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Listen, I like all of the personality tests and enneagram and all that, but sometimes I do think it’s easy to get too deeply caught up in what those tests say about you without looking at how you are actually feeling about something.
For example, I’m an enneagram 3 (with a 2 wing) and I’ve read that that personality type is often high achieving, hugely success driven, and someone who values recognition and accolades. While there are elements of my personality that resonate with what you typically read or hear about “3’s”, I don’t often see anything related to a feeling of contentment.
This personality type can sound unsettled, always looking for more, bigger, better, etc. Sometimes I ask myself:
Should I add many more employees to my team?
Should I spend more time researching strategy to rapidly grow my various social media accounts?
Should I have completed the development of my product line back in 2015?
Should I have attended every event I was invited to for networking possibilities?
Would an actual Enneagram 3 look at my work and think I’m wasting time and opportunity?
But the truth is, I love my small team. I love that my employees have flexible schedules and get to work on their own time (most of the time!). I love that I have a schedule that allows me to be present in the kitchen at 3:05pm when Justin gets home from school pick up with the kids.
I love that the community online on Instagram and Facebook and in the blog comments is made up of long time followers who enjoy being a part of this digital connection. I feel proud of the number of followers because I didn’t use any tactics to entice them to follow. I just continue to try to educate, encourage, and share recommendations. I’m the hairstylist that will break things down and be honest with you, hopefully leading you to feel great about your beauty routine.
I love that I’ve shifted back to self-filming and editing the content myself. I loved, LOVED the videographers I’ve worked with in the past, but I saw that my self-shot content is what my community engaged with the most. And I am not surprised by that fact, since most of them have been around since the early days of filming in my bathroom with the most basic equipment.
I love that I’m still doing my favorite thing: sharing things online. When I’ve considered and even began working on developing another business to go hand in hand with what I’ve created with The Small Things, I always get hung up on the fact that it would take me away from doing what I really love. I don’t know if this will always be the case for me, but for now — I’m deeply content with my decision to focus on creating great content, maintaining your trust, and providing a light-hearted place for connection online.
I’ve wondered, for years, if I stunted my business potential by not hustling and driving at a pace that brought along with it a risk of losing myself. I don’t want to drive and achieve to the point of exhaustion and burn out. I hear too often of creative people getting completely lost in their business because their growth pushed them so far away from doing what they set out to do. This is not always the case, of course, but I’ve heard it a lot — especially in this industry.
Can an Enneagram 3 be motivated and high-achieving with an awareness of boundaries? Can he or she know themselves well enough to know that success and recognition and accolades feel nice in the moment, but do not provide a long-lasting feeling of validation? Can he or she admit that leaving “money on the table” is okay, and in some cases the best move, when you’re focused on staying true to yourself?
I’ve described 2023 in business as a year of maintenance and that initially felt like a synonym for failure. But after looking around at my work, my life, my team members, and stepping back from the race for growth, more money, more work, more accolades, I got to see that a content spirit of peace and joy and self-validation is the real token of success.
So for 2024, I hope to continue doing exactly what I have been doing for years. I do have goals, like any good Enneagram 3 would, but they are not so lofty that I have to sacrifice the most valuable parts of life outside or work to achieve them. Maintaining boundaries and allowing breathing room for creativity to prosper, trying new things, returning to old things, and making sure that this community feels at ease and happy to be here are just a few of the goals for this year.
Thank you for being here, for following along online, for commenting, for emailing, for stopping me when I’m out to say hi. YOU being here is what makes this whole thing special, and I hope you continue to stick around for this new year.
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