Type 6 - The Loyalist
The Committed, Security-Oriented Type
- Engaging
- Responsible
- Anxious
- Suspicious
Fear of being without support or guidance
- They strive to find support and guidance from those around them.
- Their pervasive, underlying fear is that they cannot survive independently and must seek as much support and direction from others as possible.
- They are constantly aiming to move away from isolation and towards structure, security, and the guidance of others.
Basic Desire
- To have security.
Key Motivation
- To feel supported.
Core Wounds
- You feel scared and insecure.
- You feel the world is unpredictable and untrustworthy.
- You believe the world is threatening and dangerous.
- You became defensively suspicious.
- You focus on being safe and secure.
Center of Intelligence
The Head / Thinking - Fear
- Represses fear as a primary strategy.
- Like the 9's and 3's, 6's are just as good at pretending there is no reason to feel fear.
- They repress it by surrounding themselves with safety/security systems (often in the form of people) and being suspicious of the unfamiliar.
- Since they can neither trust themselves nor the outside world, they can't experience it as 'fear,' there is a Janus-like quality to Sixes.
- They are engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.
Personality Type Cross-reference
MBTI / Keirsey - Artisan (SP - Sensing / Perceiving)
Temperaments
- Temperament Type - Sanguine
- Animal Type - Golden Retriever
- DISC Type - Steadiness
- Socio-Communicative Type - Amiable
- True Colors - Orange
- Color Code - Yellow
- Personality Compass - South
MBTI / Keirsey - Guardian (SJ - Sensing / Judging)
Temperaments
Core Wounds
- You feel scared and insecure
- You feel the world was unpredictable and untrustworthy
- You believe the world is threatening and dangerous
- You became defensively suspicious
- You focus on being safe and secure
Center of Intelligence
The Head / Thinking - Fear- Represses fear as a primary strategy.
- Like the 9’s and 3’s, 6’s are just as good at pretending there is absolutely no reason ever to feel fear.
- They repress it by surrounding themselves with safety/security systems (often in the form of people) and by being suspicious of the unfamiliar.
- Since they can neither trust themselves nor the outside world. Still, they can’t experience it as ‘fear,’ there is a Janus-like quality to 6’s.
- They are engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.
Traits
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Focus of Attention
- Sixes focus on thinking about what might go wrong and strategizing and preparing for it.
- A response to an early experience of danger, Sixes have an adaptive strategy that centers on detecting threats and coping with fear.
Patterns of Thinking and Feeling
- It’s hard to talk about one kind of Six because the three Six subtypes are so distinct.
- This can be traced to the three commonly understood ways of dealing with fear: fight, flight, or freeze. Analytical and strategic in their thinking, Sixes think about how to manage uncertainty to feel safe.
- They think things through thoroughly, even to the point of getting paralyzed by overanalysis.
- Aside from fear, they tend to have less access to other feelings, though they can be the most feeling of the Head Types.
Behavior Patterns
- Sixes are watchful and alert in different ways and share a standard orientation to authority.
- They have a strong desire for good governance. Still, they can be suspicious of and rebellious against real-life rules. On the other hand, sixes are thoughtful and loyal to those whom they trust.
- They can be hard workers, intent on control and achievement, or they can have a hard time getting things done, getting caught up in procrastination, indecision, and fear of success.
- Their constant awareness of what might go wrong makes them excellent problem-solvers.
Passion—Fear
- Fear is an unpleasant emotional and physiological response to recognized sources of danger; it usually goes hand in hand with anxiety, which can be more or less conscious, depending on the subtype.
- Anxiety includes apprehension, tension, or uneasiness related to the anticipation of danger, the source of which is unknown or unrecognized and may originate inside one’s mind.
Arrows
When secure moves towards positive side of Type 9- The Peacemaker
- Empathize more with others
- see things from a broader point of view
- take life less seriously
- put more trust in their inner authority
When stressed moves towards negative side of Type 3 - The Achiever
- Avoid feeling anxious by staying busy
- become workaholics
- reluctant to try new things for fear of failure
- take on a role or image to feel more secure
- tell lies about themselves to get ahead or cover up
Wings
| Type 5 – The Investigator | |
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Relationships
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Addictions
- Rigidity in the diet causes nutritional imbalances ("I don't like vegetables").
