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Love what you do, be good at it,

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Love what you doLove what you do be good at itbe good at itmake yourself easymake yourself easyto workto work with!with!The Enneagram in Business Mini-Book©2024 The Enneagram in Businessby Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhDHow to be successful, happy, and satisfied at work: an Enneagram type-based exploration

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When I’ve been asked for my advice about how to be bothpersonally satisfied and professionally effective, I answer,“Love what you do, be good at it, and make yourself easy towork with!” This eBook will look at each of these elements through a type-based lens.Starting with “love what you do,” we look at ways people ofeach Enneagram type can more readily access what they loveso they can do it.You also need to be good at what you do. We will examine theways people of each Enneagram type can be even better atwhat they do.To be successful, happy, and satisfied, it’s also important to beeasy to work with. Obviously, the other person’s behavior alsomatters, but our own behavior is the only thing we can directlycontrol. In addition, when we are easier to work with, wecause less stress for both ourselves and others. In thefollowing pages, you can read how each type can be easier towork with.“Love what you do, be good at it, makeyourself easy to work with!”~Ginger

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You are likely already good at what you do, because Ones act as if theyare, in a sense, their own continuous self-improvement project. It canalways be better; they can always be better and do better. Although thisattitude is noble, the pressure this puts on Ones can actually result intheir not being as good at something as they actually could be. How?The answer lies in relaxing more as you do things so that you can getmore into the flow of whatever the activity is, engaging in what you dowithout the pressure of having to do it perfectly.Type OneLove what you doLove what you do You may be already doing what you love and maybe not. But if you arealready doing something you love, are you allowing yourself towholeheartedly love it without trying to do it so perfectly or alwaystrying to do it better that you don’t allow yourself the full pleasure ofloving what you do? And if you don’t actually love what you do, thenbreathe into your heart and ask your heart for guidance about what youtruly love.Rather than trying to make everything perfect – you, others, the worksituation, and the job at hand – work toward allowing yourself to bemore accepting, flexible and relaxed. In addition, instead of continuallyrelying on your judging mind, look for the good in others and whatoccurs.be good at itbe good at itmake yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwith

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Type TwoLove what you doLove what you do You may be already doing what you love and maybe not. But if you arealready doing something you love, are you allowing yourself towholeheartedly love it without trying to do it so perfectly or alwaystrying to do it better that you don’t allow yourself the full pleasure ofloving what you do? And if you don’t actually love what you do, thenbreathe into your heart and ask your heart for guidance about what youtruly love.be good at itbe good at itHow can Twos actually know how good they are at something? This isthe Two conundrum for them. An analogy would be that it is challengingfor Twos to know how big they are. Sometimes Twos feel and act as ifthey feel bigger than life. However, Twos can also do the opposite,shrinking themselves so they feel very small. This is connected to theTwos’ emotional habit (also called passion) of pride: a sense of self-inflation and also self-deflation, depending on how others respond tothem and what they do. This can translate into “how do I know when Iam doing a good job or an activity? Is it when others think so? Is it whenmy pride is inflated rather than deflated?”. To know whether you aregood at something (or how good), find your internal anchor, yourinternal measure rather than relying on the eternal measure of otherpeople’s reactions.make yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwithRather than focusing on what others need and working so hard to bethere for other people, focus as much on what you need as well as yourown self-care. The more you take care of yourself, you’ll feel lessfatigued, less concerned about where you stand with others, and lessreactive – thus making you easier to work with.

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Type ThreeLove what you doLove what you do Threes often don’t know what they want or love because they pursuewhat they think they should want or should do, what their environmentor role models imply they should want, and/or what they think they willbe good at, whether or not this is something they love. Think aboutyourself near the end of your life and look backward, asking yourselfthis: Did what I pursue during my life actually make me happy andsatisfied? Did I contribute something to others or society that fills mewith internal joy rather than social recognition? If the answer to eitherquestion is no, spend some time with yourself asking yourself momentby moment this question: What do I really want to do; what do I love?Threes tend to get very good at the things they believe will lead them topositive results, in their own eyes, but particularly in the view of otherpeople. The result can be Threes may think they are good at something,but if this view is not supported by others, Threes can falter in theirsense of how good they are at something and falter in their self-respectand self-worth. And who is correct, the Three or others? This dilemma –knowing “how good am I at something?”– creates undue pressure onThrees to constantly perform as if they have a visible or invisibleaudience. Shut off your invisible audience, try things you might like evenif you are not good at them, and find the fun in everything you do,whether you are good at it or not.Explore your inner world of feelings rather than bypassing them in orderto get work done. Without honoring your real feelings, you may becomeunintentionally abrupt and/or not acknowledge the importance ofemotional relatedness with others. This may sound challenging to do,yet it will make you easier to work with.be good at itbe good at itmake yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwith

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Type FourLove what you doLove what you do Fours often know what they love doing, and they may well do it. But thequestion for Fours is whether they allow themselves to manifest inpublic view what they love doing. Even with talent and passion, Fourscan be challenged to manifest. Why? They may think the following:What if it’s not good enough? Perhaps it feels too personal? If othersdon’t respond favorably, will it feel like intense rejection? Doing whatyou love is essential; manifesting it is the next step.be good at itbe good at itFours start from the presumption that they are not as good at what theydo as others are. This relates to the Fours’ emotional pattern (passion)of envy, the continuous comparison of themselves with others wherebyFours most commonly conclude they are not as good as someone else.In other words, Fours start with the presumption they are deficient,although some Fours may also revert to feeling superior to anotherperson as a defense against feeling not-good-enough. All of this wouldcreate ambiguity in Fours regarding whether or not they are good atwhat they do. The solution: find your inner equilibrium that really doesknow whether or not you are good at something. If you are good atwhat you do, enjoy that. If not, you can tune up your performance.make yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwithFours want to be easy to work with, yet their sense of feeling flawed insome way can lead to anxiety when working with others and a need forreassurance. In addition, some Fours become competitive with others asif winning at anything is equivalent to being understood. Increase yourself-acceptance and relax your need to compare yourself with others.

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Type FiveLove what you doLove what you do Fives have secret lives, and all secrets are not equal. Some secrets aresimply private matters. Sharing some secrets may feel invasive or like aviolation of one’s personal space. But if you are only doing what you lovein private and not allowing yourself to do what you love more explicitly,your energy and vibrancy will be drained and you may, years later, feelyour time wasn’t well spent. Do what you love!Fives generally know whether or not they are good at what they do. Thechallenge can be that Fives may focus more on being good at the tasksinvolved and place less emphasis on the relationships andcommunications with others that are often involved. It’s helpful to Fivesto define “being good at what you do” not only in terms of task-basedcompetency but equally on relationship and communication-basedcompetency.In many ways, you are easy to work with. At the same time, others willfind you easier to work with when they perceive they can “feel” youmore than they normally do. You can appear unapproachable or distantto others who want warmer contact with you. This doesn’t mean youhave to reveal all. It can mean spending a little longer asking people howthey are and listening a little longer, then sharing what you want towhen you want to.be good at itbe good at itmake yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwith

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Type SixLove what you doLove what you do What do I love doing? How do I know for sure? What if I love manydifferent things, then what do I choose? What happens if I choose thewrong thing? What if I’m not good enough at it? So many questions, allgood ones, can get in the way of the answer. The head may swirl and theheart may pound, so take a journey into the body where a more trueand pure answer resides.be good at itbe good at itAlthough Sixes may be very good at what they do, they worry about it,even the most counter-phobic Sixes. Here is a great question for Sixes toask themselves: “Has worrying about whether I am good at something Ido ever helped me get better at it?” Really think about this. Most likely,the answer is no. Being so concerned about whether or not you aredoing a good job most likely simply stresses you and puts unnecessarypressure on you. Relax the worry, even just a little.make yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwithYou may, in many ways, be easy to work with, yet in other ways, beperplexing for people who engage with you. Why, for example, issomeone like you who is so capable, also so uncertain about how toproceed forward? Why, as another example, is someone like you who isinsightful also prone to imagining something that might not be true.Anchor yourself in your body, access your gut reactions, and always askyourself this: How does this [thought, feeling, behavior] serve me?

