ATA Enneagram Type 7 Personality Style
ATA Enneagram 7 – Striving to Feel Excited
ATA Enneagram Sevens interact with the world by Striving to Feel Excited.
Sevens are generally upbeat, enthusiastic, optimistic, and curious. They focus on possibilities and options and keeping others entertained. When they overdo their Striving to Feel Excited they may fail to follow through, become easily distracted, and act irresponsibly. When stressed, Sevens may fear that if they do not fill their heads with many thoughts they will miss out on something.
Chief Asset: Enthusiasm. ATA Enneagram 7s have a unique ability to experience enthusiasm for the little things in life. Their happiness and good humor are infectious and inspire those around them to feel good and have fun as well.
What They Like in Others: Optimism, lightheartedness, spontaneity.
What They Dislike in Others: Pessimism, stuffiness, rigidity.
How They Frustrate Others: Hyperactivity, inappropriateness, lack of commitment.
Approach to Problem Solving: “Let’s look at the bright side.”
Belief About Work: “Things work best when we all get to have fun.”
How Others See Sevens: Joyful, upbeat, exciting, and energetic, but sometimes irresponsible, distracted, inattentive, and self-centered.
Sevens Get Into Trouble When They Tell Themselves: “Everything will be fine when I get (fill in the blank) or when (fill in the blank) happens.”
ATA Enneagram 7 Leadership & Communication Style
The ATA Enneagram Type Seven Leader: The Enthusiast
The High Side of the Enthusiast: Sevens inspire others with excitement, optimism, and energy and create positive energy toward a shared goal.
The Low Side of the Enthusiast: Sevens can be impractical, easily distracted, impulsive, and irresponsible.
Where They Shine: At energizing people. ATA Enneagram Type 7s are great in situations where they have the opportunity to galvanize enthusiasm for a concept, product, cause, etc.
Type Seven Communication Style:
- Sevens are generally fast-talking, upbeat, and optimistic when they talk to others.
- They tend to prefer talking to listening, loving to tell stories and entertain others.
- They can become impatient with people who speak slowly and they minimize bad news and conflict.
Derailers for Type Seven
- Talking too much: Dominating conversations; reluctance to listen to others or ask probing questions; expressing uncensored thoughts to fill conversational voids.
- Not following through: Tendency to start the next project before the current one is finished.
- Hyperactivity and impulsiveness: Taking action before thinking things through; impatience; nervous activity that makes others uncomfortable.
- Avoiding Unpleasantness: Failing to address or absenting yourself from unpleasant people, situations, or tasks.
- Always wanting more: Never being satisfied with what you currently have; looking for additional compensation, recognition, or reward; always looking to the next “treat.”
Blind Spot for ATA Enneagram 7 Personality: Distractibility
Sevens are often unaware of their tendency to be easily distracted and its impact on their relationships. Sevens continually attempt to avoid unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and experiences. By not focusing on any one thing for too long, Sevens avoid the possibility of something becoming unpleasant. Because they move from topic to topic so quickly, others may feel ignored or left in the dust.
Connecting Points for ATA Enneagram Type 7
Support Strategy at Point 1: Striving to Feel Perfect
Sevens often have an attention to detail and quality that runs counter to the stereotype. Sometimes, however, this takes the form of rigidity and high demands on others, especially when the Seven feels those others are in the way of the Seven’s happiness.
Neglected Strategy at Point 5 – Striving to Feel Detached
While Sevens often have a quiet, private side that most people don’t see, there are critical times when they are unable to let go and detach from the things they desire, often out of a fear of missing out on something exciting and pleasurable.
Listen to the Conversation about Enneagram Type 7
The Awareness to Action Enneagram Podcast
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth “Creek” Creekmore speak with Becky Gorman, a leadership coach and consultant, to talk about Enneagram Type Seven. They discuss why this type, “Striving to Feel Excited,” means to feel a bit of a buzz in some way, but not necessarily doing something extreme. Becky draws from her personal experience to share how she sees herself as a Navigating Seven and shares how she uses the Enneagram in coaching leaders and leadership teams.
“The Transmitting Seven has this thing in them that needs to create a buzz in the environment around them, so that they can feel alive in that way.” -Mario [25:39]
“I’ve been coaching Sevens lately, and there’s something about dealing with issues they have to work on that it’s challenging. So our experience coaching Sevens many times is that once you get to the issue, suddenly it disappears. It’s not an issue any more for the Sevens.” -María José [47:00]
“Approval’s a tricky thing. I still want approval, and I still think I seek it in ways I don’t even realize I am, but on the other hand, I want to be experienced as real. So that’s more genuine and important to me more and more these days than approval.” -Becky [52:50]
“I have some dear, dear friends that are in that Seven space, and it pains me how much they’re characterized.” -Creek [57:00]
ATA Enneagram Type 7 Subtypes
The striving for excitement in Enneagram Type Seven is distinctly expressed through the three Subtypes.
| EXCITED PRESERVING | EXCITED NAVIGATING | EXCITED TRANSMITTING |
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Explore the Other Types
Growth for Enneagram Seven: Savoring
Sevens, who strive to feel excited, engage with the world by seeking stimulation and novelty. While they often seem to be taking pleasure in their activities, this pleasure can be fleeting as the initial buzz starts to fade and the Seven starts seeking a new source of stimulation. This means that Sevens can be in caught in a cycle of heady anticipation followed by frustration, frequently disappointed that reality does not meet their expectations.
Savoring is the act of taking full pleasure in something, of dwelling in an experience. The practice of extending that dwelling time, that moment of being present to an experience rather than anticipating the next one, is how Sevens learn to settle down and be in the moment without losing the feeling of stimulation they crave. Sevens benefit from intentionally increasing the amount of time they are present for an experience; if they can comfortably “smell the roses” for 10 seconds, stretch it to 12, then 15, then 20… In time, they learn to move intentionally from one experience to another rather than impulsively bouncing through life.
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A Fun and Informative Deep Dive into Understanding the Enneagram 7
Mario and TJ are joined on the “Enneagram in a Movie Podcast” by special guest Tom Condon, author of The Enneagram Movie & Video Guide, to discuss Enneagram Type Seven, “Striving to Feel Excited,” through the films of Steven Spielberg. They discuss why Spielberg is a Type Seven and explore the two of his films, “Jaws” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”