in hand with wear and tear, and iron discipline with exhaustion.

A healthy and fulfilled enneatype 1 is above all a person freer from his own mental ties. In that noble aspiration to achieve a more just world and a higher and more perfect being, there is an intermediate sphere where you can feel truly fulfilled as well as useful.

It is a psychological layer where emotions are more adjusted and where there is a more humble acceptance of reality. Because when one stops being an internal and external “fault tracker”, one begins to live with more calm and satisfaction to be more flexible and compassionate.

In future articles we will continue to delve into the rest of the 8 types of this interesting personal knowledge tool.

Lead Image Gregory Peck in Kill a Mockingbird (1962)