- Caffeine and amphetamines for stamina, but also alcohol and depressants to deaden anxiety.
- Higher susceptibility to alcoholism than many types.
Red Flags
- Image conscious
- Boastful or self-promoting
- Dismissive of others
- Intense anxiety
- Feelings of suspicion or paranoia
- Spending excessive amounts of time anticipating how to handle future problems
- Overly pessimistic
- Fixated on finding security
Interpersonal Coping Style
- Dutiful - Analyze, seek info and opinions, view from all sides while ignoring intuition.
Conflict Style
- Reactive - Defensive and suspicious posture leads to overreactions and assigned negative motives.
Self-Preservation Subtype
Warmth
- The anxiety of the Six blends with the self-preservation instinct to make fear and insecurity a theme for this cautious subtype.
- They build strong alliances and relationships with others to feel safe.
- They are sincerely affectionate and warm-hearted in their interactions with others.
- They repress anger and are hesitant to share opinions, preferring to be cautious than risk mistakes.
- They express the passion of fear through a need for protection, friendship, and banding together with others.
- In seeking defensive alliances, Self-Preservation Sixes endeavor to be warm, friendly, and trustworthy, which is why they bear the name “Warmth.”
- This most “phobic” of the Sixes has difficulty expressing anger, feels uncertain, and engages in many self-doubts.
- For Self-Preservation Sixes, fear manifests as insecurity, and they focus on relationships to feel safer in the world.
Social Subtype
Duty
- This Six subtype connects to social ideals, working for a cause or standing up for the weak.
- They tend to be more ‘black and white’ than the shades of grey seen by other Sixes.
- They may seem like an Ennea One as they are precise and careful and prefer to follow the rules and procedures.
- Highly rational and dutiful, they encourage compliance with rules or collective norms and ensure everyone knows what is expected of them.
- They express fear through a need to deal with anxiety by relying on abstract reason or ideologies as a frame of reference.
- Obeying authority by knowing the rules helps them feel safe.
- , Unlike the Self-Preservation Six, this Six has more certainty and can be “too sure” of things to deal with the anxiety of uncertainty. Social Sixes focus on precision and efficiency.
- They adhere to whatever the guidelines are as a form of protective authority.
One-to-One Subtype
Intimidation - Strength / Beauty (countertype)
- This Six deals with fear by going directly against it and tends to be bold, assertive, or even intimidating, which may lead to mistyping as an Eight.
- This Six believes that the best defense is a good offense and reacts against typical Six fears by running towards any fear or danger.
- This head-on approach may appear rebellious or something of a daredevil.
- Their need to feel solid and safe makes connecting to their doubts or feelings of vulnerability challenging.
- They express fear by going against fear—by becoming intense and intimidating.
- Trusting themselves more than others, these Sixes have the inner programming that when you are afraid, the best defense is a good offense.
- They take a powerful stance in what they do and how they look to hold the enemy at a distance.
- Their anxiety is allayed through skill and readiness in the face of an attack.
Dilemma
- The temptation of Sixes is their exaggerated striving for security.
- For this reason, they love conventional, closed systems.
- Immature sixes search for hierarchies, authority, and security.
- The primary defense mechanism for sixes is projection
- Sixes often anticipate the worst.
- Their mistrust leads to their tendency to project hostility, hatred, and negative thoughts onto other people.
- The root sin of a six is fear, a sort of primal anxiety.
- Sixes avoid inappropriate behavior and see no one breaks fixed agreements.
- The pitfall of phobic sixes is cowardice; the pitfall of contra-phobic sixes is taking foolish risks.
- Every community or group that has sixes in its ranks can depend on their loyalty, self-sacrifice, and readiness to assume responsibility.
- The fruit of the spirit of the sixes is their courage. In moments of crisis, sixes can overcome their fear more easily than anyone else.
- Sixes have had to grapple with fear all their lives.
- A further gift of many sixes is their well-developed sense for what is “in the air.”
Personal Growth
- Learn to break free from external direction by authorities and take over responsibility for their lives and feelings.
