What Am I Trying to Protect?
Where you are: Module 2 · Lesson 7 of 30 · about 24 minutes (reading 12, video 2, practice 10). In Module 1 you learned to separate facts from story and you set up your private record. This lesson shows you how to fill in two of its fields well: field 5, a possible motive, and field 6, an alternative reading.
What you'll be able to do
- Tell what a person does (behaviour) apart from a possible reason for it (motive).
- Explain why the same behaviour can come from different possible motives.
- Write your own possible motive as a possibility, with one alternative reading.
- Write one test question that could change your mind.
Behaviour is what a camera could record
Behaviour is what a camera could record. "Goes quiet in a meeting." "Works until 9.00 p.m." "Reads the plan three times." A camera would show each of these, and three colleagues who were there would describe them in the same way.
A motive is a possible reason inside the person. "Wanted to avoid an argument." "Wanted to be sure the plan was right." No camera shows a motive. Even the person may not be sure of their own. So in this course a motive is never a fact. It is an idea you can test.
The same behaviour, different possible motives
The same behaviour can come from different motives. Here are two short examples.
- Wejdan supervises a bank branch. She answers every email from her manager within five minutes. Maybe she wants her manager to see her as reliable. Or maybe she wants to clear her inbox so that nothing is waiting. The behaviour is the same. The two ideas are different, and each one suggests a different question she could ask herself.
- Zaid supervises a warehouse. He spends two evenings checking a loading plan that is already correct. Maybe he wants to protect the customer's delivery time. Or maybe he does not want anyone to find a gap in his plan. Or maybe the idea does not fit at all, and he simply likes to finish things carefully.
The question in the title of this lesson, "What am I trying to protect?", is one way to find a possible motive. A first reaction often protects something: a deadline, a reputation, a relationship, a plan. But the question is a lens, not a rule. A lens is a way of looking at an event. Sometimes it does not fit, and that is a normal result.
Three parts of a good entry
In fields 5 and 6 of your record, write three things.
- A possible motive, in hedged words (field 5). For example: "Maybe I wanted to protect the plan from criticism." Words like "maybe", "might" and "I am not sure" are correct here. They are not weakness. They tell the truth about what you know.
- An alternative reading (field 6). Another way to explain the same event. It can be a different motive, or it can say "this lens does not fit this event".
- One test question (the last line of field 6). A question whose answer would make the idea stronger or weaker. For example: "Would I have gone quiet if the comment had come by email?" A good test question can be answered from your own next event.
You do not need to decide which idea is true. If you cannot decide, that is a normal result.
What the authors teach
Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes, in The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up, describe a "passion" for each of the nine types. They call the passion the core emotional driver of the type (PDF page 20). Don Riso and Russ Hudson report that Oscar Ichazo assigned the nine passions to the types (PDF page 36). Riso and Hudson also write that the Enneagram "bridges the gap between approaches to personality which emphasize depth psychology and those which emphasize behavior" (PDF page 27).
Both books are teaching traditions. They are the authors' descriptions, not measurements. In 1996, Riso wrote that there was, "at present", no scientific proof for the nine types (PDF page 42). That was his view at that time, not a review of later research. This course found no study in either book that tests the claim that a behaviour comes from one fixed motive. The next lesson shows how each author describes the nine patterns.
Our course rule, not the authors'. You write possible motives only for yourself, and only as possibilities. You never write a motive for another person. You may notice what someone did and said. You may not decide why.
Worked example
Hadeel leads an IT support team. Here is her entry, fields 1 to 6. Fields 7 to 10 stay "not yet".
| Field | Hadeel's entry |
|---|---|
| 1. Date and setting | Tue, IT support office. |
| 2. Fact | On Tuesday afternoon I sent the same colleague three reminders about a file. She had not replied to the first one. Unknown: whether she had seen it. |
| 3. Body, feeling, thought | Tight shoulders. Impatient, maybe worried. Thought: "If this is late, it will be my fault" (a prediction). |
| 4. First reaction | I sent a second reminder after one hour and a third after two. |
| 5. A possible motive | Maybe I wanted to protect the project deadline. |
| 6. An alternative reading | Or maybe I wanted to avoid being the one blamed if the file was late. Or this lens does not fit, and the reminders were routine. Test question: would I have sent three reminders if the file had been for a different team? |
Look at what Hadeel did. The motive is hedged. There are two other readings. The test question can be answered by watching her own next event. She did not write that her colleague was careless, and she did not write "I always do this".
Watch: Motive is not the same as behaviour
A short video (about two minutes) follows Layla, a supervisor who checks a client's monthly figures three times before she sends them. As you watch, notice:
- what a camera could record, and what it could not;
- the two possible motives Layla writes, and the alternative reading she adds;
- the test question she writes, and why she does not have to decide today.
The lesson teaches the same points in text, so it is complete without the video.
Your turn
Do this privately, in your own record. Nobody collects or checks it.
Maha supervises a customer-operations team. Here are the facts for one event.
