For everyone
The Epicurean
Mental centre · Types 5, 6 and 7 operate first from the head: analysis, anticipation, security.
“What if we did even better: we could also...”
The type
His core motivation
To enjoy life and keep every option open. Type 7 sees possibilities everywhere; his enthusiasm is contagious and his imagination never stops. For him, life is a party just beginning.
His great fear
To be deprived, trapped, locked into suffering or boredom. His dread: missing out on something and having no escape left.
His desire
To be satisfied, happy, fulfilled by rich and varied experiences.
His compulsion: what he avoids at all costs
Avoiding constraint and pain. As soon as a situation becomes painful or routine, he bounces onto an idea, a project, a new desire.
His passion (his dominant emotion)
Gluttony, in the broad sense: wanting to taste everything, live everything, right now, without ever feeling satiated.
His virtue (his quality when he is at his best)
Sobriety, temperance: savouring one thing thoroughly instead of flitting over ten.
His belief that runs on a loop
Planning: living in the joyful anticipation of the next pleasure more than in the present.
His strengths
- Contagious optimism and energy
- Creativity, a stream of ideas, a vision of possibilities
- Quick thinking, improvisation, versatility
- Puts things in perspective and defuses drama in hard times
His watch points
- Dispersion: many beginnings, few endings
- Flight in the face of painful topics or conflicts
- Can promise more than he delivers
- Impatience with details and procedures
His comfort zone
In novelty, movement, open projects and light diaries. The 7 recharges with joyful people, fresh ideas and the certainty that he can always leave for somewhere else.
In a real-life situation
On a weekend project with friends, he is the one who suggests four destinations, mentally books two festivals and finds a discounted flight. On Friday evening, everyone follows him, and he is still the one who turns the car breakdown into the best story of the trip.
His movements: integration and disintegration
When secure, he integrates7 → 5
The Observer
When secure, the 7 opens up to Type 5: he settles, goes deeper, becomes capable of long concentration and real expertise on a chosen topic.
Under stress, he disintegrates7 → 1
The Perfectionist
Under stress, the 7 slides towards Type 1: he becomes critical, perfectionist and irritable towards “people who don't do things properly”, the complete opposite of his usual carefreeness.
Wing 6 · The Loyalist
The 6 wing makes the 7 more loyal and responsible: an epicurean attached to his group, more cautious in his bets.
Wing 8 · The Leader
The 8 wing makes the 7 more direct and enterprising: he does not just dream his projects, he launches them and pushes them through.
How to communicate with him
Do
- Talk to him about prospects and novelties: he feeds on possibilities
- Be lively, concrete, with humour; long presentations lose him
- Leave him degrees of freedom and options, even framed ones
Avoid
- Locking him into a routine with no horizon and no variety
- Starting with constraints and prohibitions before talking about the project
- Trapping him in a heavy conversation with no way out
His verbiage: his typical phrases
At work
A generator of ideas and momentum. Excellent in innovation, product launches, facilitation, communication, wherever possibilities need opening up. He benefits from finishing: his credibility grows when one of his brilliant projects goes all the way.