Attention all work-from-home people! If you’re like me, your brain goes numb around 2 pm and the days bleed into each other until you’re working one giant mega-day.

It sucks.

That’s why you can use the Enneagram to make your days just a little easier. Find your type and work from home tips below! 👇🏼

Work from Home Tips for Your Enneagram Type

Enneagram Type 1: The Reformer

Working from home is NOT for the weak. It requires structure, discipline, and the ability to manage your time. This, my friends, is where Enneagram Ones SHINE. You’re naturally good at creating systems, routines, and order, which gives you a huge advantage in a work-from-home environment.

But there are a few traps to watch out for.

• First, perfectionism. When you work from home, there’s no office environment to humanize your day. No quick chats, no laughing off small mistakes with coworkers. It’s just you, your to-do list, and your very high standards. So mistakes can start to feel bigger than they actually are
• Forgive yourself. You have to learn to give yourself the grace that other people usually give you. An incomplete checklist or a typo in an email is not a moral failure. Nothing has gone horribly wrong. The world will keep spinning.
• Don’t try to do it all yourself! When you work from home, it’s very easy to slip into “I’ll just do it” mode. You’re working, you notice the dishes, you start the laundry, you answer emails, you fix a problem that wasn’t your responsibility, and now you’re doing five people’s jobs and feeling resentful that no one else is doing as much as you. The key here is delegation and boundaries. Just because you can do everything doesn’t mean you should.

Enneagram Type 2: The Helper

Type Twos are relationship-oriented people. You get energy from interaction, appreciation, and feeling connected to others. So working from home can be surprisingly hard, because you lose the built-in social environment that offices naturally provide.

When Twos work from home too long without enough people time, they can start to feel unappreciated, disconnected, or a little bit invisible. And when Twos feel unappreciated, they tend to overgive — answering messages immediately, being available all the time, saying yes to everything — hoping someone will notice and value them.

Here are some tactics to help you manage this:

• Be intentional about connection instead of waiting for it to happen naturally. Stack up those coffee dates, join a class, a gym, a group, anything. Just do anything that gets you around people on a regular basis.
• And while you’re home, use the extra flexibility to do things that make you feel happy and nurtured, not just productive. Make your space cozy. Nurture an indoor jungle or adopt a cat! Cook meals you actually like. Twos do really well when their environment feels warm and alive.

Enneagram Type 3: The Achiever

Enneagram 3s see-saw between working their butts off and then crashing into numbness when stress gets too overwhelming.

In an office, there are natural stopping points. People leave. The office closes. Someone tells you “good job.” There’s structure, recognition, and accountability built in.

However, at home, you have no accountability. Nobody gives you praise that feeds your sense of worth, and no one tells you to take it easy when you’re on your third all-nighter. The biggest danger for Threes working from home is that work never turns off. Your laptop is right there. Your phone is right there. There is always more you could do. So here’s what I suggest:

• Create artificial boundaries: Put your phone to bed by getting a brick or developing healthy phone habits! Shut down your computer at a certain time. Decide what “enough work for today” looks like before the day starts.
• Prioritize time for hobbies. Connecting to your inner child and doing something creative is the key to preventing burnout. Especially for Threes! Here’s a blog post I wrote about this, where I spent a week researching cozy hobbies that can heal and recharge you.

Enneagram Type 4: The Individualist

Enneagram 4s thrive when they feel like their work has meaning and their gifts are being used. So whether you’re working from home or in an office isn’t really the main issue. The real issue is this: Do you feel inspired by your life, or stuck in a gray, boring routine?

When 4s work from home, the lack of stimulation and change can start to feel boring. The days blur together, everything feels the same, and motivation drops fast. So the goal for 4s working from home is to create an environment that keeps you feeling alive, inspired, and creative. So…

• Creative output is KEY (especially if your job is not creative). Spend time doing creative things every day! Writing, painting, decorating, photography, music, baking, making YouTube videos, rearranging your entire house for no reason — it all counts. If you don’t create, you will start to feel stuck.
• Also: sleep. This is not optional. I love this video about how to sleep better for the rest of your life. I don’t know about you, but when I’m tired, everything feels worse than it actually is. A consistent sleep schedule will do more for your mental health than almost anything else.
  

