EP310: How the Enneagram Can Accelerate and Improve Your Critical Thinking Practices

Okay, I know you may have heard about the Enneagram or someone told you you need to know all about it. So here you are.

But what the hell do you do with it? Great news. You are in the right place.

Lead with the Enneagram is the show where you will actually learn how to use this incredible growth tool and apply it in all areas of your life, personally and professional. Hi, I'm Tracy. And to be honest with you, I was a skeptic of the Enneagram before I started to actually integrate it into my life. In fact, in true enneagram 8 style, I told my therapist to F off when she wanted me to dive into it well over a decade ago. Now that I have more than a decade of experience using the Enneagram and working on myself in my family with those closest to me, building my own bulletproof leadership, sales teams with one on one clients, couples, leading workshops for top Fortune 100 executives, and speaking to large audiences all across the globe about this powerful tool. I've got the proof and deep understanding.

Of how to help you implement this into your life instead of it just being some fun thing you heard about.

The Enneagram can be a complex model. But with me as your guide, I will show you how to first lead yourself in a powerful, effective, and compassionate.

Way, and then help you lead others.

That way in your life as well. This podcast will have powerful conversations with guests, live typing sessions, as well as solo episodes of breaking down dynamics of the Enneagram and how they impact your life, career, and relationships. So now let's dive in.

All right, all right, all right.

Hello. Today we're going to be talking about probably a subject that you think you're really, really good at. So did I. But maybe you're struggling, maybe you're struggling. And critical thinking, in my opinion, is, as a parent, probably one of the most important things I can help teach my kids how to trust themselves. The problem with critical thinking is for most of us, we are operating from a place of trauma in our past or a belief system that used to serve us that doesn't anymore, and we don't know how to necessarily break that. And, you know, I've been working with a lot of teams already to start the year. I think I've worked with three teams already in the first half of January. And, you know, grown adults, we're all grown adults. And what I see so often is that we believe something, right? We believe something to be true. And for many of us, you know, this started early in our life. You know, something Was taught, told, or modeled for us. Some of the conditioning that we were brought up with. Sometimes really, really great, sometimes not so great. You know, even you high achievers out there.

