Do You Know Your Archetype?

Greetings! Today we're taking a look at archetypes.

The term "archetype" means original pattern in ancient Greek.?

Jung used the concept of archetype in his theory of the human psyche.?

He identified 12 universal, mythic character archetypes within our collective unconscious.

Jung defined twelve primary types that represent the range of fundamental human motivations, traits and challenges.

Generally, each of us tends to have one archetype that dominates our personality.

At the same time, our dominant archetype may shift with the various roles and relationships and in different seasons of our lives.

As you review the following information, consider enhancing your strengths and improving the challenge areas.

In your role as leaders, when you seek to guide, mentor or manage, consider utilizing the framework to reassure and impart the best of themselves.

The 12 Archetypes

Ruler

Creator/Artist

Sage

Innocent

Explorer

Rebel

Hero

Wizard

Jester

Everyman

Lover

Caregiver

Within these 12 designations, four subgroups further categorize foundations, characteristics, and drives.

The Four main designations that the archetypes tend to express, embody and strive for are:

Ego – Leave a Mark on the World

Order – Provide Structure to the World

Social – Connect to others

Freedom – Yearn for Paradise

The 12 archetypes are further grouped into three types that reference where they fall within the psychological and existential models.

The Ego Types

The Innocent

Motto: Free to be you and me

Core desire: to get to paradise

Goal: to be happy

Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong

Strategy: to do things right

Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence

Talent: faith and optimism

The Everyman

Motto: All men and women are created equal

Core Desire: connecting with others

Goal: to belong

Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd

Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch

Weakness: losing one's self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships

Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretense

The Hero

Motto: Where there's a will, there's a way

Core desire: to prove one's worth through courageous acts

Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world

Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a "chicken"

Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible

Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight

Talent: competence and courage

The Caregiver

Motto: Love your neighbor as yourself

Core desire: to protect and care for others

Goal: To help others

Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude

Strategy: doing things for others

Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited

Talent: compassion, generosity

The Soul Types

The Explorer

Motto: Don't fence me in

Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world

Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life

Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness

Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom

Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit

Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one's soul

The Rebel

Motto: Rules are made to be broken

Core desire: revenge or revolution

Goal: to overturn what isn't working

Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual

Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock

Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime

Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom

The Lover

Motto: You're the only one

Core desire: intimacy and experience

Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love

Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved

Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive

Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity

Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment

The Creator/Artist

Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done

Core desire: to create things of enduring value

Goal: to realize a vision

Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution

Strategy: develop artistic control and skill

Task: to create culture, own express vision

Weakness: perfectionism, poor solutions

Talent: creativity and imagination

The Self Types

The Jester

Motto: You only live once

Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment

Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world

Greatest fear: being bored or boring others

Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny

Weakness: frivolity, wasting time

Talent: joy

The Sage

Motto: The truth will set you free

Core desire: to find the truth.

Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world

Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance

Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection, and understanding thought processes.

Weakness: can study details forever and never act.

Talent: wisdom, intelligence.

The Magician

Motto: I make things happen.

Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe

Goal: to make dreams come true

Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences

Strategy: develop a vision and live by it

Weakness: becoming manipulative

Talent: finding win-win solutions

The Ruler

Motto: Power isn't everything; it's the only thing

Core desire: control

Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community

Strategy: exercise power

Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown

Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate

Talent: responsibility, leadership