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Type SevenLove what you doLove what you do Could it be true that Sevens love many, many things, but in a sense, thismakes it hard to find one area they truly love the most? Most likely, yes.The difference between being highly stimulated by something is not thesame thing as loving something. For Sevens, stimulation comes in aninstant and can go away just as quickly as something else draws theirattention. Love is different. Love becomes self-sustaining. To find outwhat you love, be still, focus, and explore your heart’s deepest desire.Is being good at what they do important to Sevens? Some might wonderbecause Sevens are so enamored of everything new and stimulating,they often lose interest in what they are currently doing so they canstart something new that excites them. However, this doesn’t mean thatthey don’t want to be good at what they do. Nor does it mean theyaren’t good at what they do. But they do need to finish what they start.Sevens can help themselves in one important way. Complete your tasks,even if you may not feel like it. Reward yourself every time youcomplete a task on time!Put in three phrases; slow your speech (people will hear more of whatyou say); slow your breathing (you and people around you will relaxmore in response because we tend to mirror each other), and stay morefocused (people will then be able to follow what you are saying and takeyou more seriously).be good at itbe good at itmake yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwith

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Type EightLove what you doLove what you do Eights know how to do big things, but do they love the thing they do ordo they love that it is big? What if you access your heart to find out whatyou truly love and lovely deeply, even if it is small, medium or big inpotential impact? Big is not love, and neither is small. Love is what youlove; try doing that!be good at itbe good at itEights are often very good at doing the big things; bigger is better andlarge impact is most important, at least from the Eight perspective. Butare Eights good at the smaller and medium-size things? They can be, butdo they value parts of the job or activity enough and think it is worththeir time and effort? To be good at what you do means to be good at allaspects of what you are tasked to do, not just what you might considerto be the important areas. This simply requires you to enlarge your focuson what matters.make yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwithBe more receptive to ideas, to people you don’t yet trust, and to takingsmaller steps in addition to the usual large ones. And remember to enjoyyourself in a more sustained fashion, without concern that it might alldisappear without your efforts.

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Type NineLove what you doLove what you do To find out what you love, you have to be more embodied, moving froma diffused inner experience to access more of your whole body, yourwhole self, all of your feelings, your truest thoughts, and more. Theresult will be you will know what you love and then you can do it, takingaction from your deepest self. This is called “right action.”Nines may be quite good at what they do, but do others know this?Nines tend to keep quiet about themselves and also about what they doand what they are good at. Perhaps they don’t want to sound boastfuland ambitious. Perhaps they want others to notice what they do withoutthey themselves calling attention to what they do. However, this is akinto staying under the radar. Be good at what you do and, if you are, findyour voice to show this to others.In some ways, you are easy to work with, even over-easy, if that ispossible. Yes, you are easy-going and relaxed, but the you that is easydoesn’t represent the full you. Nines have so much more to offer interms of energy and ideas than they are normally willing to share. Whenthere’s more of the robust you to work with, it will also be much easierand more fulfilling for you and those around you.be good at itbe good at itmake yourself easy to workmake yourself easy to work withwith

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ABOUT THE ENNEAGRAM IN BUSINESSEstablished in 2004 by Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhD, The Enneagram inBusiness offers excellent quality, state-of the-art products and services.Our vision is to help elevate consciousness globally using theEnneagram integrated with other innovative approaches; our mission isto provide an abundance of Enneagram-based resources for use aroundthe world. These include the following:» Nine Enneagram books, including several best sellers» Full-color Enneagram training tools, both in hard copy and virtual formats» Global Enneagram certification programs for consultants, trainers, andcoaches» Premier leadership development and team development offerings» Training, coaching and consulting services, both virtual and in-person» A comprehensive, interactive online Enneagram Learning Portal (ELP)» A global network of over 70 top-quality Enneagram professionals(EIBN)ENNEAGRAM BOOKS by Ginger-Lapid-BogdaBringing Out the Best in Yourself at WorkWhat Type of Leader Are You?Bringing Out the Best in Everyone You CoachThe Enneagram Development GuideConsulting with the EnneagramThe Enneagram Coloring BookThe Art of TypingThe Art of the Enneagram (co-authored with Russell Tres Bogda)Transform Your Team with the EnneagramTheEnneagramInBusiness.com | EnneagramLearningPortal.com |info@TheEnneagramInBusiness.com | 510.570.2971