When you only have a hundred years to enjoy all the pleasures of the world, there’s no time to waste. So many great adventures to live! So many great stories to tell!
There are a thousand good books to read, countless dreamy destinations to visit, new restaurants every day, and new strangers to share a drink with to hear their stories. That’s not even mentioning all the great movies, recipes, and hobbies to try out. How is a person to decide how to spend their day?
Sure, enjoying the pleasurable things in life this much can lead to a perpetual state of FOMO (fear of missing out), but what else are you supposed to do, sit around bored? Think about all the tragedies in the world? Do mundane chores? Stick to your budget and say no the next time a friend asks you to dinner at that new place you’ve heard so much about?
Not a chance.
Oh, and somewhere in there, you’re supposed to write (and finish) books. Yes, even through the sticky parts of your revisions. And when you’re not sure what to write for the next scene but have this fabulous idea for a new series, what are you supposed to do then, make yourself miserable? No way. Not in this lifetime.
If you’re feeling a little called out right now, then you’re probably an Enneagram Type 7, the Enthusiast. Every writer experiences moments of flashy-object syndrome, but when you love life as much as you do and relish pleasant experiences to the extent you do, flashy-object syndrome and FOMO can become a chronic condition. But never fear, because there’s one important concept that can take all your passion and zest for life and turn it into a fruitful and enjoyable career.
Welcome back to this series where we explore what motivates us and how we might build a life that works with our creative impulses rather than against them.
Today, we’re talking all about the Enneagram Seven, “the Enthusiast.” We’re going to dive deep into what motivates someone with these core fears and desires, and how we can build a thrilling author life for ourselves if this is our type.
If this isn’t your type, I strongly suggest you read it anyway. Not only will it help you write strong Enthusiast characters, but I guarantee you have a Seven in your life, and understanding them will only strengthen the relationship.
At their core, Sevens’ desire is to be satisfied. Their fear is to be dissatisfied and deprived or stuck in pain. The concepts of options and enjoyment are central to the way the Seven relates to the world.
Sevens bring a great optimism to the world because they see the possibility in everything. Whereas certain other types view things through a lens of threat or lack, Sevens, with their rose-colored glasses, see the world in terms of pleasure (and have an intentional blind spot for pain). They see what is to be gained, gained, gained.
But it’s a thin line between running toward things and running away from things, and while the Enthusiast appears to be focused on the positive, the first sign of potential pain can send them running (toward something that promises a pleasurable escape).
You might see how this can trip them up in their writing. Though the talk style of the Seven is literally “storytelling,” part of the appeal is the instant gratification of telling that story to another person and getting immediate feedback. This is not a mechanism naturally built into the process of writing a book, and the delayed gratification can prove frustrating, feel like deprivation, and send a Seven seeking that gratification away from the keyboard.
While not every Seven is an extrovert, every Seven craves frequent positive feedback. If you’re an introvert, this could be from an online community or in a small-group or one-on-one setting. If you’re an extrovert, this might look like book signings, panels, and live online events. And if your WIP is proving tricky or frustrating, expect a lot more of these events to magically appear on that schedule.
It’s not all avoidant behavior for Sevens, though. When Enthusiasts can channel their namesake enthusiasm into a single project and bring that project to completion, the excitement is contagious!
When I’m working with an Enthusiast who’s struggling with motivation, it’s usually because the book has stopped being fun. For a Seven, “not fun” could either mean boring or painful. The problem, of course, is that the human need to pursue mastery means the writing process must either challenge us in new ways that force growth and transformation (a naturally painful process) or we will grow bored of it. Humans require a challenge to stay engaged.
So the key for the Seven is to become aware of this pattern and commit to doing what they do best: finding joy even in the difficult times. Engagement, after all, either requires a deeper challenge to an existing project or a fresh project.
In the end, it comes down to attention.
You’ve probably heard of the concept of “flow.” One of the things that stood out to me in the landmark book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the crucial difference between pleasure and enjoyment. Learning this distinction is the turning point for an Enthusiast.
We all know what pleasure is. It’s indulging at your favorite restaurant, it’s diving into a cold pool on a hot day, it’s listening to your favorite band.
What takes it from pleasure to enjoyment, then? Simple: focused attention. Venting to your friend over wine might be pleasurable, but closing your eyes and focusing on each of the tastes as they hit your tongue, recalling what you learned at that wine-tasting class last month, is enjoyment. Floating on your back in the cool water and focusing on the warmth of the sun on your front and the chill of the water on your back while you practice deep breathing is enjoyment. Attending a concert from your favorite band without bringing out your phone to film or posting it on social media is enjoyment.
