Living in Alignment: The Power of Human Design in Career and Life Decisions

In this enlightening conversation, I interview career mentor Samantha about human design and its application in career development and personal growth. Samantha explains how human design, a system that uses birth information to reveal individual energetic blueprints, can help people understand their natural strengths and make better decisions in their professional and personal lives.

The discussion covers topics such as burnout prevention, workplace flexibility, and the importance of aligning one's career with one's innate energy type. This interview offers valuable insights for anyone looking to improve their work-life balance and find more satisfaction in their career path.

You can reach out to Samantha from Illume Careers via her website or her Instagram.

Thanks for tuning in, Honey x

You can check out my bio here.

Transcript from YouTube Video

Honey:

Hello everyone, I'm here to chat with Samantha from Alum Careers. She's a career mentor and bases a lot of her career advice around the concepts of human design. I first heard about human design through Danny Gardner and have done a few online courses with her. I've only learned some basic things about my human design numbers, so I thought it'd be a great chance to get someone on that knows much more about it. Samantha and I have met before, I've taken her portraits, and our children go to school together. I thought she'd be a great person to help us understand better how we can use it in our business and life. Thank you for coming on, Samantha.

Samantha:

Thank you for having me.

Honey

I'd love to know a brief overview of how you got to where you are now as a career advisor and that viewpoint of human design.

Samantha:

I started as a career consultant working in tertiary education at a local university. I did that for about six years and loved it. I still really love that aspect of my work. With motherhood, it's easier to run your own show and be your own boss. I wanted to have more time with my second daughter, so I went out on my own, doing the same career consulting but focusing more on workplace wellbeing. As I went into the world of burnout recovery, having gone through burnout myself, that was the motivator to help support people who are at that breaking point or struggling with feeling stretched thin, especially being a mother of two.

That added to my motivation that there has to be an easier way to balance all of this and show up. As I was looking at nervous system support tools and modalities, I came across human design. When I first heard about it, I thought, "What is this? This is bizarre." But something about it drew me in. I needed to understand how it applies and how it works.

The great thing about human design is they refer to it as an experiment. When you first see your chart and start learning about your human design, they talk about engaging in an experiment and becoming more aware and observant about how you show up in relationships and different situations.

I experimented with it myself. When I started seeing shifts in my personal life, mostly in my relationships with my partner and family members, I realized there was something to this. I started introducing it into my work with clients. The feedback I got was that this is really helpful. It was making a difference not just in their work life and career decisions, but also in their whole world and personal life. They realized it's all connected; anything to do with career is related. They found that it shifts not only the way they show up but also how they approach relationships and their empathy for others. When I noticed this was really making waves and was valuable, I integrated it into my offerings and have been delving down the rabbit hole of human design ever since.

Honey:

That's fantastic. I only know briefly what I've Googled and put my details in to find out what I am. As soon as I read it, I thought, "Oh yeah, that sounds exactly like me." For people who are listening who have heard about human design being mentioned, could you give a brief overview of what it's about in layman's terms and how people can find out more about it if they're interested?

Samantha:

Human design uses your date, time, and place of birth to reveal your unique energetic blueprint. This is essentially how you're wired or designed to thrive. It can be used as a tool for personal development, self-understanding, and transformation. It applies to every aspect of your life, and you'll notice shifts and changes in all aspects, career and personal life.

It's particularly helpful in areas like entering relationships, understanding what types of relationships are good for you, what kind of connections you're designed to have, and the environments that are healthy for you. This is really good when looking at workplaces, especially with burnout and people feeling stuck. Often, it's a case of being in environments that aren't actually healthy for them.

Making decisions is a big part of it, as well as creating opportunities, which is especially important for people running a business. The reason human design is becoming more popular lately is that it's about returning to your true nature. We're given a visual map, a body graph of how our energy flows and interacts with others. When you have this body chart, it's almost like being given permission to trust yourself.

In today's context, we can't escape messaging about how to run a business, gain more followers, be a better parent, or show up better in relationships. With human design, the message is that you have a unique way of showing up in the world, and energetically it's going to feel correct for you if you're following your natural design.

It gives you permission to recognize that what worked for someone else won't necessarily work for you. That's what I love about it – it empowers individuals to trust themselves and understand that even if something worked well for someone else, if you're trying it and it's not in your natural design, you're potentially going to meet a lot of resistance. I've seen a big difference with clients who have embraced themselves and returned to their natural gifts.

