The Nine Types – in a nutshell

Type ONE – The Perfectionist

FOCUS OF ATTENTION: what is correct and incorrect, what is right and wrong

AT THEIR BEST: fair, honest, clear, ethical, conscientious, self-disciplined, objective, productive, reliable, dedicated, loyal, idealistic.

AT THEIR WORST: critical, judgmental, obsessive-compulsive, overly serious, controlling, anxious, dogmatic, argumentative, uncompromising, sermonizing or closed-minded.

TYPICAL TYPE ONE ROLES: Preacher, Teacher, Reformer, Educator.

Key issues for Type ONE:

Criticism and judgements: Strive for perfection and feel responsible for making things right. Get irritated by ignored or violated standards. Do not allow themselves to be angry – anger is let out as resentment, frustration, dissatisfaction, sarcasm.

Morality and Inner Critic: Powerful inner critic monitoring their thoughts and deeds. Believe in the ideal of morality. Chases perfectionism. Sensitive to criticism. Their dissatisfaction and anger is fueled by the fact that life is full of unattainable standards and perfection is impossible.

Controlling and sermonizing: Want to control and lead on things. Like to tell how things should be. Do not like to be disagreed. Practices self-control (self-restraint) censoring own thoughts and emotions in order to project the image of a ’Good Person’.  Fear of losing control.

Order, accuracy and consistency: Detest being late and idle. Like to structure time. Find it hard to relax. Want to correct what is not perfect. Is tight on schedule and deadlines.

BASIC FEAR: of being bad, corrupt, evil or defective

BASIC DESIRE AND THEIR DISTORTION: Desire to have integrity and control (deteriorates into critical perfectionism).

LOST CHILDHOOD MESSAGE: „You are good”

HOW TYPE ONE MANIPULATES OTHERS: By correcting others, by insisting that others share their standards.

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