- Humor and the ability to laugh at one's exaggerated fears can also contribute to driving fear away.
- You need places of security, free from fear, where they don't need to defend themselves, where they sense they are accepted as they are.
- Remember that there is nothing unusual about being anxious since everyone is anxious much more often than you might think. Learn to be more present with your anxiety, explore it, and come to terms with it.
- Work creatively with your tensions without turning to excessive amounts of alcohol (or other drugs) to alleviate them.
- , if you are present and breathing fully, anxiety can be energizing, a kind of tonic that can help make you more productive and aware of what you are doing.
- You tend to get edgy and testy when you are upset or angry and can even turn on others and blame them for things you have done or brought on yourself.
- Be aware of your pessimism: it causes you dark moods and negative thought patterns that you tend to project on reality.
- When you succumb to this self-doubt, you can become your worst enemy and may harm yourself more than anyone else.
- You tend to overreact when you are under stress and feeling anxious.
- Learn to identify what makes you overreact.
- Also, realize that almost none of the things you have feared so much has come true.
- Even if things are as bad as you think, your fearful thoughts weaken your ability to improve.
- You cannot always manage external events, but you can manage your thoughts.
- Work on becoming more trusting.
- There are doubtless several people you can turn to who care about you and are trustworthy.
- If not, go out of your way to find someone trustworthy, and allow yourself to get close to that person.
- This will mean risking rejection and stirring up some of your deepest fears, but the risk is worth taking.
- You have a gift for getting people to like you, but you are unsure of yourself and may be afraid of committing to them.
- Therefore, come down clearly on one side or the other of the fence in your relationships. Let people know how you feel about them.
- Others probably think better of you than you realize, and few people are really out to get you.
- In fact, your fears tell you more about your attitudes toward others than they indicate about others' attitudes toward you.
Sixes and Ones
- Ones and Sixes share several traits in common.
- Both Ones and Sixes excel at analytical thinking, and both worry about things going wrong.
- Ones tend to feel anxious about making mistakes, and Sixes tend to experience more general anxiety related to many different things potentially going wrong.
- In response to their worry, Ones try to be perfect and avoid making mistakes, and Sixes catastrophize and imagine worst-case scenarios.
- Both Ones and Sixes are uncomfortable with success.
- Both styles create problems for themselves in completing tasks and moving toward success, Ones because they believe something is never perfect and constantly criticize themselves, and Sixes because they continually doubt and question themselves and believe that becoming successful will make them a target.
- Both styles also tend to be activists in support of social causes they care about, Ones because they feel responsible for making the world a better place, and Sixes because they identify with underdog causes and are sensitive to people in authority positions exercising power over others in unjust ways.
- Ones and Sixes also differ in specific ways.
- Ones worry about making mistakes and being wrong, according to their standards, while Sixes worry about the danger and external threats of all kinds.
- Ones are self-critical and tend to judge others, and Sixes doubt themselves and others.
- Related to self-criticism and self-doubt, Ones try—and inevitably fails—to be perfect, and Sixes either tries and fails to find certainty or finds it in a specific source of authority.
- One particularly stark contrast between Ones and Sixes is that Ones tend to obey authority, whereas Sixes tend to be suspicious of authority and may even rebel against it.
- Ones follow the rules, while most Sixes question them.
- (One exception to this is the Social Six, who adheres to an outside authority and may strictly follow the rules offered by that authority.) Both styles can procrastinate, but they do it for different reasons: One fears making a mistake and always want more time to make what they do more perfect.
- Sixes' continual doubting and questioning make it hard for them to move forward.
- In relating to people, Ones generally tends to trust people and give them the benefit of the doubt unless they break the rules or engage in bad behavior. In contrast, Sixes mistrust others initially until they have observed them enough to satisfy themselves that they are trustworthy.
- After a person has earned their trust, Sixes are loyal and supportive.
Sixes and Twos
- Twos and Sixes can look very similar to one another.
- Twos and Sixes can worry and be fearful, but their fears have different sources.
- Sixes worries about overall safety, bad things happening, and problems occurring, while Twos worries more about whether people will perceive them positively, the possibility of rejection, and the safety of specific individuals who are essential to them.
