Core Need/Motivation

To be good, to avoid being at fault.

How the Type Meets Those Needs

Type Ones are conscientious, ethical, controlled, and principled. They are guided by a strong sense of right and wrong. Although they understand that there is gray in the world, they tend to take the gray and distill it into black and white in order to get back to improving themselves and the world around them. Most type ones have a strong inner voice that is often a critic and sometimes a coach that regularly points out where they have fallen short and how they can improve. This is why getting negative feedback can be hard for this type, as they already carry an awareness of where they fall short. External criticism feels like a piling on.

The idealism of the type tells them that if they work hard enough, they can reach that elusive goal of perfection and can finally rest. Because they see what needs improvement, they feel it is their responsibility to make that improvement. They can’t rest until the job is done and done right.

This type can create order from chaos. Because they have an undying belief that anything and anyone can improve, they do improve themselves, others around them, and excel at work.

Type Ones often describe desires and emotions brewing underneath that need to be repressed lest they lead them to doing something wrong. However, this constant internal compression becomes unsustainable and often is then expressed in some indulgence.

Their sense of right and wrong emerges from their gut but immediately makes its way to the head, where they justify and rationalize their decisions, often neglecting or compartmentalizing the emotional center. The core emotion of the One is anger, which drives the type into action but is often repressed, coming out as resentment or frustration.

The Gifts of the 1

The gifts of the One are many. They can walk into a chaotic situation and create order and efficiencies in their environment. They are reliable. If they are asked to complete a task, they do, and they get it done as near to perfection as possible. Because they are self-improvement oriented, they bring the belief in and practice of improvement to the world around them.

Copyright The Art of Growth, 2021