Latest / Travel Agency in a Year / Day 162 - Why Enneagram & Personality tests are toxic to small biz owners like TAs
Transcript
- Rachel K: It is day one sixty two of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. I'm Rachel Kay. Happy to have you back here. Thank you so much for listening. Ooh, it's this one's this one is a kind of a rage episode for me. Enneagram tests, personality tests. That are like, ⁓ you need this test to see how you are as a leader. How do you run your business? It's so freaking toxic. Stay away from that, TAs. It's not bad. I know I just contradicted myself. It's not terrible. And also, it can be very, very toxic, these types of tests. And I'm gonna relate to astrology with these tests, okay? It's basically the astrology, these personality tests for like, are you what Enneagram type are you? And then the whole like Myers Briggs like personality type. That is the Pseudo intellectuals astrology, in my opinion. And here's why. Fight me, I don't care. Number one, it severely hinders your leadership development. Ф со мані резинс. ⁓ because it is causing you to assume stereotypes and placing you into a very rigid stereotype. I'm a type three or I'm an INTJ. I don't like to be around PayPal. That stifles your own script. Like you are boxing yourself in. And it leads to less ability to adapt because you're like, Well, it's just who I am. It's not who you are. It's putting baby in a corner, and nobody puts baby in a corner. I'm angry with my hands on the YouTube. It gives you an excuse when you're stubborn. So you don't have to grow. Well it's just who I am. I'm an Enneagram for. It's just how I do things. No, it's not. It's how you tested that one day. I almost cursed. Calm down. It puts you in a fixed mindset because your flaws are now deemed as unchangeable traits. Do you know how many times I've had to take the Myers Briggs test as part of my organizational leadership degree? And how many times I have got different results because I am an ambivert. So sometimes I am an E, sometimes I'm an I. Sometimes I'm more feeling, depending on what part of I I am in my cycle. Like you cannot you cannot rely on these tests. You cannot. It simplifies human behavior and the human experience. When you're just like, ⁓ you're just totally typecast as this. This is just who you are. This is who you're gonna be forever. Because you took this test once through a BuzzFeed link and now this is who you are. You are denying people the humor human experience. You're denying yourself the human experience. It takes complex dynamics of human interaction and just creates broad generalizations. Which causes anyone who's trying to develop a leadership mindset to misread the motivations of others. It also justifies your own dysfunction. These personality tests that are supposed to see how you fit as a leader. If you just take it as like this is who I am and it's unchangeable, you justify your own dysfunction. As it's as bad as saying, I'm a Libra, I can't be assertive. It's the same thing, but it's got Jungian or Freudian, whoever whatever, psychological aspects to it. It's the psychology's astrology. Another example is an Enneagram 8 type. Excusing their aggressive micromanagement as just, I'm just naturally assertive. I have to have things my own way. No, you don't. You don't know how to step into that area of emotional immaturity. And you use it as an excuse for your own dysfunction. It stagnates building your own emotional intelligence, your situational awareness. And any kind of agile problem solving, because you're just like, well, I'm just stuck like this. This is who I am. I better find people who are compatible with me. This is just as bad as relying on astrology and Chinese astrology, which don't worry. Been through all of that. I've been through all of this and I just like this is freaking dumb. These tests don't provide accurate and objective knowledge. It is all subjective to how you are feeling in the moment when you take that test. Okay. It should be taken with a grain of salt with who you are as a person. And you should factor in, am I tired? Am I hungry? Am I stressed out right now? Because that can all affect the results. Now, let's talk about this in relation to astrology. I used to also be really, really, really big into astrology. And I've noticed over time when I'm very depressed, ⁓ And you might be taking these personality trait tests because you're also very depressed. But when I'm very depressed, I would seek out the answers to my problems through. Like I did do like the Myers Briggs and the Enneagram testing and astrology and tarot. Like it's all the same thing in my brain. but what I've learned about astrology, and you should take this when you are taking like Use this information when you're taking these personality tests. Your astrology birth chart isn't necessarily wrong. Your astrology birth chart is like the program your soul, like the computer program, the code that your soul agreed to in this lifetime. That doesn't mean you're stuck with it and you can change that code. And so I I'm telling you, I was way into astrology a long time ago. I used to read so much Linda Goodman. And Linda Goodman talks about this. She's like, you have to learn your natal chart so you can see here's where I'm lacking, and here's how I can change it. And you gotta break that code that was written on your soul. And you you can really do anything and be anyone. Just have that understanding that. You're likely to have this happen in your life, and you're likely to have this happen in your life. It's also super dangerous. Don't get into it that much, because it's not wrong information, but it's not coming from the most helpful sources, if you catch my drift. And it can lead you to jump to conclusions, just like these personality tests. Okay. So when you're taking these personality tests. You can see, okay, well, I lean this way right now. I don't like that about myself, and I have the power to change it. And how can I change it? That's all that that is. It's it. And there was one, let me see if I can find it. There is one test that talks about ⁓ man, there's a test. I've taken it a few times just to see where I am. It's not Myers Briggs, it's not Enneagram. Let me look this up real quick. Past I've taken it so long ago. It's a it's a It's like conscientiousness, agreeableness. There's like five traits. Let me see if I can find this. Sorry. Thanks for listening. ⁓ there it is. ⁓ big five ocean personality test. You can look at this to see actually where you are too. You can take the Enneagram test. You can take the Myers-Briggs test. The big five ocean personality types, and you can take it's also called the canoe per AI. You can take this test to see where you are now and see what you need to. improve upon. ⁓ and It's a pretty simple test. But it ⁓ goes over openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. ⁓ and this can help you understand how well you are acting as a leader and an entrepreneur because you can compare it to like successful entrepreneurs. Let me see what they are. Doo doo doo. I wish I had a producer to look this up. Okay, so entrepreneurs tend to be high in conscientiousness, extroversion, and they're low in agreeableness and low in neuroticism. Those are tendencies. So let's say you take this test and you score high neuroticism. Well, maybe look into how you can change that. You are not stuck with that forever. Your scores change as you grow. And it's the same thing with the Enneagram. It's the same thing with the Myers Briggs. As you grow and change, your type is gonna change. It should. If it's not, you're not really growing. And you're using it as an excuse to be dysfunctional and not grow. And it's fine. It's fine. Just know if you do take those tests, you aren't stuck with that test result for the rest of your life. I've taken the Enneagram test probably half a dozen times. Like, I had to take a lot of these tests for my college degree because we had to like test and then reflect. Like this was part of my degree. I paid thousands of dollars for this episode that I'm telling you right now, where we would have to take these tests and we would have to assess. ⁓ the results and what we could personally change to do better as a leader. Because it's all possible. So if you hear anyone saying, I'm an Enneagram 8 or I'm an EFTP or whatever, I don't even remember what those are anymore. That is kind of a red flag that they are going to be obstinate regardless of what their test results are. They're using it as an excuse To take responsibility and accountability for their flaws and their dysfunctions. And nobody's perfect, by the way. I wanna say that. Nobody is perfect. If you are struggling to see who you are, take the big five ocean or canoe, the big five personality test, those that's gonna be showing you the most and like how you deal with interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships and ⁓ what you can possibly do to improve upon. So don't forget, if you take these tests and you want to be an entrepreneur as a travel advisor, high conscientiousness, high extroversion, low agreeableness, low neuroticism. entire openness. And if you don't line up with that perfectly, you can always change it. Okay, that was day 162 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. ⁓ I said it too fast. Travel Agency in a Year podcast. Tell me your Enneagram type in the comments. Have a great day. Bye.