Honey:

That really resonates with me. I listen to a lot of business podcasts and people online, and it's often business-related tips on how to be better, what things you should have on your website, what you should be signed up for, how often you should show up on social media, you should be consistent, all that sort of stuff. Once I was reading and learned a little bit more about human design, I realized that feeling you get when you hear this advice and your body goes, "That's okay." That person may be operating on a very different level to you, and for them, that excites them, but for me, I don't have to do what everybody tells me is the right thing to do. It feels less woo-woo and more like, "Okay, my body is telling me, and I'm just giving it permission to actually listen to it."

Samantha:

And that is one of the things the system encourages – reconnecting with your bodily awareness. We're in our heads so much, overthinking things and constantly wondering, "What's the next logical step?" But this system shows you that there's a way to drop back into your body. What you were saying before about looking at Substack as an option for your business and feeling that something just felt right – that's a sacral response. There are five different energy types, and you're a generator. That feeling within the sacral, within that body response, is body wisdom. Learning to trust that is going to be really correct for you and following that. You'll find a lot more flow and ease when you trust that.

Each of the different energy types within human design has their own approach to interacting and creating opportunities. Imagine how empowered everyone would feel if they knew they could trust that.

Honey

Because we're not told to trust it.

Samantha:

No, we're told to do what we're told. Conform and push through.

Honey:

Push through. If you just push harder, you weren't pushing hard enough last time. You're not trying hard enough.

Samantha:

Fit it all in and burn yourself out. You just have to keep going.

Honey:

Exactly.

Samantha:

That's the thing. We see all these examples of people who are successful, and we're told, "If you just follow this formula, then this will be the outcome and this will be the success."

Honey:

And it's rubbish, their formula. Even then, you still don't see the whole picture about the result of that formula long term. Success in one area, but how's the rest of your life going?

Samantha:

Exactly.

Honey:

I'd love to know, in your business as far as human design principles go and career advice for other small business owners out there, how would you recommend the best way to implement the changes if you start reading about it? I was reading through your website, and you have consults. How do you bridge that first gap of having the understanding and then trying to weave it into your life? Do you have any tips for that?

Samantha:

When you first see your chart, it can feel a little overwhelming because there's so much detail and information. There are a lot of layers to human design. I can see how people, myself included, when I first saw my chart, thought, "What is going on here? What is this?"

Essentially, the way I help clients integrate it into their lives is by seeing it as a navigation system. It's a unique navigation system tailored for them. There are five main energy types, which is how your aura works. For each of these types, there's a strategy. I would begin there. That would be a good starting place.

You're experimenting with how this works and how it shows up. There are signposts for when you're off track and signposts for when you are on track. For each energy type, you've got these little flags to say, "Hey, this is not how you're meant to be using your energy. This is what you're going to be feeling. You need to get back on track." Then, if you are experiencing your signature, which is your sign that you are on track, that's when you're going to really experience that sense of flow. Things are just going to come naturally and feel a bit more easy.

For example, I'm a projector, which is one of the energy types. The signpost that I'm off track is bitterness. When I leave a relationship, conversation, or work meeting feeling bitter, unheard, or unseen, that's an incorrect relationship or situation for me. That's a sign that I need to adjust something – that person wasn't good for me, that situation wasn't good for me, I didn't feel seen, I didn't feel invited.

The sign that I'm using my energy correctly is success. It's not necessarily success as we typically think of it, but it could be that we've given our guidance or opinion, shared our insights, and someone has taken it on board, or we've been able to help make things more efficient or run more smoothly. That feels successful for us when we felt heard and seen.

You're a generator, so generators and manifesting generators make up 70% of the population. When you are off track, you'll feel a sense of frustration. This is probably very familiar to you – when things aren't working, there's this deep sense of frustration. Often it's because generators are such creative beings; when they can't put their creativity into what they want to be doing or the way they want to be doing it, they become really frustrated.

Honey:

Sounds familiar.

Samantha:

There are a lot of frustrated generators in the world. You'll know that it becomes a very familiar feeling. Generators are meant to expend this creative energy, and if they haven't done that, they often go to bed feeling this frustration. That's not healthy for them to be doing that, especially long-term.

The sign that they're on track is satisfaction – a real deep sense of satisfaction. That's because they're putting this enormous creative energy into something they want to be focusing on. For generators, it's about dropping out of the mind what they should be doing or the way they've been told to do it. That's really incorrect for generators and really unhealthy. They need to drop back into what they feel, what lights them up in their gut, and follow that. Where are they having that response?