Enneagram Type 5: The Investigator

Type Fives might secretly love working from home. No unnecessary meetings, no office small talk, no one popping by your desk every 20 minutes. No last-minute meetings that definitely should be an email. You get to think, research, and work ALONE… exactly how you like it. 😊 But here are a few things to watch out for:

• Energy management: You need predictability. You thrive within known expectations. Make sure you are ultra-clear on your to-do list for the week so that you know just how much energy you need to conserve each day.
• Comfort: A lot of Fives grew up feeling like they didn’t get to take up much space, have many needs, or want too much. So they learn to live with very little and expect very little. But guess what? Your wants are not a problem or inconvenience. You’re allowed to be comfortable. Ask your work for a second monitor. Buy the good desk chair. Make your workspace cozy and functional.

Enneagram Type 6: The Loyalist

Type Sixes are the troubleshooters of the Enneagram. You naturally see what could go wrong, and you prepare for it before anyone else even notices the problem. This makes you incredibly valuable on a team.

But working from home can be hard for Sixes because there’s less immediate feedback, less reassurance, and more room for your mind to run in circles. You might find yourself second-guessing decisions, overthinking emails, or worrying that you’re doing something wrong even when you’re doing just fine. So your overall goal when working from home is to create certainty and calm.

• Break your work into very small, clear steps, so you always know what “done” looks like.
• Over-communicate with your team so you don’t sit at home wondering if you’re on the right track.
• And this might sound random, but it helps a lot: give your brain a break from stimulation. Read something boring. Go on walks without a podcast. Your mind is in constant overdrive. It helps to calm your central nervous system.

Enneagram Type 7: The Enthusiast

Type Sevens are energized by new ideas, new people, new plans, and new experiences. Offices can actually be great for Sevens because there’s always something happening, someone to talk to, somewhere to go.

So when Sevens work from home and every day starts to look the same, they can get bored fast. And when Sevens get bored, they get restless, distracted, and sometimes a little bit depressed.

So your goal working from home is simple: make sure life still feels fun and interesting.

• Get outside every day! Take a walk, look at plants, wave at people from across the street. Soak up that Vitamin D!
• Something else important for Sevens: You don’t have to monetize every hobby or turn every interest into a business idea. You are allowed to have hobbies that exist purely because you enjoy them.

Enneagram Type 8: The Challenger

Type Eights are high-energy, action-oriented people. You like making decisions, moving things forward, solving problems, and getting results. Sitting still all day behind a computer can start to make you feel restless and trapped.

Eights also tend to work very hard, so when you combine a strong work ethic with a work-from-home environment where work never really “ends,” it can turn into workaholism pretty quickly. So here are two big things you can do when working from home:

• It’s important for you to be on the same page as the rest of the team! Make sure you are very clear on what’s expected of you and what authority you actually have. Eights get frustrated when expectations are vague or when they feel micromanaged from a distance. Clear roles and clear goals make everything smoother.
• You need to move your body every day. I know you hate it when people tell you what to do, but this is a non-negotiable for Eights. Walk while you take calls. Exercise after work. Lift weights, run, do something physical. Many Eights say physical exertion is the only time their mind actually quiets down.

Enneagram Type 9: The Peacemaker

Type Nines tend to get their energy and sense of identity from the people around them. So working from home can actually be surprisingly hard, because you’re alone a lot more and there’s less structure to your day.

When Nines work from home, two things tend to happen:

1. The days blur together.
2. Work and rest start to blend into one long, vague day where you’re kind of working and kind of resting but not fully doing either.

So structure and environment matter a lot for Nines.

• Make a clear separation of work space and relaxing home space. Even if it’s just a specific desk or a specific corner, your brain needs to know: “When I’m here, I’m working. When I’m there, I’m off.”
• Voice your preferences! When you work from home, it’s easier to stay quiet, go along with what everyone else wants, and not speak up in meetings or messages. But the more you disappear, the more disconnected and unmotivated you’ll feel. It is not selfish to say what you want, what you think, or what works best for you.

I hope these tips make your work-from-home life a little easier and a little more enjoyable. Working from home can be amazing, but only if you understand what you, specifically, need in order to function well.
♥️

If you aren’t sure what your Enneagram type is, I have a free typing guide here.