Why you really procrastinate (according to your Enneagram type)
Why a Five researches endlessly and a Four wanders off into her garden (and what it says about you)
I get butterflies for two reasons when I’m about to teach one of my Enneagram workshops:
The first is nerves from the heavy (but really cool!) responsibility of introducing the Enneagram to a group of complete strangers.
Last weekend, that room happened to be in Memphis, Tennessee, where I was teaching an “Intro to the Enneagram” workshop at a convention.
Within five minutes, I had a bag of homemade candied pecans pressed into my hands (freaking delicious). And when I asked my usual icebreaker—“What’s your zombie apocalypse strategy?”—the entire room answered in unison: “Grab my guns.”
(Except for one lady who said she’d camouflage herself as a bush. TBD on her type. Shoutout to her.)
“Welcome to the South, Abbey,” one attendee told this Southern California gal.
The second reason for those butterflies is less about nerves and more about anticipation.
Because in a room full of beginners, I know the unexpected will happen. This is where some of the most insightful Enneagram conversations show up.
And in this particular session, it emerged through a lens I wasn’t anticipating at all: procrastination.
As I was walking through Type Nines and their tendency to put things off, someone interrupted me with the best kind of question:
“I procrastinate all the time, but I thought I was a Six or an Eight. So does that mean I’m a Nine?”
This is exactly why I love teaching Ennea-newbies!! Because that question gets to the heart of understanding yourself: it’s about motivation, not behavior.
Every single one of us, regardless of type, has avoided something important by suddenly needing to alphabetize our (embarrassingly large) collection of romantasy books. Or by deciding that right now is the perfect time to deep-clean avocado and mango out of the crevices of your baby’s high chair. (Seriously… HOW are parents supposed to keep those things clean???)
So I turned to the one person in the room who did know his type: Nick, a good-natured Type Eight who had earlier declared, with pride, that he “took care of his own.”
“Why do you procrastinate?” I asked him.
He didn’t hesitate: “When I’m too busy doing something else.”
Which, when you think about an Eight’s core fear (being weak, powerless, or manipulated), makes total sense. They push themselves to stay in control, to keep moving, to run from vulnerability. And because they’ve been let down by people who don’t step up, their default becomes: I’ll just do it myself.
So for an Eight, procrastination looks less like avoiding work and more like drowning in it.
Then, another attendee chimes in.
Craig, a fellow convention presenter (and the guy who had spent twenty minutes helping me troubleshoot the projector before class), raised his hand.
“I’ve been procrastinating making my slides for my workshop,” he admitted. “Because I want it to be perfect, I couldn’t even start. And once I did start, I couldn’t stop tweaking them. I’m literally teaching it in an hour and still adding things. I could work on it for years and it would never feel ‘ready.’”
Sound familiar, Type Ones? (And for the record, I’m not typing him—he later disclosed that Type One fit him to a tee.)
For Ones, procrastination isn’t about laziness either. It’s about chasing an impossible standard of perfection.
Color me intrigued.
And it got me thinking…
What if procrastination isn’t a bad habit at all, but a clue to our core fears and desires?
That question stuck with me, so I asked my Instagram community:
What’s your type, and why do you procrastinate?
The answers, my friends, are illuminating.
Type Nine: The Energy-Savers
Theme of Procrastination: Overwhelm, indecision, and resistance to being controlled.
When it comes to procrastination, Nines are the first to be misunderstood. Their core weakness is sloth – or complacency. Which oftentimes gets misinterpreted as laziness. But what it really is is Nines are a sponge. They spend all day carrying everyone else’s emotions. So when they actually have the time to get that important thing done, they’re just bone-weary, stuck in a brain fog where survival looks like comfort above everything else.
Type Eight: The Rebels
Theme of Procrastination: Power and control. They wait until it matters to them, or until the pressure is intense enough to make it interesting.
The Eight responses cracked me up… I had a hard time choosing only three! The overall theme was that Eights procrastinate… willfully. Sometimes out of spite, sometimes because the task feels pointless. And honestly, I think they might treat procrastination the same way they treat conflict: the thrill of intensity makes life feel more exciting. Basically, using deadlines like my husband uses SugarFree Red Bull.
Type Seven: The Fun-Firsters
Theme of Procrastination: Distracted by stimulation, avoidance of boredom, and being really adept at doing things last-minute.
If there’s a choice between taxes and tacos, we know which one’s getting pushed off the to-do list. But when the deadline hits, Sevens always figure it out. As Kelly put it: ‘I know I can pull it off last minute.’ It’s not laziness; Sevens can actually be some of the hardest workers on the Enneagram. They’d just rather spend their superhuman energy on fun first and tackle the boring stuff once it absolutely demands their attention.
Type Six: The Worry Delayers
Theme of Procrastination: Using it as an anxiety buffer. Fear of being wrong, of suffering, of making decisions prematurely.
For Sixes, procrastination is less about time management and more about self-protection. If I don’t open the email, the bad news doesn’t exist, right? Right?? Not opening the email means not having to face the worst-case scenario. (Even if it’s just a 50% off coupon from Old Navy) Sometimes it’s about doubting their own ability to choose well… so instead of deciding, they delay until there’s no other option.