Each of the energy types has these signposts to help keep you guided. I start with that with clients to get them familiar with what it feels like and where they're noticing it in their lives, certain relationships, or aspects of their job.

Honey:

Do you think that for most people, when you do start mapping that stuff out, it's a fairly instant "Oh, right, yeah, this does sound like me"? Or do some people meet it with resistance like, "Oh, that doesn't sound like me at all"?

Samantha:

Generally, there's an inner knowing that people will relate to and see, "Yeah, I have noticed that," or "I have been feeling that." Often when I do a chart reading for people, there's not a lot of shocking information. It's almost like a remembering of, "Oh yeah, I've always known that about myself."

Honey:

That I've never trusted. That's a good description. Remembering – that's exactly how it felt when I read it. I was like, "Ah, yeah, yep. And that's me." And that's also how I've been told how intolerant I am when I'm really off track creatively. Everyone that loves me around me can see that I'm just not at all in my place. It's interesting that your career choice, when you feel most in flow, is when you are helping people and giving them guidance and feeling heard, and that's exactly what you are doing. That's pretty awesome.

Samantha:

Yeah, it is interesting. Even that knowing when I first learned about this, I was like, "Oh, that's why I haven't been able to let go of this business idea and why I love this job so much." It's because it feels really healthy for me energetically. Projectors are designed to guide, and our aura is the only aura that is able to see into the other. For us, one-on-one and small group interactions are really healthy.

That really helps to guide when I was setting up my offerings. I know that one-on-one is much healthier for me. I have a background in teaching, and I am a very burnt-out teacher, even though I loved it. The parts of teaching that I loved were when I got to work with small groups, when I could really connect with the students. Any career or workplace where projectors are taking in a lot of auras, a lot of people in one space, is going to be draining for them long-term. Short-term, obviously, they can do that, but long-term it's not going to be sustainable. We are not designed that way.

Honey:

Yes. It's interesting, I feel like when people are feeling that point of burnout in whatever area of human design or whatever number they are, rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, they may have the teaching aspect to what you were doing was in alignment, but it was just the way it was being done was not in alignment. It's interesting how you can get to a point in your career thinking, "Oh, this is what I felt was the right thing," and maybe it was, but then the scenario that you're in is so misaligned that you end up just thinking that you've got to change your whole career path when maybe... So that's interesting as well.

Samantha:

And it's where the human design system can become very helpful when you are navigating those decisions because you can see the whole picture. You're being drawn to this, but it's just the environment that you're in or the people that you're around. It can be small tweaks. Often people think that going to a career consultant or someone to talk about a career conversation is when you're just having this really big career change and retraining and swapping into something. But actually, it can be something so minor. It could be that you're in the right industry, but you are in the wrong type of workplace. Or it could be that you are in the right workplace, but what you're actually doing day-to-day isn't healthy for you, it's not sustainable. That's what I have found – sometimes it can just be really minor tweaks, and this system allows you to really see the different elements and experiment with changing them.

Honey:

That's amazing. So do you think with your business now that you are really aware of your human design and you've been experimenting with it yourself, designing your business and your life and your offerings, that has also helped shape what you offer to the world? Do you think that's happened from what you initially started out when you first started your business and opted out of the corporate world into what you are now? Has that shifted more and more?

Samantha:

Yeah, definitely. But also my expectations of myself have really shifted. When I was working in my previous role and even when I was teaching, I constantly would compare myself and wonder why I couldn't keep up. I was like, "I can't go from that, to that, to that to that." There's a lot of output expected. I think that's why I experienced burnout because I was pushing myself to maintain this constant being on.

Since learning about my human design, projectors aren't designed to be constantly on. We have moments where we can be very efficient, we can get things done quite quickly in short amounts of time, but to expect us to be on all the time, our energy doesn't work like that. We ebb and flow, which is why parenting and work can be very difficult because you're on all the time as a parent.

There's a whole thing for any projectors listening to this about projectors as parents because it's difficult. It's really difficult to get out of that. I always used to feel lazy because sometimes I just need to stop. Especially when I was younger, I received the message that we all do – we are all conditioned by our environments – but I received the message that if you're not doing something, you're lazy. You should find something to do. You should always be up doing something.

