Harlan -

A true Four would feel that nobody ELSE should go in the "unapproved" direction, but would feel that they, because of special circumstances, should.

D.

(A "special" Four - I'm not like the rest of them!)

I think you're a 4 if you think you're a 4. I spend a lot of time in 1 because that's when I'm getting stuff done, focussing in on the near at hand. I feel good when I'm like this but I know it's a step removed from my true essence.

It sounds like they think you're a 1 which means you stress into 4. I suppose you could try to work it out by figuring that when you're in the 1 space, it's positive if you are actually a 4 so you would be less likely to go around critisizing anyone (or yourself) than you would be to feel confident and productive. Similarly when you're down do you try to overcompensate with others or do you shut off? This might be easier to work out than what your core strategy is, ie perfection (1) or specialness (4).

I think that I was a One when I was younger -- typical perfectionist overachiever, straight-A student, valedictorian. (I will never forget how much trouble I got into when I was 9 years old and brought home a 95 on a social studies test. "Why isn't it a 100?" demanded my mother, whom I have typed as a -- you guessed it -- One.) I even developed a classic case of anorexia nervosa when I was 16. It was so textbook that I diagnosed it myself before my mother dragged me to the doctor.

It distresses me a bit to consider that I may have disintegrated (or deteriorated?) to a Four in my adulthood.

My experience has been that typing other people (and thus, letting other people type YOU) can be a fun parlor game, but ultimately only YOU can type yourself. Whereas other people can see your outward expression of your "personality" only you have access to the inner motivations that drive you. So if Four "feels" right to you, odds are pretty good that you ARE a Four. Do you know what exactly your friends who think you're a One are basing those ideas on?

I don't know how long you have been a student of the enneagram, but I have to confess that it took me several years to accurately type myself-- and that's not horribly unusual.

I don't really think our core type changes over the course of our lives, but I suppose our environment and circumstances may temporarily cause us to "act" in a different way from our natural style. For example, when I was running a business and managing employees, I am sure I was very Three-ish, compared to how I am now that I am self-employed.

Just my $0.02 worth.

--Peter
9w1(sx)/INFJ

One way to consider it is:

There is a primary, essence quality that you would hang out in, all else being equal

All else is not usually equal, and in many cases you have to simply survive in a given circumstance

To survive, you might develop another quality very strongly ... this gets you to success and validation, and creates a safe boundaried space within which the real you can ultimately develop

When that real essence develops enough, gets strong enough, then the constructed/adopted one can be lain aside ... but can always still be useful as a skillset

So perhaps you are a dreamy, inventive, passionate, artistic 4-ish primarily ... but cirumstances were such that you had to master clarity/precision/definition in a 1-ish way in order to survive and thrive
Especially in business, politics, academics and harder-edged areas, people may see that sharper side presenting itself, and you may be good at that
But where you may feel most at home as a being is in that heart-dreamer space

So, maybe you're just multi-talented and you can be all things to all people !

Try looking not at the description of a 4, but at how a 4 (or a 1) reacts to stressful situations, and compare descriptions.

Because the telling fact for me is that while others have typed me as a 5, or even (if I recall) a 7, the reality is that I react as a textbook 9, and, in typing, that's what I come out as.

You know you better than others see you.