Type Three Expanded Description

"Becoming is better than being"   Carol Dweck

Type Threes find security in knowing that they can intentionally influence their own functioning, their environment, their life circumstances, and their destiny. Some Threes focus more on playing a central role in the achievements and progression of "others"  while other Threes are more focused on themselves. In both cases the intention is the same- they need to feel that they have agency in the world- they need to know they can make things happen.

The Type Threes awareness is therefore focused on the point where the inner world meets the outer world and the manifestation that occurs at this juncture. Manifestation is looking to events, actions or objects to clearly show or embody something more abstract. The abstract that Type Threes needs to demonstrate to themselves and others is that "I" have the faculty and power to impact the world according to my own volition- I can turn ideas into reality.

Different Threes act this out in different ways but most- by way of consequence- are achievement driven, results orientated, efficient, hard-working, success-orientated, competence focused, image-aware, charming, adaptable, driven and diplomatic.


When meeting a Type Three one can pick up the way they project this sense of agency. Many focus on visual presentation and appearance, always having the right clothes on for the occasion and wishing to present an image of competence or success. Other Threes may be more subtle and discreet. But whether they are discreet or not, the intention is the same. They want you to feel - and reflect back to them- that they are meeting someone who is competent, and someone who has things together.

Competition is central to the Type Three for it serves to maintain and sustain this consistent need for affirmation of progression and capability- the Type Three needs to feel they are going forward. Standing still and doing nothing feels like failure to the Type Three who is deeply driven by a fear of failure. Competition also serves to create defined steps of success on which the Three can place meaning- in an environment where progression is undefined the Three will look to create standards of success. 

Some Type Threes are internally competitive- competitive with themselves- while others are interpersonally competitive. Interpersonal competitiveness has the additional dimension in that it confirms that others place value on what the Three is setting out to achieve- it gives meaning to the Three's world. Whether internally or interpersonally competitive, the Three cares what others think of them. They often become overtly "successful" because they orientate their need to prove agency and progression around what is valued and recognised by others. 


Not all Type Threes can be overtly successful but this is not a comfortable place for a Three- they are sensitive to feeling shame and are likely to step into a place where they cannot be compared unfavourably to the achievements of others. Some Type threes have the vanity of "no vanity" but even these Type Threes realise this rather quiet satisfaction when they react strongly to being undervalued by others. If they are seen as not being competent in a particular area they may well disengage from, or even dismiss, those areas as being unworthy of their commitment.

Type Threes want live up to their internalised ideal of "who they are" and often want to prove that they are the best, but they are not classic idealists in the sense that Threes want to make real what they set out to achieve. In this way the Three grounds their ideals with actions- they see the results as much as the ideal and as such they become the "doers" of the Enneagram. Threes make good ideas happen. Threes have an innate sense that - if you put the effort in- things will turn out well. They have a remarkable ability to "get up and get going again" after adversity. They often pull others along with their positive sense of what is possible.


 Failure is hugely impactful for a Type Three for it not only takes from them whatever they had sought to achieve but takes away their security as well. Threes do not believe that life happens through them, so when they fail they feel that there is nothing to fall back on. This is partly why they get up and go again- it is "I" who makes life happen. Paradoxically failure is special for it is also the greatest growth time for a Type Three. They get a glimpse of the freedom inherent to the state of being without doing- the joy of letting life be without a need to become. 


To sit still for a Type Three is to invoke a sense of fear and anxiety. The Three finds security in doing such that they embody the sense that; "nothing gets done around here without me". Given this focus they can often feel impatient with the pace and expectation of others- their focus leads them to want to push the river of life.  Even relaxing time is spent getting better at something, or multi-tasking on some other project they want to deliver. It is often the Enneagram or failure that gets the Three to break free from the loop of having to "do" something productive.


While everyone can identify with wanting to achieve, and wanting to be recognised for that achievement, the Type Three takes the step further where they start to believe and feel that they are what they do- or what they are capable of doing. This means that "who they are" needs effort to be created and sustained. They can easily get lost in that identification.


Burnout is a condition associated with Type Three. The person who reaches retirement but simply cannot stop for fear of losing their identity is a classic metaphor for the Type Three dilemma- who am I if I am not progessing or consistently proving I am capable and productive. Retirement can also be the time for a Three to flaunt their success and be recognised for it. But normally the dreams of retirement are what keeps a Three going for they are the experts in delaying satisfaction for the promise of the future in which they can finally relax and be. 


In becoming disconnected from life as "being" the Type Three can also easily become disconnected from their own life of feeling. It is not that they have no emotions- they do- they have the capacity to be the most loving of the types. The issue is that they postpone feeling until they have time, and in their highly scheduled lives there is no time. Emotions interfere with getting the job done so they can put them on the "back burner" to the point of negating them. Ask a Type Three how they are feeling they will tell you what they have done and how that is going. 

"You are what you do ...not what you say you'll do"    Carl Jung

Scripts that Motivate Type Threes

to feel competent and able to make things happen

to be able to turn good ideas into reality

to feel that I can achieve

to feel that what I do is recognised and valued by others

to achieve that which I set my mind on achieving

to strive to be the most accomplished me I possibly can be

to feel the glory of creating something that is regarded to be of value

to avoid the groundless shame of failure

to create a favourable impression of competence, ability and success

to feel love through the recognition of others

to do what needs to be done efficiently and by the means necessary

to progress in my competence in a way that can be measured and demonstrated

 to be associated who reflect my inner or outer achievements 

to know that I have done well what is expected of me