It was a real rewiring for me when I learned within human design that as a projector, I need to rest, and resting is actually the most productive thing I can do. A recharged and well-rested projector is so efficient when they're on that they can come in and see it all. I've noticed that when I feel really recharged, when I've had the chance to have a little bit more balance in my week and I've had that opportunity to replenish, when I do come in, I'm focused and I can get it done a lot quicker. It feels like there's less resistance. It doesn't feel like I'm pushing and straining.

Bringing that into my routine and allowing myself those moments and that natural flow has been really beneficial. It's also made me realize why it's

Certainly. I'll continue with the transcript, changing Speaker 1 to Honey and Speaker 2 to Samantha.

Samantha:

It's also made me realize why it's so important for me to work for myself, because obviously that doesn't always fit in with workplaces. I personally believe that in the future we are going to move more towards differentiated approaches to workplaces. We're already seeing that now with all the data coming in, showing that when people are given the choice of whether they work remotely or onsite or a choice over more flexibility about their working arrangements and work schedule, they're actually more productive. I think we are heading that way into workplaces as well, where it will be you design your day, you've got a bit more choice of how you show up and what you focus on.

Honey:

Absolutely.

Samantha:

I've seen that not just in my own work, but also for my clients who have applied that according to their own energy type. It removes all the resistance because you are operating how you're naturally designed to operate.

Honey:

I couldn't agree more with that. I think it's fascinating how differently we're all built and wired. Some people are firing in the morning, some people aren't. And then giving that ability for people who have a lot going on in their life, maybe they're carers, maybe they're caring for aged parents, maybe they have young children, but it's like omitting those people from the workforce. They don't exist because if they can't comply and conform to the standard corporate thing, they're out of the system. So I think it's really inspiring that you think there is definitely a trend towards that. I wondered, because I think I've seen a shift. My partner is in corporate, so there was a shift to lots of at-home work, but now there's also a bit of a pushback to trying to get everyone to get back to the actual office again. And there's a massive pushback to it, but it's like how far, who's willing to push hardest in what direction.

Samantha:

It's been interesting to watch.

Honey:

So you think that's where we're heading, that people are going to be more autonomous?

Samantha:

Yeah. I think it will take some time because there will be a little bit of pushback, but all the evidence that's coming out at the moment, all of the new studies that they've done is showing that productivity goes up and employee satisfaction. So you're going to be able to retain staff if you can give them that flexibility. What will happen is the demand for that in the top organizations, there'll be people rushing towards companies that offer that, where they're prioritizing wellbeing, they're allowing more flexibility. That will become where all the talent wants to be. And so there'll be a ripple effect of that where other organizations and companies will have to keep up with the demand and keep up with the trends. So yeah, I am excited to see that that hopefully will happen.

Honey:

Me too. Definitely. That's why I work for myself as well. Because I can't do it, but I admire people who can.

Samantha:

Yeah.

Honey:

I think the system, I think what's hard about it is that the basic system, basic kind of work capitalist system is built to just get people working without any concept of anything else that's going on. Productivity is being number one, but without actually backing that up with any evidence to show that working people for eight hours a day, are they actually working for eight hours a day? No, that's impossible.

Samantha:

Exactly. So a lot of the time you're paying people to be there.

Honey:

Yes. Just sitting in a seat.

Samantha:

And a lot of what they're looking at now is showing that this holistic approach to work-life wellbeing is the way to go. Because if someone is feeling depleted in their life and they're leaving their work and they don't have any energy for their relationships or their family, then when they're coming back into work, they also don't have any energy because they haven't been recharged. They haven't had an opportunity to live and enjoy their life. Even though that probably will take a long time to completely phase out, I think we are definitely going to see some shifts because people, they're not putting up with it anymore. There is an element of, and a lot of the time, the clients that come to me generally are mid-level professionals who they've kind of got to a certain point where they're like, "Okay, well, I got the job and I did what I was told, and I've got to this point where I am supposed to be happy."

Honey:

And they're not happy. Probably the unhappiest I've ever been.

Samantha:

Yeah, they're like, "I'm not happy and I feel more depleted than ever. Why is it?" And even the people who have got to that point of financial security, it's because people want something more. And now more than ever, people are craving that sense of wanting a job that's meaningful, but also wanting to feel like it fits in with their life and gives them a sense of purpose. And this is where learning about human design has been really helpful because it does show where your natural gifts and your natural strengths are. And when we're using those day to day, we feel better. We feel it's like a little buzz. It's sustainable, we've got the energy for it, and if we're showing up and using our energy correctly, it's going to feel sustainable. And then we have more energy to put into our personal life as well.

