In this household, we’re currently in the thick of career counselling and subject selections for next year. With my teens going into years 11 and 9 next year respectively, I’ve been contemplating ways to support them with their decision-making around this. Specifically, how considering their Human Design chart can help. This one is more geared towards ‘sacral types’, meaning Generators and Manifesting Generators, but some aspects are relevant to all.
Whether you’re in a similar boat with your kids, or contemplating a career move or business change or start-up, here are some things that can help.
My kids are both Manifesting Generators (this is their Type). That means that they’re designed to pursue what lights them up, feels satisfying overall, and excites them. Now, I don’t know about you but my kids are never going to tell me that they’re excited about a school subject. Y’know?! But if you happen to win the lotto and have a Generator or Manifesting Generator who is bursting at the seams about a particular subject or career prospect, help them mainline that and let it influence their decision-making.
Both Manifesting Generators (MGs) and Generators find it easier to make choices when they have something to respond to. Plucking information out of thin air is nigh on impossible, and likely result in very cerebral ideas. Seeing a list of subjects, reading through a course guide or getting some rapid-fire questions (eg which one do you want to go with: a, b, or c? helps them to get out of their heads and into their gut response). In other words, they move away from what they think they ‘should’ do, or being influenced by a teacher or their mates, and into an aligned visceral response.
Where Satisfaction is the overall guidepost for these Types, Frustration is the Not-Self Theme; the indication that they might be heading down the ‘wrong’ path. While there is no one ‘right’ choice, if a subject is particularly frustrating for your child, it’s unlikely to be a great choice for the future. If you notice them wanting to hold on to a subject even though they find it frustrating, I recommend getting curious about what’s driving that.
Inner Authority is the next piece to consider. Both of my kids have an Emotional/Wait for Clarity authority. This means that although they have a strong gut response, they’re meant to take some time to get clear on bigger decisions. Rather than rushing in and making a decision on the spur of the moment, giving themselves time to ‘sleep on it’ will prevent experiencing doubt about their decision, wanting to backtrack and change it or flat out regretting their decision (and don’t we all want to avoid that!)
Conversely, if they have a Sacral / Trust Your Gut authority, they would be meant to make a spontaneous decision in the moment. They would take note of how their gut felt when they heard or read about a subject, course or pathway, and trust the one that felt like a pull/expansion/fire/leaning in.
With a 2 in the Profile, it can be helpful for my son to consider what comes most easily and naturally to him. These are the subjects where he doesn’t have to exert a lot of effort but does well. Those that he assumes everyone can do and find easy. These might also be things that teachers let him know he has a gift for because they observe it in him.
Whereas with a 1/3 Profile like me, my daughter is drawn to going deep into a particular area she’s passionate about learning more about. I can neither confirm nor deny that this involves learning everything there is to know about doing makeup and beauty through watching TikTok. She’s also an experiential learner, which doesn’t always suit a classroom setting, but when she can embrace having a go and getting started without trying to ‘get it right’ straight away, this will give her lessons on what to change and do differently next time.
I have one child with a defined Identity centre (where the diamond shape is shaded) and she has a good idea of which path to pursue, which subjects to choose, and potential job options. My son has an undefined Identity centre (the diamond shape is white). This can lead to not having a clear career path or trajectory in mind, and feeling pressure to work out the ‘one thing’ or focus too much too far into the future. And lastly, just helping him to focus on waiting for clarity on the next steps (subjects for Year 11 and the pathway he’s doing eg VCE) rather than all the future decisions about courses and work and how it will all pan out, is ideal.
Both my kids (and I!) have undefined Head centres (if the top centre is white) so it can be easy to get scattered by various inspirations and ideas, or carried away with other people’s excitement about an idea or option. Allowing them to spend time alone and waiting to gain clarity is helpful.
Both have an undefined Spleen, the origin of fears. If you have this centre white (the triangle furthest to the left on your chart) it can be tempting to make fear-based decisions, such as a fear of failure, fear of inadequacy, fear of the future and so on. It’s so important to come back to the Inner Authority and use that to guide decisions instead.
And as I always finish with, there’s so much more. If you’re curious to learn more about your Human Design to inform a potential career move, business pivot or start-up, you can book your session here.
(PS – You can also use this link to book a session for yourself but focused on a teenager if you’d like to gain more clarity on a teenager in your life too. It’s so helpful! And don’t worry, they don’t need to be present lol)
Tags: Career Counselling Parenting