Type Five: The Researchers
Theme of Procrastination: Hoarding energy, endless researching, not feeling equipped to begin.
Ahh, the classic Five procrastination spiral: one more article, one more podcast, one more PDF download… then, finally, I’ll be ready.
Here’s how I think of it: imagine a Five learning to swim. Before they even dip a toe in, they’re reading about swimming, watching Michael Phelps highlight reels, testing the pH levels of the pool water. (By the time a Five starts a project, they could probably write the Wikipedia page on it.) Because for Fives, the world feels intrusive—like everything is a drain on their limited energy. So it’s safer to observe than participate. Procrastination, then, isn’t laziness, it’s energy conservation, plus a shield against feeling unprepared or inept.
Type Four: The Vibe-Based Procrastinators
Theme of Procrastination: Waiting for the right mood, fear of failure tied to identity, distraction by fantasy/daydreaming.
For Fours, authenticity is everything. If a task doesn’t feel aligned? Forget it. (Even if that task is… ya know… their job.) This comes from their core fear of being insignificant: every choice feels like it defines their identity. So procrastination isn’t about avoiding work—it’s their way of saying: “I refuse to be ordinary!” (Like Kelly, who flits through her garden, lost in her own little reverie… go off, lil Four fairies!) Because that, in their eyes, would threaten their legacy.
Type Three: The Over-Careful Overachievers
Theme of Procrastination: Fear of failure, fear of not being recognized, paralyzed by high standards.
Threes procrastinate not because they don’t care, but because they care too much. What if it looks bad? What if it fails? Or—worst of all—what if no one notices or celebrates it? For Threes who tie their worth to how successful they appear, this can feel paralyzing. Essentially: if there’s no gold star at the end, why bother?
Type Two: The People-Pleasers
Theme of Procrastination: Fear of disappointing others, prioritizing other people’s needs over their own.
Twos procrastinate on their own stuff because they’re busy not procrastinating on yours. LOL. One interesting response came from @boricuaenva: “Fear of doing wrong according to my perception of how others in my life will evaluate it.” At first glance, that might sound like a One’s fear of being wrong. But here, the ‘wrongness’ isn’t about rules or morals. It’s a worry that others won’t like them if they mess up. Essentially, for Twos, the fear is relational, not moral.
Type One: The Standards Police
Theme of Procrastination: Fear of imperfection, needing to do it right, exhausting themselves before even starting.
Ones will put off a task until they can do it flawlessly… which often means never. (You might even catch them procrastinating on procrastinating… because they’re afraid of not procrastinating correctly. Procrastination inception, anyone?) Every morning, the world assaults them with mistakes they can’t ignore. So when they start a project, they’re hyper-aware of every misstep, because perfection is how they navigate life: living up to their own impossibly high standards.
Procrastination, By Type
This whole exercise was fascinating for me. We all procrastinate, but the why is what matters. Ones stall until it’s perfect, Twos until everyone else’s needs are met, Threes until they can shine, Fours until it feels authentic, Fives until they feel ready, Sixes until they feel safe, Sevens until it’s the last resort, Eights until they think it’s worth their time, and Nines until they’ve recharged from carrying the world. Understanding the motivation behind the stall is what turns procrastination from a bad habit into a clue about what drives us!
Now, it’s your turn!
Does this line up with your experience? How does your Enneagram type influence the way you put things off?
Stellar post once again Abs! This might be my favourite one so far :) As I read each enneagram type, I could see family members falling into those same habits lol. When I got to type 5 (my wing), I went, "Yup, that's me!" Whether I'm working on my writing projects—it's a miracle I finish ANY books at all, now if only I can start publishing them—or doing my remote report analyst job at a digital sales company; getting stuck in analysis paralysis is like second nature for me. The only things that works are incentive rewards and death threats lol. Because you can always do MORE research... But when I scrolled down to type 4, I laughed so hard and said, "Not me being called out!" It was spot on! That mood thing is legit, and yes, even when it comes to our jobs! To a 4, vibes—like authenticity—are our lifeblood. If I'm not in the mood, it'll be there, collecting cobwebs :P The type 3 (my other wing) also resonated; in particular, that fear of failure... Yikes. A little too close to inadequate for my comfort.
That being said, I wanted to talk about how procrastination shows up in my self preservation 4 subtype. Based on one word you used in type 4's paragraph that struck me, "legacy". Before I found my enneagram type, I thought I was a 3 as I'd slave endlessly to achieve, wanted things in life, and would compare myself to others. But unlike the 3, I didn't want validation or to be successful, I wanted to leave a legacy behind. Social 4s use envy to lament what they lack, sexual 4s use envy to compete and defeat others, but self preservation 4s (the countertype) work against—or counter—their envy by achieving those same things they lack. To leave a unique legacy behind so that I'd never be forgotten, i.e. insignificant. I think that's why 4s choose unique paths; it's hard to forget something that's not like everything or everyone else. We never want to be forgotten because otherwise what's the point of life?