If You're An Enneagram 8, Here Is The Self-Help Book You Should Read
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Nothing beats curling up with a good book, especially one that can teach you valuable life lessons. If you're in search of the perfect book recommendation to help you get your life together, basing your To-Be-Read list on your Enneagram number is a great place to start. The Enneagram is a personality indicator, and much like the Myers-Briggs Test, it can help you identify your key strengths and weaknesses both in relationships and in work.
If you're an Enneagram Type Eight, also known as The Challenger, you may not like being told what to do (per Enneagram Institute). Independent and natural leaders, Type Eights aren't afraid to use their voice and "take initiative" to get the job done. However, even the most self-reliant Type Eights have to admit that sometimes, we could all learn a thing or two from the experiences of others. If you're in search of some advice in the form of entertaining and heartfelt reads, we have a few suggestions that might just help, Challenger.
If you don't let people see your flaws
Nobody's perfect, but that doesn't make it any easier to share your imperfections freely. For Enneagram Type Eights, the idea of letting people see their weaknesses is antithetical to everything they're fueled by. According to the Enneagram Institute, Type Eights "are self-confident, strong, and assertive." They're motivated by a need "to be self-reliant" and "to prove their strength and resist weakness." Even letting other people know that your weaknesses exist can be overwhelming if you're a Type Eight.
As Dr. Brené Brown writes in "The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage," though, vulnerability isn't weakness — it is its own kind of strength. "In our culture, we associate vulnerability with emotions we want to avoid such as fear, shame, and uncertainty. Yet we too often lose sight of the fact that vulnerability is also the birthplace of joy, belonging, creativity, authenticity, and love," Dr. Brown writes. She also calls people who live alongside vulnerability "wholehearted" (per Amazon.com). Anyone can learn to be wholehearted, as Dr. Brown outlines, but it starts with letting yourself be seen for who you truly are. This is a valuable lesson to learn as a Type Eight.
If you're wanting to fight racial bias
Many can benefit from more introspection, especially on the topic of race, prejudice, and racial bias. That's what author Jennifer L. Eberhardt, P.h.D. writes about in "Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do." Although every Enneagram Type would benefit from reading Dr. Eberhardt's book, Type Eights are often "rugged individualists" who "are desperately afraid of being hurt emotionally and will use their physical strength to protect their feelings and keep others at a safe emotional distance," according to the Enneagram Institute.
When it comes to counteracting racial bias, Dr. Eberhardt writes that it "is a problem that we all have a role in solving," (per Amazon.com). The walls Type Eights put up to guard themselves emotionally aren't necessarily conducive to taking action on a larger scale. Setting aside an individualist personality is necessary for partaking in ongoing conversations about racial bias and making changes at all levels of society, and Type Eights can learn how to do that with the help of this book.
If you want to find your true self
Enneagram Type Eights are the "powerful, dominating type," according to the Enneagram Institute. "Self-confident" and "decisive," Type Eights often seem like they have it all together — everything in their lives from work to school to family seem like they're perfectly in place. From the outside, that's what Glennon Doyle's life looked like, too. A successful author, wife, and mother, Doyle had mastered the art of "being good" (per Amazon.com).
Then, everything changed when she unexpectedly fell in love with a woman, uprooting everything she thought she was supposed to be. Instead of being "good" to meet the status quo, Doyle asks her readers to be true to themselves in her memoir "Untamed." If you're a Type Eight in search of inspiration, this is the book for you. Letting go of the need "to be in control of [your] life and destiny" is perhaps the biggest challenge you'll face as an Eight (via Enneagram Institute), but Doyle can help you address that head-on.