We found an eerily accurate personality test, and it’s *not* the Myers-Briggs
For many people, the terms “personality test” and “Myers-Briggs” are basically synonymous. The famous test is widely considered the gold standard in categorizing people by personality type, and odds are you’ve taken it at least once or twice in your lifetime.
While I myself have taken the Myers-Briggs a handful of times, I somehow always felt like it sort of got me but was never even close to 100% capturing the complexity of personhood. I chalked it up to just being someone who doesn’t really enjoy personality tests (How can four letters capture any of us? I reasoned) and moved on with my life.
However, after recently explaining my thoughts on the matter to a friend, she recommended I take a personality test called the “Enneagram” and sent me a link to a website that offered it for free.
I had never heard of this particular test before (and was honestly pretty suspicious — it sounded a little too “new agey” for my tastes), but upon further reading, I discovered that it’s actually a legitimate test that rivals Myers-Briggs in popularity in business and human resource settings and in spiritual/personal-growth seminars. Instead of trying to put us into neat little boxes (aka INTJ, ENFP, etc.), the Enneagram views personalities as fluid and interconnected and is less concerned with how we behave than with why we behave that way.
It ultimately sorts you into one of nine personality types and explains what you’re like when at your healthiest and unhealthiest emotional states (which also means that two people who outwardly seem very different could actually be the same type — they’re just on different ends of the spectrum).
I ultimately thought, Why not? (again, it’s free and takes less than 15 minutes) and commenced The Enneagram.
And I was legitimately BLOWN AWAY by how accurate it was.
I was categorized as a 6 wing 5 (which means I’m a personality type 6 with some 5-like tendencies, also known as “The Loyalist”). The results got into things like my deepest fears, my greatest insecurities, and my key motivators for doing many of the things I do — both the good and the bad. Sometimes it was almost cuttingly accurate — as if your most honest, no-BS friend sat you down and told you exactly what you needed to work on. But at the same time, it helped me understand myself and my dynamics with other people so much. It honestly felt a lot like a free therapy session.
I have since recommended the Enneagram to basically every single person in my life and have gotten almost unanimous feedback that it’s scarily accurate. If you’re interested in taking the test yourself, you can find a free version here (I recommend you start with the “Classical Enneagram Test,” aka the first one on the page).
Good luck! And tell us what you think!
