Katelyn

Retaking the MBTI and Enneagram Test- Has Anything Changed?

When one has the desire to analyze themself and their behaviors, personality tests are one of the first things that come to mind. When I was a teen, I absolutely loved personality quizzes and tests. I’d like to blame the popularity of BuzzFeed at the time for influencing this, how else would I know what kind of indoor plant I was?

Along with the silly quizzes came the rise of more personal and “professional” quizzes that put you in distinct groups. The two that I remember most are the MBTI and the Enneagram tests. I took them a couple times throughout my teenage years, but it has been at least five years since I have thought much about it.

I was curious- have I changed at all? Will my answers to the questions show that I have a different view on life and relationships as an adult? Well, there is only one way to find out.

MBTI Test

The MBTI personality test, or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, categorizes people into one of 16 personality types based on how they answer the questionnaire. Within each of the 16 types, is their own 4 letter “code“:

myersbriggs.org

The first time I took this test, it was around 10 years ago. Crazy! After that, classes have asked us to take it, or I have just taken it again myself just to see, but within the past five years, I honestly kind of forgot about it. Every time I took it, I always got the same result: INFP. Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perceiving, I was just one big dreamer.

When I went to retake the test as an adult, I honestly expected at least one thing to be different. I took the test using the 16 Personalities site, and low and behold what popped up after I pressed “submit”:

I think I am an INFP for life! But what does being the Mediator mean? Here are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the INFP according to the 16 Personalities website:

Strengths

  • Empathetic
  • Open Minded
  • Creative
  • Passionate
  • Idealistic

Weaknesses

  • Unrealistic
  • Self- Isolating
  • Unfocused
  • Emotionally Vulnerable
  • Self- Critical

Overall, I agree with this list, even though I wish my strengths were more strong in my personality. Sometimes it feels like my weaknesses overrule everything else!

Here’s the percentages of each of the categories. I am not in middle ground in anything, if I am one thing I heavily lean that way, interesting!

The fifth category was introduced from the 16 Personalities site. Assertive means generally lower stress and higher confidence, while Turbulent means higher sensitivity to stress and criticism.

A fun aspect of MBTI is seeing what celebrities share your type. Some famous INFPs include J.R.R Tolkien, Johnny Depp, and William Shakespeare. How they figured that last one out, I’m not sure.

Enneagram Test

Another test I was obsessed with was the Enneagram Test. This test separates people into 9 categories based on your motivations, fears, and desires.

I think this test had a short-lived popularity, because when I went to retake it, I had a hard time finding a legit website. All of them were misleading “free” tests that when you were done with the 50 questions, you had to pay for the results. No, thanks! After some hunting, I finally found a website with FREE results!

I’m not sure why I was so obsessed with this test years ago, I remember I made all of my friends take it and I would compare our personalities. I think I resonated with this one more than the MBTI, aka, it told me what I wanted to hear!

When I took this test as a teenager, I was an Enneagram 9. I barely remember what that meant, but based on the name “Peacemaker” I can assume it’s very similar to my MBTI type, the Mediator.

This time around, I got Type 7, the Enthusiast. Let’s see what this test thinks my strengths and weaknesses are:

I would actually say that I agree with a lot of these. Except, I don’t get easily bored. I am very good at not being bored, I can think of something to do or plan something out. I am impulsive, though.

One thing that kind of made me feel iffy about 7 is that they are optimistic and have a big case of FOMO. I don’t think I experience the fear of missing out more than any other person. I actually have excluded myself from activities in the past, without worrying what I was “missing out” on.

Some things change, while others stay the same. I think the most fun part about taking personality tests is to compare them with your friends and family and see just how different you are from one another.

Have you taken these tests? What were your results? Let me know, and I will see you all soon!

15 comments

  2. I decided to take the 16 personalities quiz after reading your post! I also remember taking this quiz a long time ago but can’t remember my past results. I’m curious what feedback you got in the career section. That one was pretty spot on for me. My results were INFJ-A, so we have some similarities and differences. If I do the Enneagram one, I’ll come back and give an update!

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  4. Congrats on being the coolest type— Your mascot is Johnny Depp dragging a cig while effortlessly peering into the depths of your soul… My adulthood only began once I took the test in a business management class in college. I was INFJ— it all clicked. Turbulent af of course. I’ve since masqueraded as an INFP. But I’m an imposter..👏😎

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    • Your guess was correct! You being undercover makes sense as to how you guessed mine lol. I looked at the common career paths for INFJ since it was on my mind from another comment, and we have a lot of the same suitable careers. Mainly serving others, and INFJ directly mentions blogging which I thought was funny lol.

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      • (Fist pump) Recently stumbled upon an article that claimed the average salary for “blogging” is $79K and I snorted my coffee out my nose… I’ve bounced around a ton of careers: Marketing, social work, service industry, delivery driver… even tennis pro.

        Now I work with adults with disabilities. Including my younger sister, who I live with now… Without a doubt my favorite job was standardized test essay scoring K-12. It’s the only paid position I’ve had in which I could utilize my primary function of Ni— which is all about finding the pattern through cumulative personal experience. Subjective data mining, basically. I excelled at that job and was twice promoted. First to team leader (of 10) and then assistant scoring director. I turned down the promotions at first because I knew I wouldn’t like the managing side of the job as much. Finally, the higher ups convinced me. Sadly, I burned out about a year later, just as I predicted… The pay raise did not fairly compensate for the added workload and stress.

        Employers WILL use you, take advantage of you. Never overextend, never do them favors to please them, make their job easier. You don’t owe them that. Our job market is sinister. The minimum wage in Australia is $26. MINIMUM. That’s almost twice what the average shift manager makes here…

        Being an INFP is hard in this economy. Our society “humps effectiveness” (Te) as Antonia Doge of the Personality Hacker podcast says. Te is Extraverted Thinking. Efficiency. Efficiently (killing us all) if you ask me.

        Your creativity, artistry is real, is valuable. But it likely won’t pay. So keep your eyes open for that ‘behind-the-scenes’ odd job where you can be you, have your space, and make some money doing some random thing, like my test scoring. It paid the bills.

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  5. I think I told you before that I’ve taken multiple tests with these personality types, and I’m always an ISTJ. I’ve never done an enneagram test, on principle; I know so many people who are so obsessed with their enneagram types that it’s kind of creepy and cult-like. I saw a meme once that said something like “What’s the enneagram number for people who don’t care about their enneagram numbers?” That’s me.

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