Writing the opening chapter to a new series might be pleasurable, but losing yourself in the messy middle, tinkering with the plot until it clicks into place, diving deep into your characters so that your skills increase with each book you publish, that is how you enjoy writing.
And that hard-earned enjoyment alchemizes the pain of the process into a rich and satisfying pleasure down the line—exactly what you lovely Enthusiasts desire. You are no longer running from the pain but rather learning to experience it so that the highs are that much higher.
Each of the nine types of the Enneagram has nine Levels of Development within it. Three are considered healthy, three are average, and three are unhealthy. We move through these levels at various moments of our lives, but we usually have an anchor point or baseline that’s our default. As we unlock some of the unconscious patterns associated with our type, our anchor point can move slowly upward toward healthier levels.
Below are descriptions of a Seven in the three categories of development (healthy, average, unhealthy):
Healthy: Able to process deep and complicated experiences, feels gratitude and appreciation for the things in their life, enjoys the simple wonders of the world, enthusiastic about a wide range of experiences, confidence in resilience allows for spontaneity (not impulsiveness), focus allows for great achievements, vivacity leads to accomplishments in many areas.
Average: Increasing restlessness threatens focus, starts looking for more and more options, variety and pleasure begin to take precedent over depth and richness, loses sight of priorities as hyperactivity takes over, impulsive, craves to be life of the party through exaggerated storytelling and performing, becomes a spring of ideas with no follow-through, overconsumes and prone to a variety of excesses, unable to feel satisfied, gluttonous.
Unhealthy: Lacks impulse control, governed entirely by selfish pleasure seeking, loses control of pleasure-pain balance and falls into addictions, cannot face basic discomfort of daily life, flees responsibility, becomes erratic and compulsive, eventually runs out of energy and crashes and burns in panic and despair.
If you’re not a Seven, you’re now thinking of someone you know who is. Or maybe even a character. As you can see, Sevens can make great heroes or villains in your books, depending on what development level they most often inhabit.
Okay, so how do you use this information to motivate yourself as a writer?
It’s important to think of focus as a muscle. Some activities strengthen it, and some cause inflammation that weakens your performance. If you haven’t read a book in a year, it’s unlikely that you’ll read the whole thing in a sitting without wandering off to do something else, no matter how good the story is. And if you’ve only written 500 words a day three times a week for the last year, you’re not going to suddenly have the stamina to switch to 3000 words a day seven days a week. Sorry. Focus isn’t a matter of “will power” like some will tell you. (Ah, if only it were possible to will our brains to produce the serotonin we craved in the winter!)
And as with working out and building muscle, there’s a psychological component to it. You must become aware of (i.e. notice) when your focus is slipping. That’s a sign you’re disconnecting from the story, and that moment of disconnection is your first clue about what’s up.
Ask yourself: Is this a particularly painful scene to write? Are you struggling to know what to write next? Do you legitimately need a break or to wrap for the day? OR do you need to pause, take a few deep breaths, remember how satisfying this scene will be for the reader, and then carry on enjoying that experience?
In short, learn to recognize that first twinge of dissatisfaction and hit pause long enough to explore it. That way, you’re responding rather than reacting.
Every type has a wake-up call associated with it to tell us we’re plummeting down the development levels and it’s time to pause, take a deep breath, and reevaluate some of the premises we’re working from. For the Seven, the red flag is restlessness. Some might call it FOMO. It’s when you disconnect from the potential enjoyment of the present (breaking focus) to think about what other possibilities you might be missing instead.
The truth is that you’re always missing out on something, but if you split your focus and never home in on what you already have before you, you’ll miss out on enjoying everything and be condemned to a series of pleasurable but shallow, distracted, and ultimately unsatisfying experiences.
Sevens who learn to hone their focus can accomplish incredible things. The current President of the United States, Joe Biden, is a Seven who’s conquered the Enthusiast’s worst nightmare of unimaginable grief to come out focused and committed enough to remain in political office for decades. Whatever your political opinion of him, when you realize he’s a Seven and you look at the things he’s endured in his life and the wisdom he’s pulled from the pain, it’s hard not to respect him for the way he’s risen to that challenge rather than letting it destroy him.