- On Thursday at 10.00 a.m., in a meeting, Reem (a colleague from another team) said: "I am not sure this plan covers the night shift."
- Maha went quiet.
- That evening she worked until 9.00 p.m. on a revised plan.
- Unknown: whether Reem meant a criticism or a question, and whether the plan really left out the night shift.
Write as if you were Maha, in the first person.
- Write two possible motives for Maha's reaction, in hedged words. Write about Maha only. Do not write a motive for Reem.
- For each motive, write one question that would test it.
- Write one alternative reading. It may be a third motive, or it may say that the lens does not fit this event.
Write your answer before you read the model below.
Check your work. One good answer:
- Motive 1: "Maybe I wanted to protect the plan, and my name on it, from being called incomplete." Test: "If Reem had asked me privately, would I have felt the same pull to go away and fix it?"
- Motive 2: "Maybe I wanted to avoid replying in front of the group before I knew whether she was right." Test: "If the group had been smaller, would I have answered at once?"
- Alternative reading: "Maybe I simply needed time to read the plan again, and this lens does not fit." Test: "Did I work on it because I was worried, or because it was my next task anyway?"
Your answer meets the criteria if:
- each motive is written as a possibility ("maybe", "might") and is about Maha only;
- no motive is written for Reem ("Reem was criticising" is not a fact; nobody knows what she meant);
- each test question can be answered from Maha's own next event, and a different answer would change the idea;
- there is at least one alternative reading ("this lens does not fit" is complete);
- nobody is labelled: Maha is not called "a perfectionist" or "defensive".
A motive cannot be marked right or wrong. Other valid motives include wanting to protect the night-shift staff, wanting to look prepared, not wanting to start a disagreement, or wanting to think before speaking. Answers that do not meet the criteria: "Maha is defensive" (a label stated as fact); "Reem wanted to make Maha look bad" (a motive for someone else); a test question no event could answer, such as "Why am I like this?".
Extra practice (optional)
A week later, in the same meeting, Reem says again: "I am not sure this plan covers the night shift." This time Maha answers at once, "It does. It is on page three," and reads out the page. That evening she works until 9.00 p.m. adding a one-page night-shift summary. Unknown: what Reem meant, and whether the summary was needed.
Write two possible motives for Maha, one test question for each, and one alternative reading.
Key. Motive 1: "Maybe I wanted to show quickly that the plan was complete." Test: "If page three had not covered it, would I have answered as quickly?" Motive 2: "Maybe I wanted to keep Reem's trust in my plan, so I made the night shift easy to see." Test: "Did I add the summary because someone asked, or because I imagined someone would?" Alternative: "Maybe the summary was just useful, and the lens does not fit." Note that the facts say Maha added a page. They do not say the page was needed.
Knowledge check
Which sentence describes a behaviour, not a motive?
Which field 5 entry is written the way this course asks?
A manager writes: 'Maybe I stayed late to protect the deadline.' Which test question helps most?
Answers explained.
- B. A camera could record it, and people who were there would agree on it. A, C and D each describe a reason inside a person, which nobody can see.
- D. It is hedged, it belongs to the writer, and it includes an alternative reading. A is hedged but writes a motive for someone else. B states a motive as certain. C is a label and a claim about a habit.
- A. It can be answered from the manager's own next event, and a different answer would change the idea. B and C ask for a verdict on a person. D is a general question that no single event can settle.
Key takeaways
- Behaviour is what a camera could record. A motive is a possible reason inside a person: an idea to test, not a fact.
- The same behaviour can come from different possible motives, and "this lens does not fit" is a valid answer.
- A good entry has a hedged possible motive (field 5), an alternative reading and one test question (field 6).
- You write motives only for yourself, never for another person.
- Next, Lesson 8 gives you a map of nine patterns of attention, as two authors teach them.
Sources
- Chestnut, B. and Paes, U. (2021) The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up. Hampton Roads Publishing. PDF page 20 (printed page 7): each type chapter describes a "passion" that acts as the core emotional driver of the type. The printed page number is the PDF page minus 13. PDF page 12 is a foreword by other writers and is not used as the authors' own text.
- Riso, D. R. with Hudson, R. (1996) Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery (revised edition). Houghton Mifflin. PDF page 27: the Enneagram "bridges the gap between approaches to personality which emphasize depth psychology and those which emphasize behavior". PDF page 36: Ichazo's assignment of the passions to the types. PDF page 42: in 1996, Riso wrote that there was "at present" no scientific proof for the nine types. PDF page numbers are used because the printed pagination was not checked.
- Rules of this lesson that are ours, not the authors': writing a motive only for yourself and only as a possibility; the three parts of the entry (a possible motive in field 5, then an alternative reading and a test question in field 6); the question "What am I trying to protect?" used as a lens; and "this lens does not fit" as a complete answer. These are this course's design, not tested methods.
- Wejdan, Zaid, Hadeel, Layla, Maha and Reem are this course's own fictional examples, not the authors'.