Honey:

That's fantastic. So how can people find you, Samantha, to know more about you and get some guidance on human design and some career advice?

Samantha:

They can go to my Instagram page, ilum.careers, and there are links to my website and everything. They can actually look up a free chart. We have a mini chart that is based around workplace wellness. It uses your body chart. You type in all your information, your birth details and everything, and you'll get a visual map of your body chart. You'll also get sent a PDF that outlines some of the areas within human design that can help give insights into the best way that you work and the way that you can use your energy more efficiently and keep well, because that is number one. You have to be well.

If you want to go deeper, there's a longer report, which is 20 pages, and that goes into more detail about your authorities or how you're designed to make decisions, your profile, which is kind of the themes and the archetypes that you're here to live out in this lifetime. And then some other information about each of the different energy centers within your chart.

If you want to go even deeper, you can book a session where a career session with me is essentially a career conversation where I integrate a chart reading within that, and I include two weeks of follow-up where we can talk about what's come up for you. You can experiment with, "Oh, I've tried this. I've been using my strategy, or I've been using my authority and this is how I've been making decisions, and it feels like this." And we can really go through that process of integrating human design within your life and your work life, because it does take time. It's not something that you can just have a session and be like, "Okay, see ya. Good luck with that." It's something that you have to sit with and experiment and get feedback and be like, "Oh, that felt strange. But I think it actually left that situation feeling better than before." And so I make myself really available within those two weeks following. Because sometimes as things shift, it can feel a little bit strange to show up as yourself.

Honey:

I think having someone else observe and ask you questions that sometimes you struggle to ask yourself, the real questions, and give yourself proper answers when you're left to your own devices. Having someone else who knows what they're doing going, "Oh, okay, so how did that make you feel?" And then you're like, "Oh, I didn't actually think about that." Scratching a little bit beneath the surface of our initial first-word reaction to something.

Samantha:

And especially for generators and manifesting generators, they need to be asked questions to know. So often if you say, "Oh, what did you think about that?" You'll be like, "I don't know." But then if I say, "Oh, did you feel this or this?" You can tap into the back. "Oh yeah, I did feel like this."

Honey:

That's so funny. That is so true. I know how I feel. I have to answer a question. I'm like, "I don't know." Deer in the headlights.

Samantha:

Or they say that if you are taking a generator or a manifesting generator out for dinner, you should never say, "What do you want for dinner?" You should be like, "Do you want Thai or do you want Italian?" They'll tell you. They won't know until you give them the options and then they'll know.

Honey:

That's fantastic.

Samantha:

So sometimes it can be even I'll have clients who'll message me and they'll say, "Oh, I had this conversation with my boss and it was kind of weird," and this is what, and we can kind of break that down and I can ask them the question to sort of get to that clarity of what's going on for them. And because it is, when you start applying human design in real life, it can sometimes feel it's liberating, but also if you've been operating from a place of conditioning and you've been going with what you should be doing and what you've always been told and people pleasing or accepting certain behaviors, all of a sudden when you're sort of honoring yourself, people can react very differently.

Honey:

They'd be surprised if someone close to you like your boss or your partner or a friend, it's like, "This is not how you normally behave or respond." And so there's a level of uncomfortableness probably about that shift.

Samantha:

And I've, it's funny because I've even had that family responses where it was probably a bit of an unhealthy dynamic, and when I've kind of shifted that, it's like, "Oh, you've changed."

Honey:

Yes. I'm just more me now.

Samantha:

Yeah, I'm just more me, and I'm actually just setting firmer boundaries and sometimes they can take a little bit of an adjustment. So I always make sure I'm really available after that session to sort of work through that and integrate it. And I've also got a newsletter and it's not very regular because it's when I get around to it, so I won't be spamming you. I try to do once a month and choose a theme and then kind of delve into that. So yeah, people can follow me there if they're interested, but looking up your chart is probably the first step.

Honey:

Amazing. Cool. Well, I'll include all your links underneath in the YouTube clip so people can check it out. Thank you so much for your energy and your time. It's so generous and natural. I feel like you've answered so many of my questions that I had. So I'm greedily, this is for other people, but also for myself. So thank you.

Samantha:

Oh, thank you for having me. I love these conversations, so I'm stoked to be here. Thank you.

Honey:

Thank you. We'll see you soon. See you.