- Twos and Sixes are good at reading people but do so with different aims.
- When applying their attention to others, Sixes look for hidden agendas and ulterior motives, whether someone is trustworthy or not, and potential threats, whereas Twos try to ascertain other people’s moods and needs as a way to connect with them and create rapport.
- When relating to people generally, Twos tend to be aware of managing their image to please or align with others, while Sixes do not consider their appearance and how others might be perceiving them as much.
- In addition, Twos wants to be seen and appreciated by others, while Sixes would often rather hide because being noticed can make them feel vulnerable.
- Both Twos and Sixes can worry about what will go wrong and work hard to make things go well— Sixes because they are good troubleshooters and want to anticipate problems before they happen, and Twos because they want to please others and appear competent and attractive.
- When making decisions, both Twos and Sixes can have difficulty deciding.
- Twos have difficulty making choices because they often don’t know what they need or want.
- They focus so much on other people that they can be unfamiliar with their preferences.
- In contrast, decisions can be challenging for Sixes because they continually doubt themselves and question their potential choices.
- They may also fear choosing the wrong thing and imagine the negative consequences that might result.
- Twos and Sixes also differ in significant ways.
- Sixes usually feel suspicious of or rebellious toward authority figures, while Twos wants to form good relationships with authorities.
- Twos often want authority figures and other important people to like them, so rather than being mistrustful, they will usually lead with behaviors designed to achieve a positive relationship with authorities if they can.
- Also, Sixes catastrophize and engage in worst-case scenario thinking much more than Twos do.
- Twos are usually optimistic, and while they might sometimes imagine that people don’t like them, they typically don’t think in terms of the worst case.
- Another contrast between Twos and Sixes is how each deals with conflict.
- Twos would like to avoid conflict most of the time if they can. At the same time, Sixes, especially counterphobic Sixes, can sometimes move toward conflict, especially if they feel motivated to challenge an authority figure they believe is abusing their power.
- Specific commonalities exist between Twos and the Self-Preservation Sixes.
- Both Twos and SelfPreservation Sixes are warm and focus considerable energy on creating friendships; they try to avoid showing aggression (though they both may do so when reactive).
- Twos try to attract friends out of a desire to be liked and affirmed, providing them with a sense of well-being.
- In a slightly different way, Self-Preservation Sixes want to create relationships that will serve as alliances to keep themselves safe amid friendly others who can band together against outside threats.
- Twos are motivated to form friendships by the need to be liked and seen as indispensable so that they will have friends to meet their needs in the same way they meet others’ needs.
- The Six has a strong need for safety against attack or other kinds of dangers.
Sixes and Threes
- Threes and Sixes have some traits in common.
- Threes and some Sixes, especially counterphobic, can be hardworking, assertive, and forward-moving.
- Both Threes and Sixes specialize in reading people, though they do this for different reasons.
- Threes scan their audience to determine what others value to create an image of themselves that others will see as successful and admirable.
- Sixes read people to answer an inner sense of threat and protect themselves by looking for hidden agendas and ulterior motives.
- Both styles can be personable and friendly, with Threes looking for approval from others and Sixes wanting to create safety through knowing who their allies are.
- Both can be practical and solution-focused, though Threes focuses on goals and finding the most efficient path to achieve the result. Sixes prioritize anticipating problems and dangers so they can prepare and find fixes proactively.
- Threes and Sixes also differ in specific ways.
- Threes focus on moving quickly and efficiently toward their goals, while Sixes can procrastinate for fear of doing it wrong or because they are looking for problems.
- Threes are skillful at matching an image of success and tend to appear confident in whatever they do, while Sixes can waver through doubting and questioning.
- Sixes can also become stuck in fear or paralyzed by overanalysis and imagining the worst-case scenario.
- When engaging in work tasks and their lives in general, Threes pay attention to doing whatever it takes to achieve success and like to be recognized for their achievements.
- Sixes usually fear success and so may tend to sabotage themselves (sometimes to avoid attracting the attention of others).
- Related to this, while Threes are action-oriented and success-oriented, Sixes often avoid taking action that might lead to success because they fear that success leads to exposure and exposure may lead to being attacked.