You Enthusiasts don’t have to take things seriously to have success, though. There are all kinds of famous comedians who took their natural gifts of joy and cheer and focused that on entertainment. Joan Rivers, Robin Williams, Mike Meyers, Miley Cyrus, Elton John—all Sevens who have brought immeasurable joy to their fans, but only because they committed themselves to becoming masters of their craft. Federico Fellini and Steven Spielberg (also Enthusiasts) had stories to tell, and many of those stories took years and years from idea to completion. It’s not impossible for Sevens. You of all types have the enthusiasm and optimism to carry you through, but you must commit to building that focus and adopting mindfulness practices to check in when that restlessness hits.
So, if you’re struggling to put the words down, see if any of these are running on loop in your head:
“This is boring.”
“I need to find weekend plans.”
“Ugh, this story is getting too heavy.”
“This isn’t fun anymore.”
“That other idea is more promising. I should start on that one instead.”
“Where should I go for dinner tonight?”
“I’d rather be [literally any other activity].”
“Writing should be fun and easy and this isn’t.”
“What am I going to do on my upcoming vacation?”
“I wonder what so-and-so is up to.”
“I should take a picture of myself working and post it to social media.”
“Maybe I’ll be in the mood for writing later, but for now, I want to grab brunch somewhere.”
Each of these thoughts pulls you away from the present experience of writing and draws your attention toward escape and stimulation. But both of those things can be found without getting out of your chair if you shift your focus back to your story!
I’m not trying to deprive you here. Instead, I’m showing you that the wealth you seek is already inside you. It’s not to be found in bougie pancakes and bottomless mimosas (okay, sometimes it is). Reroute those pathways. Work the muscles of delayed gratification. Cut out the unhealthy behaviors that dull the strength of your focus.
Drawing conscious thought to our subconscious scripts is like drawing blood to an injury to help it heal. And that’s how we begin to break these cycles that hold us prisoner so we can move to healthier development levels of our type.
It’s also how we keep ourselves motivated and connected to the work when we’re Enthusiasts.
So, if you’re a Seven who’s struggling with motivation:
Sorry, but you gotta cut back on the social media. Fast for 30 days if you can. Then use an app like Freedom to limit when you can access those sites. The instant dopamine hits available through social media (especially TikTok) are bad for everyone, but are especially toxic for your type. And the FOMO of apps like Instagram will drag you down your development levels faster than you can say “hashtag.”
Treat focus like a muscle. Eliminate distractions in your writing environment as best you can and use a timer to work in sprints. Start small if you have to with 5- or ten-minute sprints for a few weeks. When those start to feel too short or the timer goes off without you noticing it, move to longer increments. But just like with physical exercise, it’s not a constant step forward. Don’t be discouraged if lack of sleep, life circumstance, hormones, or illness make it harder for you to focus today than it was the week before.
Take a couple of minutes to visualize the scene you’re about to write, focusing on the most exciting moments in it that you can’t wait to write. Even the dark night of the soul will have something that you can’t wait to try out, so give yourself a moment to locate it. If you find you can’t locate anything exciting about the next scene, maybe you need to spice it up!
It’s okay to work on multiple series at a time. It’s probably ideal for you, honestly. But try to limit yourself to two or three, and ask yourself if you’re switching between them because you’re running from something unpleasant in one or because it makes sense for you to take a break and work on the other.
Pleasure isn’t the path to satisfaction, but enjoyment is. Enjoyment is deep engagement with the present, and you’ll find that the present has everything you need to feel contented if you dig deep enough in it.
Absolutely do hands-on research for your novels, and use your enjoyable experiences to enhance your stories. Is your protagonist at a trendy diner on a first date? Schedule time to visit a trendy diner, and as you eat your meal there, focus in on everything you can about it. Go ahead, close your eyes, separate out each flavor, committing it to memory. Not only will you create an enjoyable experience when you do your “research,” but you’ll reactivate that memory in your writing. The same goes for travel. Build it into your process, because life’s too short to only write!
Pay attention to the moments when you feel JOMO (joy of missing out). This might be skipping a night out with friends to stay home and read a book on the couch with your dog snoozing at your feet. It might look like leaving the gathering early so you can feel rested and ready to write the next morning. JOMO is a product of connecting to yourself in the present; FOMO is the opposite.
Build relationships with other authors who enjoy the same things as you do outside of writing. If you’re really into sailing, plan a beach retreat with those authors that combines writing with the activity you love. And be sure to schedule dedicated writing hours for everyone, so you can easily focus without wondering if you’re missing out on conversations.
Next week, we’ll discuss how to find you writing motivation if you’re a Type 8, the Challenger. This is the type of intense creatives like Mae West and Clint Eastwood, as well as hard-hitting characters like Katniss Everdeen and Othello.