That in order to be worth something you have to do, you have to achieve, you have to be right. And then we go out and seek evidence of that. And that's kind of how we operate in critical thinking. It's more of a reaction rather than a response. It's more by default than design. And this is how the Enneagram can really, really help you critically think and respond in a way that serves you in the way that you want, serves the greatest good, serves the impact that you want to make raising children. This absolutely has been a game changer. So the definition of critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and or evaluating information gathered from or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a guide to belief and action. Wow. I know, that's a lot of words, right? So the whole beauty of the Enneagram, and you know why I'm so passionate about working with individuals with it, is the Enneagram really can allow you to get back to who and what you were always designed to be before kind of these experiences took over. And you start processing in your thinking, right? And finding evidence that these experiences, beliefs are now true. And this is where we get so frustrated because it keeps us stuck. We procrastinate, we self sabotage, we attract people that maybe aren't best for us. And we know what's happening. We do. We see it. We see it clear as day. It's like, in theory, this all sounds really great, Trace, but how do we change it? How do we change it? And one of the things that I've been really focusing on teaching and you get this when you do one on one stuff with me or team stuff with me, is kind of where we go in all the centers of intelligence. I talk about our body and our intuition being the central compass, right? You know, our nervous system 100% is like the first, first thing that's trying to tell us something. But if you, if you're like me and have experienced a lot of trauma in your life for most of your life, you've bypassed that. You stuff it down. The body was saying something. You're like, I'm stronger than that or that's too scary, or I just got to keep going and powering through, right? So we ignore the first line of defense, which is our nervous system and our body. The second Thing is our intuition, right? Our intuition is this divine kind of download that for most of us, it's like, that's crazy. That doesn't make sense. How in the hell does that happen? And because we can't make sense of it in our heart, in our, our head, in our instincts, we bypass the intuition. And this is where the Enneagram comes in, right? I, I do believe that our, our body and our intuition is always trying to tell us something. But we're humans and we have lots of experiences. And if you're, if you're older like me, you have lots of evidence where you have bypassed both of it and it almost took me out, right? And so by default, we go into one of the centers of intelligence, and that's where your core enneagram type falls. So if you're an 8, 9, or 1, you. The instinctual or body center of intelligence, where it's kind of like your first default is what is happening right now, right? If you are a 2, 3, 4, you go into the feeling center and you process and make sense of things through your emotions or your feelings, and you kind of seek evidence what has happened. And then in the five, six and sevens that fall into the thinking or head center of intelligence, you kind of go into what could happen and, and you process things through your head. Now, we use all three of these centers to critically think, right? We do. And if we operate just in our core number, like I did most of my life, I was always just an instinct. And although I have some evidence that that worked out okay for me in some areas because I didn't lean into my feeling or thinking center very much to try to problem solve, a lot of times I was just so reactionary and it left a lot of wreckage and it hurt a lot of people and it hurt me. And it had me doing things that didn't serve me in the long game, and it burned me out emotionally, energetically, spiritually, and sometimes even financially, right? So when you understand your core enneagram type, this is where you can move really fast into critically thinking. Because by default, when, whenever your core enneagram type's biggest fear has been nicked, which is, you know, why leadership can be so triggering sometimes. And it's why when I was working with these three teams over the last two weeks, like high, high triggers, high triggers, and everyone in the room was in their fear. And when we're in our fear, we're going to go by default to protect against that. That isn't critically thinking. That isn't critically Thinking. And that's when we say shit we don't want to say. It's when we duck out when we should be leaning in. It's when we lean in when we should be leaning out, right? And it's been really, really cool to help people see in each center of intelligence where they can use their skill sets. This is also called the tri type in the enneagram. And it's been really fun because sometimes maybe for you, your core enneagram type, it makes sense. But like that's great. And using the wings and our growth and our stress number is super, super helpful. But when it comes to the centers of intelligence, what if your wings, your growth or stress numbers aren't strong in those centers of intelligence? Then what? Right? And so learning about the tri types has been something that's been been really, really helpful. So for example, I am obviously an 8. If you've been listening for any length of time. I am an enneagram 8. I am motivated like an 8. I am fearful like an 8 by default. That's where I go first, always. And for your core enneagram type, whatever that is, that is the same now that is in the instinctual center. When I have to make sense of things based on my feelings and my emotions, I dominate as a two in that center, right? Not only is it my growth number, but it is where I go in the feeling center. Now that's great news because I'm growing. But back in the day when I wasn't the healthiest human being emotionally or spiritually, I was operating a lot of times when it came to my heart. And I look back in some of my relationships as an unhealthy two sometimes like that codependency patterns over giving, self abandoning, you know, the, the darker side of the two, where now today I really do, when I'm using my feelings and my emotions, I process like a healthy two, that helper where I can have compassion but also know like I'm not going to enable right now in the thinking center, you know, because I'm so instinctual, where I go last is my thinking, right? I know for many of you that's your first center and that's awesome. But where I go in my thinking center, when I'm thinking about what could happen, I process, I make decisions. I think like a six, which is very interesting. The loyal skeptic. That's probably why I'm a really, really, really great strategist as well. I don't love to be in strategy all the time, but I can do it, and I do it very well. And those of you that have coached with me, you know that to be true. I absolutely am a brilliant strategist. Now, there are times that I've used that six when I'm thinking. I. And it's an overdrive. It's like, but what about this? But what about this? But what about this? But what about this? Right? But when you know where you dominate in each center, when it comes time to critically think, because we do need to use the what's happening right now instinct, we do need to kind of connect the dots and make sense of what has happened so we can course correct in the. The feeling center. We do need to be visionary and think ahead and kind of recognize what the consequence or compound effect would be for whatever decision you're about to make or whatever you're about to say. And me understanding and helping others understand what tools they can use in a beautiful way to critically think, you can move through this a hell of a lot faster. You can also recognize when your core enneagram type is triggered. I recorded an episode on triggers in Leadership last week, but last week when I was working with a group, and one of the people at the group really did not like me at first. You know, he. He ended up totally digging me and got a lot from what I helped him through. But at the beginning, he was very guarded, and. And I was triggering every single bit of his biggest fears, right? And he lashed out at me. And the eight in me, of course, is like, oh, we're gonna fight. Let's fight, right? So in that moment, instead of the what's happening right now, it's time to fight. I paused, right? And it's like, okay, I'm. My heart's racing. My nervous system was. Was heated up. It's like, oh, my. My nervous system knows how to fight, right? But I went into the feeling center first. It's like, okay, yes, I'm triggered. Yes, he pissed me off. Yes, I want to fight, but that isn't the best thing, right? I want to be effective. I don't want to be, right? So I immediately went into the feeling center, and I looked at him like, what probably has happened in his life that I am resembling right now? And I went into that two zone of compassion, and it's like, I see him very clearly. I know he's lashing out at me, but it isn't about me. And I stopped and I said to him, I'm like, okay, you feel like you're not being heard right now. He's like, yeah. I'm like, okay, I hear you. And then I started, you know, before I opened my mouth in anything I said, I went into my sick zone in my thinking center and I was like, okay, I have to be very mindful about what I say because if I upset him in a way that's not effective, it could take the whole room down. Right. I had 20 something people in this room and one person was really upset. There were a lot of people that were upset. But this is how I used my tri type in real time in a situation when my core Enneagram type by default was like, put on the gloves, let's go. And even though in the past that is what I thought was my best thinking, it didn't always get me where I wanted to go. So the Enneagram is really good at revealing like are inaccurate assumptions and reaction patterns. Right. And it doesn't have to come with shame or guilt or judgment or justification. There were a lot of times I justified being so reactionary. It's like, well, you piss me off, so deal with it. Or that's how I am, so deal with it. Right. But that doesn't. That's not effective. It's not effective. Knowing about how you're core Enneagram type enables you to see clearly and where maybe there's been a breakdown in your critical thinking. So, you know, I don't want you to focus on the possible, like terrible parts of your type. I think it's important to pull back and look how you know you can use this framework in this system to really, really support you. The centers of intelligence. And whenever I'm teaching, you know, individually or in person, I know especially if you feel the beauty and the power of the Enneagra, you want to understand it so deeply and you want everyone to understand it so deeply and you want to know everyone's Enneagram type. And I get it. For the first five years, I only focused really on the centers of intelligence. When I wasn't talking about the Enneagram, when I wasn't even sharing it with anyone, including my own family. For the first five years of studying this and integrating this, I didn't talk about it. And I got really, really good at understanding the centers of intelligence and where people might fall. You just even knowing that will allow you to understand people better and be able to communicate a little bit better. It doesn't mean you're not going to be triggered. It doesn't mean that you're not going to be upset all of the Things, right? But when you understand the centers of intelligence, not only will you understand people better, you will understand where you go in each of the centers of intelligence. Now, as far as the tri type goes, you know, originally I thought I was a 378, which ironically is the mover and shaker. I work with a lot of the 3, 7, 8 tri types. So that could mean you are a core type Enneagram 3 within your thinking center. You dominate in 7 and dominate an 8 in the gut center. But I'm not. I'm not. And this is why having somebody guide you through this can be really, really helpful because I really wanted to be a mover Shaker. I really like, it's very assertive and all of that, but I'm actually very different. I'm actually the rescuer, you know, the 2, 6, 8 combo if you want to dive into the tri type. And it wasn't something I was really passionate about until I really started doing a lot of work with teams because I was seeing, you know, you could have two types of two of the same type right next to each other. And yes, the instinctual response, which is the subtype can absolutely have a big, huge effect in that. But when I saw there was a team that I was working with where I saw two enneagram ones, they were both self preservation ones. They both obviously were motivated the same way, fearful of the same thing. But how they expressed and how they worked through things was very, very different. And that's when I really started falling in love with understanding, integrating and teaching and guiding using the tri types as well. One of those enneagram ones, self preservation ones was a 1, 3, 4, 7. The other one was a 1, 4, 5. Very, very different in the centers of intelligence, how they process, take in information, communicate. And so understanding the tri type can be super helpful. That's only something you get when you work one on one with me. Whether it's a power hour or within teams. It doesn't show up in your blueprint, but you know, understanding your blueprint first and what your core enneagram type in your wings and your growth and stress number like really, really important. It's really important because it's, it's just like any system and framework. You kind of have to know how it works first before you bring in the bigger tools, right? And I'm no different. I'm no different. I never really paid much attention to the tri types until the last two