#404: The Article Club Enneagram

July 27, 2023 Mark Isero

What’s your reading personality type?

Happy Thursday, loyal readers. Thank you for being here.

This week, I have something a bit different for you. Instead of the regular fare of outstanding, thought-provoking articles, let’s delve deeply into our psyches, shall we?

Our reading psyches, that is.

For the first time ever, I’m happy to announce The Article Club Enneagram. Like the traditional Enneagram, which encourages self-knowledge and personal growth, the Article Club Enneagram aims to uncover our authentic reading personalities, especially as they pertain to this publication.

Which type of reader are you? What’s your reading personality type?

Before we dive in, here are a few important caveats:

This is not meant to be serious.
You don’t need to know anything about the traditional Enneagram.
Your Article Club “reading personality type” by no means defines how you are as a reader overall (or in a different context).

All right, I think we’re ready! Let’s take a look at the Article Club reading personality types.

Big thanks to loyal reader Peter for the illustration, using his new original (and beautiful) typeface, Peasy.

You’ll notice that like the traditional Enneagram, there are nine reading personality types — ranging from “The Blurber” (#1) all the way to “The Supporter” (#9). My sense is that even without reading the descriptions of each personality type, you might already lean toward two or three of the categories.

Important: One type is not “better” than another. (My Enneagram friends say that every single number is stressful!)

Which way you lean, of course, likely depends on many factors, including:

how long you’ve been a subscriber
whether you know me personally
if you’re an introvert or an extrovert
if you like the articles and topics I choose
how much time you can cobble together to read
and more

Do you have an initial idea as to which type of reader you are, just from the titles? If so, that’s great. But most of us will need to go a little deeper to determine our true Article Club reading personality type.

To help with that process, I wrote up descriptions of each type, with the help of loyal reader Ben, an eight-year subscriber. Please take a look.

Big thanks to loyal reader Ben for his help with the words. Big thanks to loyal reader Peter for the illustration. Isn’t Peasy beautiful?

Is everything becoming clearer now? Have you landed on one reader type that you’re certain of? Or are you choosing between two types? Maybe you’re a 2 during the school year and a 5 in the summers? Or you aspire to be a 1, but right now, because of Life, you’re an 8? Please take your time — there’s no right answer. Only you know.

(Now, I’m pretty sure the traditional Enneagram people would say it’s not possible to be more than one number, or to “change” personalities. My response to this is, here at Article Club, let’s do whatever we want!)

Most importantly: Whichever reading personality type you are, I am very happy that you’re here. At Article Club, there’s room for everyone. 📚

All right, it’s time: Which type of reader are you?

You are 100% not obligated to share your Article Club reading personality type with anyone, but I warmly invite you to do so! All you need to do is click the button below. Feel free to share your number and say a little bit about why you chose it. It’d be great to hear from many of you. I’m very eager to see where we all stand.