Human design is not a predictive system. It doesn’t tell us definitively the specific career we should pursue or the purpose we should have; instead, it lets us know the most aligned path to discover those answers for ourselves. I believe the latter is far more empowering than the former.
So, let’s dive into which pieces of human design can be used to help us align with our purpose. I’ll use my own chart as an example.
The first piece to look at is your type.
Your type reveals how you can best express your energy in the world. This helps you know how to lean into your gifts and use your energy to have the impact you’re meant to.
For instance, as a Projector, I am here to be a teacher and guide. My gifts are my perspective and innate wisdom about people, not how much I do. I will find the most alignment in my career when I honor the natural ebbs and flows of my energy and take rest when I need, rather than trying to keep up and do, do, do.
As a Projector, I am a natural learner and may love mastering a craft or system, especially a system that deepens my natural understanding of people. I am at my best when I balance time sharing my gifts with time to learn, study and continue to master my craft.
For me, this has looked like studying and sharing human design, a system that is all about deepening our understanding of ourselves and those we love, as well as building a business that allows me to do what I do best and gives me space to honor the natural ebbs and flows of my energy and inspiration.
The next piece to look at is your strategy.
Your strategy reveals how to create the most aligned opportunities in your career and life. This helps you navigate your career with more flow and less resistance.
For instance, my strategy as a Projector is to wait to be invited and recognized. The right opportunities for me do not come when I chase after specific opportunities and force my gifts on those who are not ready. Rather, they emerge when I make myself visible and share my gifts broadly, allowing the right people to resonate with my energy and invite me to share my perspective and insights with them. The right opportunities for me are the ones that make me feel deeply recognized, known and seen for my unique gifts.
For me, this has looked like sharing my perspective on Instagram, with my newsletter, on podcasts and at events, and allowing myself and my work to be seen.
The next piece to look at is your authority.
Your authority reveals how you’re meant to make decisions. It helps you assess which opportunities are right for you and how to know the right timing to pursue them.
For instance, I am a Wait for Clarity (Emotional) authority. The right opportunities for me in my career are the ones I not only love in the moment, but that I love over time. They are the ones that continue to feel right as days pass and that I begin to feel a clear, calm knowing around. They are the ones I enter from a calm, settled place, not an emotional or nervous one.
For me, this has looked like giving myself a beat before saying yes to new opportunities, and to never say yes to commitments in the heat of the moment. I give myself time for my emotions to settle. As annoying as waiting can feel, I’ve learned it’s always worth it. I tend to regret and need to back out of the ones I rush into.
The next piece to look at is your signature and not-self.
Your signature and not-self are tools to help you stay in alignment in your career and beyond.
For instance, my signature as a Projector is success and my not-self is bitterness. When I am in alignment in my career and purpose, I feel successful. When I am out of alignment and something needs to shift, I feel bitter.
For me, success comes when I feel recognized and appreciated for my gifts. I feel known. Invitations to share my gifts abound. I feel well-compensated for what I’m sharing with the world. My perspective feels valued and respected. My insights are taken seriously.
I use the feeling of success as a reminder I’m right on track. I use the feeling of bitterness as a reminder to check in and see what needs to shift.
The next piece to look at is your profile.
Your profile reveals the most aligned path towards aligning with your purpose and how best to share your work with the world.
For instance, I have a 6/2 profile. With a 2 in my profile, my greatest gifts are the ones that feel innate and natural to me. I can study all the things I want about human design (which I have and will continue to do), but what makes me great at what I do is my ability to do it in the way that just feels like me, even if it’s not how my teachers have done it. For me, that looks like sharing human design in a simple, grounded, empowering and practical way.
As a 2, I’ve also learned I can’t always explain my own gifts and the right clients and collaborators are the ones that just see my gifts without needing me to explain them. This has helped me discern who are the right collaborators and clients for me.
With a 6 in my profile, I have 3 phases to my career. My first 30 years were meant to be a time of tremendous trial and error and experimentation; it wasn’t meant to be a time to figure it all out or land in one solid career or business. 30-50 is now a time for me to see my career from a higher perspective, to process all I’ve been through, and to double down my energy on what’s working. 50 is when I’m meant to share my wisdom with the world in a bigger, broader way, and when I begin to have a greater impact by living my own authenticity so fully.
For me, I discovered human design when I was 25. I started and closed my first human design business by 27 as the form it was in didn’t feel right. At 28, I began my own practice, experimenting once again with how to build a business in a way that felt sustainable and with the right partner. At 29, I finally landed on a business that worked. Ever since then, I’ve continued to dial into what works and step into sharing my gifts in bigger and bigger ways.
The next piece to look at is your undefined and open centers (if you have them.)
Your undefined centers reveal the greatest lessons you are here to learn in your career as well as where you are here to become wise and teach from.
For instance, I have an undefined ego and sacral center. With an undefined ego, I’ve learned the right career decisions are never meant to be driven by a need to prove myself, and I am here to help others navigate worthiness, reminding them they’re enough.
With an undefined sacral, I’ve learned I am susceptible to overworking and not knowing when to stop. I am here to show the world a more sustainable, easeful way of success, and to help others know how to work in a way that feels sustainable and right to them.
The next piece to look at is your channels (if you have them.)
Your channels are your innate strengths. Knowing what they are allows you to lean into them even more.
For instance, I have the 32-54 (Ambition), 43-23 (Knowing), 13-33 (Witnessing), 61-24 (Inspiration), and 41-30 (Imagination) channels. I’ve learned I have a powerful drive to be successful and have a big impact, and my greatest impact will come not when I’m working alone, but with the right allies around me. I’ve learned I am here to be on the cutting-edge of things and bring new systems and ways of seeing things into the world (hello human design!). I’ve learned one of my greatest gifts is my ability to listen to others and synthesize their stories in a way that creates wisdom for all of us. I’ve learned I’m here to bring powerful insights into the world and those insights come when I create space to be quiet and listen. I’ve learned I’m a natural dreamer and have a gift for inspiring possibility and hope in others.
The next piece to look at is what’s called your sun gate. This is the top right gate in your chart (photo example below!)
Your sun gate will not tell you how to achieve or find your purpose, but rather, what it may look like once you begin to align with it.
Mine is gate 23. This is the gift of communicating innovative insights and new ways of thinking into the world. It’s about learning to simplify all that I know in a way that makes sense to others. For me, this has looked like simplifying the complexity of human design in a way that actually lands for people.
…And this, if you can even believe it, is just the beginning.
If you’d like to explore how to use human design to align with your purpose, your Blueprint Guide is the perfect place. It dives into all of these pieces of your specific design (with the exception of the sun gate) and more.