or so years. And I saw how they can really, really be of service to you using the Enneagram really can accelerate and improve your critical thinking process. And, and the more that you understand your framework and the more that you understand where you go in the centers of intelligence, it's one thing to, to know them, but then you have to actually practice it. So the other day when I was working with another team, it was 28 people in a room, all women and very intense. And they were amazing. They were amazing. And I was very aware that people were not buying me at first. They weren't like, into the Enneagram, I could feel like the energy and I knew that my 8 energy was really strong because I could feel the intensity in the room. I think the room had four or five eights in the room, which. That's a lot. That's a lot of energy. And, you know, it's almost like a. Who's got the most power in the room when that many eights are together? And for a second I was kind of in that intensity, not really realizing, okay, I need to go into my feeling center right now. And I did. I went into the two and I got a little bit softer and I talked a little bit slower and I shared more vulnerably. And it changed things. It really shifted the entire room. It really, really did. And I was using also my six is like, okay, if I, if I communicate like this, will I make an impact in this person and this person and this person. And this 28 person team was represented by all nine enneagram types as well. There were a lot of self preservation types in this room. More than half of the room were self preservation types. And I was understanding that as well. Back in the day, I wouldn't have thought about any of this. I would have just been like, big eight energy. I have all the control. My ego would have been on full display. But instead, understanding all the dynamics of the room, I was able to help guide them and help many, many, many of them break through. That is like the holy grail of critical thinking is being more effective in everything you do. And ironically, the more that we critically think, the more energy we're going to have, because it doesn't take as much effort to get your point across, to get things done, to have hard conversations. And I thought for sure, like, after, you know, three workshops in two weeks, that I would be completely wiped out. I had one day where I thought a cold was coming on and it was going to take me out. But because I am operating in my critical thinking at a very high level, my immune system is strong. I Have the energy to continue on and do this. I'm not afraid of hard conversations because I know it's, I know that I can move through them pretty quickly and be effectively. It's not like I'm rushing those very, very important skill. And when I mentioned my children and making sure this was important that I teach them. Critically thinking also allows you to know when it's time to step in and help when it's time to hold space. But sit back and let people learn and, and honor their own intuition and nervous system. Know when it's time to swoop in and protect or you know, let them know you're here. But like they have to figure things out the hard way. Right? This is all part of critically thinking. And especially knowing your enneagram type and where you might tend to go by default can allow you to press the pause button and integrate growth into your life. And when you do this, your relationships, the type of people that you have in your life, it gets better and better. But so often we are just living and leading and loving by default. And that's not critically thinking. That is what's draining the life out of you. That is why you feel incongruent sometimes with what you're putting out in the world and, and maybe even professionally, you know, behind the scenes, you might be operating out of integrity. Not because you're an asshole or because you're not truthful, but because you're living and operating and leading and loving by default rather than design. The enneagram allows you to do that by design. Now, getting the right information, really, really important. Go get a blueprint today. 95 plus percent accuracy. You'll have the right information. And if you want to dive a little deeper into the centers of intelligence and the tri type and what this means for your life, you can go do a 90 minute power session with me. It's like 10 years of therapy. That's, that's what I've been told. I'm not a therapist by no means, but we move pretty quickly in a way that can accelerate your understanding and integration of this in your life. And if you have a team and you want to bring this to your team, teams of three and more, you know, families, couples. I do all sorts of this kind of work with groups and, and families and couples and teams. It is my favorite thing. I love working with individuals for sure, but I love seeing when we can honor and be more effective from our true designed places rather than operating, you know, from trauma and default all the time. You can go to Tracy O' Malley.com right now my calendar is filling up pretty damn fast. It's crazy. I had to put it all on paper yesterday because it's just getting so nuts because so many of you are seeing the beauty and the power of not just understanding this information, but having a guide really show you through it. It's just like anything. You know, I. I liken it to IKEA furniture. If you know Ikea, it like looks really good in the showroom. And then you come home and it's like page manual on how to put this together. And it takes 17 days to put one thing together. I know the Enneagram can feel like an IKEA direction manual sometimes. And so having somebody really guide you through that, you can move through it really, really fast and get the end result a lot faster. I love, love, love being a guide. That is something you want to do. Reach out if you have questions you can find me on Instagram at tracyomalley. Please continue to tell me what you want to hear on the show. Lead with the Enneagram. All things Enneagram, I've been in it for so long and and I talk in and love and live in it every single day. I sometimes forget the things that maybe you want to know about. So please don't hesitate to reach out and share that with me. And if you love this, share this with somebody who maybe is an Enneagram fan, is new to the Enneagram, somebody you love, somebody you lead. And as always, I'm so grateful for you. I could not be doing what I'm doing without all of you telling me every day the value you get from this. So I appreciate you. As always. I'm wishing you much love and transformation in your life.

I'm so happy you enjoyed the Lead with the Enneagram podcast. Please help us spread the word about this show and the Enneagram by sharing it with a friend and leaving a written Apple podcast review. If you have any follow up questions to this episode, you can DM me on Instagram at tracyomalley. You can also find additional resources on my website@tracyomalley.com I'm so excited to lead you into the next level of your life.