- Being very goal-oriented, Threes work toward goals without slowing down long enough to think about what might go wrong, while Sixes almost always think of what could go wrong, which makes them skilled troubleshooters—they naturally think about potential obstacles in the process of accomplishing a particular task so they can prepare and account for them.
- Finally, Threes can usually work well with authorities as long as they don’t interfere with Threes’ progress toward their goals. In contrast, Sixes tend to be suspicious of or rebellious toward authority figures, fearing they will use their power against them in unfair ways.
Sixes and Fours
- Fours and Sixes can have very similar outward styles.
- Both Fours and Sixes are intuitive and skilled at reading others—Sixes because they protect themselves from threats by looking to see other people’s intentions, and Fours because they are emotionally intuitive and empathic—and these traits help them form supportive relationships.
- People of both types can be good troubleshooters, Fours because they naturally see what’s missing in a specific situation, and Sixes because they automatically think about what might go wrong so that they can prepare for it.
- Both Fours and Sixes can challenge authorities and the established way of doing tasks and projects.
- Fours can be nonconformist because they have original perspectives and are oriented to depth and the authentic expression of feelings.
- And Sixes can rebel because they think contrarily and feel unsafe with and suspicious of those who have power over them.
- Both Fours and Sixes tend to have negative feelings about themselves.
- Fours usually feel defective or missing something, and Sixes tend to doubt, question and blame themselves.
- Both Fours and Sixes can get stuck in life and have a hard time moving forward, Fours because they can be overly self-critical and overly attached to specific emotions, believing things are hopeless, and Sixes because they can overthink issues and events, experience “analysis paralysis,” doubt their abilities, and fear success.
- There are also clear distinctions between Fours and Sixes.
- Fours are sensitive to how others perceive them and want to be seen as unique and original.
- Sixes, on the other hand, do not focus on the image others have of them as much.
- Fours want to stand out and be viewed as unique in the eyes of others, and Sixes identify more with the underdog and the “everyman/everywoman” archetype.
- Fours live primarily from and in their emotions, while Sixes dwell more in their heads and are predominantly mental and analytical.
- Sixes’ most regular emotional experiences involve fear, doubt, and worry, while Fours more often feel emotions related to sadness and melancholy.
- Sixes search for certainty and inevitably don’t find it or adhere to something specific out of a need for certainty.
- Fours mainly focus on what they don’t have that others have—often an unattainable love relationship—thinking they can, at last, be happy if they can attain it.
- Finally, Fours’ chief aim is to feel loved and appreciated for who they are, while Sixes focus more on feeling safe in the world.
Sixes and Fives
- Fives and Sixes are alike in many ways.
- Both Fives and Sixes can be reserved and withdrawn.
- More phobic Sixes, in particular, resemble Fives, as both types tend to be introverted and seek security by moving away from others.
- Fives maintain a distance between themselves and others because they want to guard against being depleted, while Sixes are wary of others and withdraw out of a fear that other people might represent some danger or threat.
- Both types are slow to trust others when forming relationships.
- This is because Fives and Sixes have safety and security concerns, though phobic Sixes tend to feel more actively fearful and anxious about outside threats. At the same time, Fives excel at avoiding fearful situations well before they occur.
- Fives and Sixes can be vigilant when interacting with others and protecting their boundaries, and both can become angry when their boundaries are challenged.
- Fives need clear boundaries to prevent intrusions and potentially energy-draining interactions with others, while Sixes have a common fear of being attacked or shamed somehow.
- Both Fives and Sixes are analytical, thinking types who intellectualize regularly, meaning they rely on their thinking function a great deal as a way of avoiding feelings —they may believe about feelings but have a hard time feeling them.
- Fives and Sixes also differ in some of their traits.
- Counterphobic (Sexual) Sixes can look very different from Fives, being much more extraverted than the more introverted Five.
- Sixes have more apparent issues with authorities than Fives do.
- Sixes can be suspicious of and openly rebellious toward authority figures. At the same time, Fives can follow authorities if they choose to (and if they don’t, they may go against the established authority in a more quiet, less noticeable way).
- Sixes focus on questioning and doubting in the quest for certainty. At the same time, Fives pay more attention to the accumulation of knowledge, the reduction of needs, and the economical use of resources like time and energy.
- Fives value emotional control, while Sixes do not prioritize the control of emotions in the same way.
- When analyzing a situation, Fives can be very objective, as they habitually detach from emotions.
- Sixes, on the other hand, can have difficulty distinguishing their intuitions from their projections—they may confuse the reality of what they perceive with what they fear is true.
- Interpersonally, Fives withdraw from others to avoid feeling pressed to meet their emotional needs, while Sixes do not fear meeting others’ needs and can be very generous with their time and energy with people they trust.
Sixes and Sevens
- Sixes and Sevens have some traits in common.
- Both are mental types and primarily thinking-oriented, though they think differently about different topics.
- Sevens focus on planning future activities, new and interesting ideas, and interrelating and synthesizing information.
- Sixes think about what might go wrong to prepare for it proactively, and they also think in contrarian terms, questioning ideas and opinions they hear from others to find what’s true or solve problems.
- Sixes and Sevens are both quick thinkers, but with good imaginations, though Sixes tend to imagine worst-case scenarios, while Sevens imagine highly positive ones.
- Both types are “fear types,” though they may or may not be aware of their fear.
- In particular, Sevens and Counterphobic Sixes can look very much alike, as both moves toward threats in the environment to face dangers—the Seven with charm and an engaging presentation and the Counterphobic Six with strength and the willingness to intimidate.
- People of both types can get caught up in thinking too much and not move into action, with Sixes becoming caught up in doubt and Sevens being distracted by new ideas and multiple options or not wanting to commit to (or be limited by) a specific course of action.
- Sixes and Sevens also differ in specific ways.
- Sevens tend to be very optimistic. At the same time, Sixes, who usually describe themselves as realistic, may look more pessimistic to outside observers when they draw attention to problems or threatening or negative possibilities.
- Sevens have a sunny outlook and reframe situations in favorable terms, while Sixes tend to focus on what might go wrong so they can prepare for potential problems occurring.
- Sevens and Sixes manage fears or concerns differently.
- Sevens move toward the source of fear with charm and pleasantries to disarm the ominous threat with soft power, while Sixes tend to be vigilant and watchful to see the threat coming ahead of time so they can prepare to meet it.
- Counterphobic Sixes tend to move toward threatening situations with strength. In contrast, phobic Sixes withdraw from them, and Social Sixes obey one kind of authority or another to cope with anxiety.
- Sevens focus on positive possibilities and interesting and fun things to do—they want to maintain good feelings and avoid pain and discomfort.
- Sixes can hardly avoid pain and discomfort as they focus on self-doubting, questioning ideas and seeming realities, and detecting potential dangers.
- Sixes look for certainty and rarely if ever, find it, or find it and hang on to it.
- Sevens are playful and adventurous, while Sixes are careful and strategic.
- Sevens plan for fun, while Sixes prepare for dealing with problems.
- Sevens see endless possibilities for interesting activities in an unconscious effort to keep a safe distance from anxiety and discomfort, while Sixes seeks problems to solve to feel safe.
- Sixes tend to have problems with authorities—they can be questioning and suspicious of charges and also rebellious and challenging of tasks—while Sevens equalize authority and deny hierarchical power relationships, seeing themselves as being on the same level with and friendly with both superiors and subordinates.
- Sevens expect success and have a confident presentation, while Sixes expect things to go wrong and may have a worried, even paranoid expression.
- Sevens have difficulty with commitments, as they fear limits, while Sixes are very loyal, dedicated, and committed once they trust someone or something.
Sixes and Eights
- While Sixes and Eights are alike in some general ways, phobic Sixes can look quite different from Eights, and counterphobic Sixes can look a lot like Eights.
- Both Eights and counterphobic Sixes can appear strong and intimidating to others. Both styles tend toward threatening or difficult situations “fearlessly” to deal with the problem head-on.
- However, Eights genuinely have little or no fear, while counterphobic Sixes act against threats to quell a more profound and ongoing sense of dread that is not always experienced consciously at the moment (but represents the “fight” part of “fight or flight”).
