Enneagram 3 and 8 Relationship (TYPE 3 & TYPE 8)

Are you interested in the Enneagram 3 and 8 relationship? This guide is for you!

Enneagram Type 3 – The Successful Motivator

Mover and Shaker, High Achiever, Strives for Best Results, Producer, Super Person

Enneagram Type 8 – The Vigilant Contender

Leader of the Pack, Champ, Boss, In Control, Nonconformist

Type 3 & 8 Core Patterns

While Type Eights are passionate, intense people who wholly embody whatever they focus on, Threes are similarly hard-working, driven individuals.

Both personality types tend to be assertive, but this also implies a tendency toward being controlling or demanding.

Threes and Eights decide they want something and do everything possible to attain it. As a couple, they possess an unrestrained demeanor.

Values Shared by Types 3 & 8

Types 3 & 8 have many similar traits, especially regarding work ethics, energy, and job achievements.

Threes and Eights both place a lot of value on being consistent, on working hard, on being assertive and on building a wide circle of friends and business associates.

Both types are eager to get what they desire and are not afraid to go after it.

Threes and Eights are attracted to others who are similarly go-getters, and these people comprise the majority of their social circle.

How Types 3 & 8 Complement Each Other

The end result is what Types 3 & 8 value over the process it took to get there.

They can be unstoppable when they work together, so competition with them is useless.

This is a team that is action-oriented, practical, and hard-working. They are also fully dedicated to getting a job done.

Since Threes are adaptable, and Eights are very forceful, this team experiences a lot of success and forward movement in their endeavors.

When a Type 3 and a Type 8 are in a personal relationship, there is endless potential for a melding of their strengths and remarkable characteristics to result in something exceptional.

Type Eights are solidly strong, which causes their Type Three partners to feel safe emotionally.

Both are able to communicate with one another on a deep level and to really open up emotionally.

Types Eights can relax with their Type Three partners and count on them to take over when necessary.

Each provides what the other needs to stay firmly planted in the world.

Each helps the other feel more relaxed and easy-going when they are together.

Each offers the other the reassurance he or she needs to get by every day.

The heartfelt sincerity and passion possessed by the Type Eight personality serve as inspiration to Type Three, who feel safe enough in their presence to put their feelings on the line.

Eights love it that Type Threes can rise to meet virtually any challenge that they set before them, and this instills greater trust in one another from both sides.

Type Threes are excellent readers of social cues. They engage well with others and are pros at social networking.

Eights bring a fearlessness to the table that, combined with Type Three’s social prowess, creates a strong, dynamic couple.

Both of these personality types are driven to succeed and combine their urge to do so, there is simply no stopping them.

Neither sets limits for him or herself, and both have a high-achieving attitude.

How a Type 3 and 8 Pairing Can Get Into Trouble

The most painful manner in which a Type 3 and Type 8 pairing can get into trouble is when they find themselves facing a power struggle.

Threes can be outrageously power-hungry at times. They can be overly ambitious and manipulative as well.

Couple this with a Type Eight’s bossiness, controlling attitude, and sometimes-demanding demeanor and trouble can ensue when one feels dominant over the other.

Both of these types are capable of feeling tremendously competitive at times. When Eights become too confrontational for comfort.

Type Threes can seemingly morph themselves into chameleons whose ideals are completely different from what they might have been the day before.

Threes can manipulate their way into strategies that can leave Eights flailing in the wake of destruction if that’s what they want.

However, this is a rare occurrence. Generally speaking, this is a very compatible couple.

Eights are not willing to forfeit their control without a fight, especially when they are certain that they deserve to have that control.

Any time it feels threatening, Eights will make certain that their Type Three partners know about it.

Eights will go at them as one partner is highly suspicious of the other, and Threes will begin to suffer from the slings and arrows of Eight’s very obvious anger.

Since Threes are a part of the image triad, they will attempt to change themselves to deflect the effects of Eight’s anger, but this does not always work.

The best policy is that Type Threes not challenge Type Eights in the power dynamic.

Trouble can also arise for a Type Three and Type Eight couple when each encourages the other’s tendency to be a workaholic.

They sometimes do this to avoid one another during stressful times, thinking that by keeping the other partner busy, they won’t have to face the reality of the issues that arise.

Type Threes are unable to express anger in the same ways that their Type Eight partners can.

This can cause Threes to feel worthless and can trigger them at times.

When not in check, it can begin a downward spiral of coping patterns that are not conducive to a healthy relationship.

This pattern can cause emotional pain and stress for Type Eights and send them into their own brand of self-destructive behaviors.

This can cause a painful rift between the two from which they might not recover as a couple.

While possible, it is not probability to happen.

What Types 3 and 8 need to be aware of

When Types 3 & 8 embark upon a relationship, Type Threes seldom understand, at first, how important honesty, fairness, and loyalty are to their Type Eight partners.

A Type Three wishes for a fully reciprocal relationship with a Type Eight; these things must be practiced until they are second nature so that they occur without even thinking about them.

Eights may, at times, appear to be short-tempered tyrants, but they are usually like frightened children on the inside.

Threes should learn not to allow Type Eight’s intensity or quick temper to sway them.

Type Eights do this to cover negative feelings of being vulnerable or sad.

Type Eights should be aware of Type Three’s emotional shape-shifting nature that enables them to modify their personality, according to whoever is around at the moment.

At first, Eights will have trouble seeing beyond what they believe to be sheer manipulation or duplicitous behavior.

But the heart of a Three is purer than it can appear.

They can be performers, but this is because, like Type Eight, Threes can have low confidence and diminishing self-esteem.

Therefore, Eights should be careful about addressing their Type Three partners and opt for the path of understanding first and foremost if they want things to work out between them.

Type Threes should also learn to hold back when speaking out against their Type Eight partners’ behavior.

Type Three’s tendency to take things personally can come back to haunt them if they aren’t careful about their own responses.

They should learn to respond from the heart rather than the center of their emotional sensitivities.

How Types 3 and 8 can support one another

The best way for a Type 3 to support his or her Type 8 partner is to be conducive to Eight’s tendency to address them with frank honesty.

While this can be offputting on the surface, it can lead to better things, when taken at face value.

Eights cannot tolerate being left out of anything, nor can they stand being lied to.

Type Threes should know not ever to do these things, even when telling the whole truth proves to be very uncomfortable.

This is what it takes to make a Type Eight feel at ease.

The best way for a Type Eight to support a Type Three is to avoid making assumptions about his or her behavior when the “emotional shape shifting” takes place.

It is best to stand by and take a look at the Type Three’s motivations for this and to understand that it is sometimes motivated by factors that are simply crying out for security and reassurance.

Conclusion

Type 3s and 8s can form beautiful partnerships once certain obstacles have been circumvented.

Type Eights can seem like gruff trolls from outward appearance when they are angry or feel slighted.

However, Type Threes can usually see beyond this and into their true teddy-bear hearts.

Type Threes can become chameleons when trapped in a corner, but the Type 8 pairing can help them overcome this tendency and develop into more direct individuals.

Eights comprise the pragmatic side of the relationship, and Threes are the partners who direct the romantic possibilities that lie within.

Each person has qualities that the other partner does not have but can use these deficits to instill valuable life lessons that increase each person’s happiness.

A Type 3 & 8 pairing is a highly-energized, hardworking couple with the potential to accomplish a lot of good in the world.

They are a couple to be envied for their closeness, good nature, and compatibility when things run smoothly.

Stress can transpire, but its results do not usually last very long.

This is generally a long-lasting couple full of possibilities.

Here are guides to Type 3 relationships with other types: