I’m a Five on the Enneagram which is the observer or investigator personality type. Last month I told you about a seminar I’m involved in that helps identify your personality type to better navigate business and make more money. How so? By awareness so that we can leverage our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. I’m going to share one of my type Five weaknesses with you here… maybe you can relate.

I have a hard time speaking my mind and making decisions “in the moment” and it has hurt me in business. (Actually, it hurts me in personal relationships too, but we’re focusing just on business, here, okay!? What happens is that I leave a meeting, a conversation, hang up the phone and then, dang! Maybe even as soon as five minutes later I recognize that I shoulda, coulda, woulda negotiated differently if I’d recognized an opportunity (or a land mine) in the moment. But by then I’m standing all alone kicking myself.

Later I’ll know what I think about what he’s saying.

So I now try to self-correct, to remember to alert people to my process and let them know that I need to think about this for just a few minutes. Or, if I forgot to tell them (still happens!), I then return the call, or recall the meeting (if I have the power) and hope it’s not too late. I learned this from the Enneagram.

If you’re a people person, a Seven or a Two or an Eight, then you probably don’t “get” Fives (or Fours or Twos and so on), but it would be good to know things like this. Mostly I work solo – writing, lecturing – but I consult a lot, too – so it’s great to be able to pull the types from my brain and realize that my quirks are not my clients’ quirks. Because you know we’re all quirky.

Personality testing isn’t new, and I respect a few of the methods – the Myers-Briggs, for example – but I think that the Enneagram is the best or maybe it’s the most fun. Which is what makes it the most effective for me.

I’ve been asked to talk about my journey as a Five in an online program aiming to educate and help others overcome their barriers to become more successful in our personal lives and businesses, creating more freedom and more money to live our dreams. Interested in joining me?

Do you already know your type? Grab your ebook and videos here. Don’t know your type yet? This link is for you. You will start getting videos as soon as you sign up. I’ll be on a panel later in the program and I hope to see you there.