- Eights and all Sixes tend to rebel against authority.
- And Sixes and Eights can both be protective of others they care about.
- Eights tend to protect the weak and vulnerable, and Sixes are frequently drawn to supporting underdogs or underdog causes.
- In addition, Sixes and Eights can both be very hardworking and practical, though Eights are more prone to over-working, wanting to move big things forward quickly, and Sixes can be more cautious and can get slowed down by overanalysis and endless questioning of what they are doing.
- Eights also differ from Sixes in some precise ways, with Eights’ style contrasting even more obviously with the kind of phobic Sixes.
- Eights feels relatively little fear and vulnerability, as the Eights’ approach to life is based on a denial of vulnerability and overcompensatory confidence in their power and strength.
- Phobic Sixes, on the other hand, feeling fearful and thus vulnerable much of the time, and so they anxiously stay vigilant for threats and other dangers.
- Eights do not often engage in self-doubt, while Sixes continually doubt themselves.
- Sixes tend to overthink and can become paralyzed by overanalysis and thus fail to act.
- Eights tend to act quickly without thinking.
- Because Eights like to move things forward quickly, they get impatient if others slow their forward progress, while Sixes tend to procrastinate and slow themselves down based on fears that there will be some lousy outcome or another.
- Sixes are slow to trust others, and they scrutinize people to look for hidden agendas and ulterior motives, while Eights generally rely on people who appear competent until their trust is broken.
- Eights can directly confront a conflictual situation, as can counterphobic Sixes, while the phobic Six would rather avoid conflict but can engage in it if necessary or provoked.
Sixes and Nines
- Sixes and Nines can look similar.
- Both Sixes and Nines can be loyal, caring, and supportive of others.
- Sixes and Nines both procrastinate.
- Sixes procrastinate because they fear things will go wrong and they fear success, while Nines put off work and other tasks when they have a hard time accessing and staying with their agendas.
- Also, at times, Nines can passively resist forward movement to resist going along with what others want them to do (without saying so and risking potential conflict).
- Sixes can resist their forward progress because they become caught up in questioning, overanalyzing, and doubting.
- Besides, phobic Sixes and Nines want to avoid conflict, though Nines are more extreme.
- People of both types tend to be self-effacing and humble.
- They both dislike being in the spotlight for different reasons.
- Sixes fear even positive attention can make them open to attack, and Nines are very uncomfortable being the center of attention, as they do not even place themselves at the center of their attention.
- Sixes and Nines also have distinct characteristics that reveal the differences between their styles.
- Nines tend to merge with others and trust others easily, while Sixes tend to stand apart and be suspicious, especially at first, until they gather enough information to ascertain whether or not someone is trustworthy.
- Nines tend to go along to get along and to over-adjust to others' preferences—they tend to comply with the wishes of others as a way of avoiding discomfort and potential separation.
- In contrast, Sixes mistrust others and may question or test people before going along.
- In light of this tendency to follow other people's preferences, Nines are easily distracted from their agenda. At the same time, Sixes tend to remain alert in their focus of attention on potential threats.
- Nines can see many different points of view and usually take on a mediating role when parties in a group differ in opinion.
- In contrast, Sixes think in contrarian terms: they can see one side, and then they can see the opposing side, and they tend to see things not in terms of many equally plausible points of view but in terms of questioning and countering whatever view is put forward.
- Nines dislike conflict and do not usually have contact with their anger (which might lead them into a battle), and in this, they differ significantly from the counterphobic Six, who may get angry and move toward conflict in certain situations as a way of dealing with a potential threat.
- Sixes tend to be somewhat (or very) antiauthoritarian. At the same time, Nines, wanting to avoid conflicts and create harmony, will usually go along with and cooperate with authority, at least on the outside.
Career Advice
- Though sixes can be found in almost any career.
- They can be excellent Firemen, Military Servicemen, Police Officers, Emergency Response Workers, Safety Inspectors, Auditors, Prosecutors, Doctors, Financial Analysts, and Retirement Counselors.
- They excel in occupations that demand a cautious & skeptical mind.
- They are often attracted to the justice system.