Do you feel as though your energy levels have dropped?
As though you are running out of energy while everyone else still seems to have enough fuel to launch twelve projects, renovate their kitchen, run a half-marathon and suggest yet another meeting at 6:30 p.m.?
Maybe you are going through a period of low motivation, struggling to take action, or simply experiencing that very particular feeling:
“I’ve got nothing left in the tank.”
What if Human Design had an answer?
Let’s clear up one important ambiguity first.
Unusual, significant or persistent fatigue can obviously have physical or psychological causes that deserve to be explored with a healthcare professional. Human Design is neither a medical tool nor a method for diagnosing the cause of fatigue.
But it does raise another question, one that is much more interesting in a coaching context:
what if we simply do not all have the same relationship with energy?
Because when we are constantly told that everyone should be productive eight hours a day, permanently motivated and able to operate at the same pace, we can end up believing that a different fuel tank must necessarily be a defective one.
And that is precisely where Human Design becomes interesting.
In Human Design, we do not all have the same engine
Human Design distinguishes several energy Types: Generator, Manifesting Generator, Manifestor, Projector and Reflector.
Within this framework, not everyone is considered to have the same consistent energy for acting, producing or sustaining effort.
Generators and Manifesting Generators have, in Human Design terminology, a defined Sacral Centre. Projectors, Manifestors and Reflectors do not operate in the same way.
This obviously does not mean that some human beings literally have a Duracell battery built into their stomach while the rest of us are running on three AAA batteries scavenged from a remote control.
It is a symbolic model of how we function, not a physiological measurement of energy.
But this model can become particularly meaningful when someone tells me:
“I don’t understand. Everyone else can keep up with this pace. I end up completely drained.”
What if you were a Projector?
This is often where people discovering their Human Design profile start raising an eyebrow.
According to traditional Human Design teachings, Projectors make up around one fifth of the population. They are described as people whose functioning is not built around a constant Sacral energy designed for continuous production.
Their value is said to lie elsewhere.
Observing.
Understanding.
Identifying what works and what does not.
Reading people and systems.
Directing energy rather than necessarily supplying it.
And that changes quite a lot when you have spent years trying to operate like someone who seems to have a different engine.
Because the problem can then become:
“Why can’t I do as much as everyone else?”
It is a question I have asked myself many times — you can see my profile in the “About” section — when a much more fruitful question might have been:
“Where does my energy actually create the most value?”
When low energy meets a lack of recognition
And this is probably one of the most unpleasant cocktails.
You have given a great deal.
Maybe even everything you had.
You spotted a problem no one else seemed to notice. You proposed a solution. You devoted time and energy to improving the situation.
And no one seems to see it.
Worse:
sometimes you feel as though you are speaking without being heard.
Then, three weeks later, someone rephrases an idea strangely similar to yours and suddenly:
“Gerard, what an extraordinary idea!”
And there you are, internally considering several creative uses for the office stapler.
In traditional Human Design terminology, recognition plays a particularly important role for Projectors. Their so-called “Not-Self” theme is bitterness.
It is easy to see why this idea might resonate with someone who spends enormous amounts of energy contributing but feels that their contribution is never truly seen.
Be careful with the shortcut, though:
feeling exhausted, ignored or insufficiently recognised absolutely does not prove that you are a Projector.
That is precisely what a chart is for: looking at the whole picture instead of self-diagnosing as a Projector after three Instagram Reels.
“Why do people listen to me less?”
Here again, Human Design offers an interesting framework to explore.
We do not all naturally occupy space in the same way.
Some people initiate easily.
Others draw people along through their energy.
Some are remarkably good at observing group dynamics.
Others are particularly sensitive to their environment.
This can create situations where an extremely insightful person is not necessarily the one who speaks the loudest, responds the fastest or naturally takes centre stage.
Visibility and relevance are not the same thing.
And in a company, confusing the two is a serious problem.
Because a team that systematically listens to whoever takes up the most space risks overlooking the person who spotted the problem before everyone else.
Before looking for more energy, ask where yours is going
This is probably the question I find most interesting in coaching.
When someone tells me:
“I lack motivation.”
I want to look behind that sentence.
Do they genuinely lack motivation?
Are they exhausted?
Are they spending their energy on something that constantly forces them to fight against themselves?
Are they trying to keep up with someone else’s pace?
Does their professional environment suit them?
Do they spend more time proving their value than using their skills?
Do they work among people who know how to recognise what they bring?
Because there is an enormous difference between:
having no energy
and
spending your energy in the wrong place.
And that distinction goes far beyond Human Design.
Get your Human Design chart to better understand how you function
That is precisely one of the reasons I use Human Design in coaching.
Not to tell you that four geometric shapes and two Gates know your life better than you do.
But to provide an additional framework that can be compared with your real-life experience.
What is your energy Type?
Your Authority?
Your Profile?
Which of your Centres are defined or undefined?
In which situations do you genuinely recognise the way the model describes you, and where does it not fit your experience?
A Human Design chart becomes much more interesting when it is used to ask questions rather than hand out new labels.
If you would like to discover your chart and, above all, understand what it can concretely reveal about the way you function, you can book a session with me directly.
Book an appointment with Grenade Coaching
And I promise: if you discover that you are a Projector, I will not prescribe three compulsory naps and a formal ban on touching a spreadsheet after 4 p.m.
And what about the workplace? Let’s stop building teams of clones
This is where, in my view, the subject becomes even more interesting.
Because Human Design in the workplace can also provide a basis for thinking about team building, management and the complementary strengths of team members.
We sometimes have a rather strange idea of the ideal team.
We recruit different people…
then ask them all to function in exactly the same way.
Same pace.
Same way of communicating.
Same way of making decisions.
Same relationship with autonomy.
Same definition of performance.
And then we organise a team-building day with three wooden blocks and a zip line to find out why the whole lot of them are not working together harmoniously.
There may be an intermediate step.
A strong team is not made up of interchangeable people
Whether you fully subscribe to Human Design or simply use it as a tool for reflection, it raises a particularly fruitful management question:
What does this person need in order to give the best of what they know how to do?
And its twin question:
What can other people genuinely rely on them for?
This is where diversity stops being a pretty value written on a PowerPoint presentation.
A team may need the person who initiates.
The person with remarkable stamina.
The person who sees the dysfunctions nobody else notices.
The person who creates connections.
Someone who slows everyone down at the precise moment when the entire team was cheerfully about to charge straight into a wall.
Team building is then no longer just about creating a pleasant atmosphere.
It is about building enough knowledge and trust for everyone to know:
“This is what I bring. This is what you bring. And this is why we are better together than if we all tried to become the same person.”
Stop standardising people and start benefiting from their diversity
This is also a subject I discuss in Leader Instinct: we have a very strong tendency to standardise human behaviour.
We implicitly define a “right” way to work, communicate, lead, think or even be motivated.
Then we measure everyone against that standard.
Yet the richness of a group comes precisely from the fact that we do not all notice the same things, think in the same way or bring the same skills.
Human Design is certainly not the only framework for exploring this diversity.
But it can be an excellent excuse to start talking about it.
Listen to the Leader Instinct podcast
Maybe your energy is not the problem
So if you arrived here because you were searching for the reason behind a loss of energy, low energy levels, lack of motivation or that unpleasant feeling that you simply do not have enough fuel left to keep moving, please do not immediately conclude:
“Fuck, I’m a Projector.”
That would be a little hasty.
Start by distinguishing what may relate to your health from what relates to your lifestyle, environment, work and way of functioning.
Then ask yourself another question:
what if the problem were not the amount of energy I have, but the way I am trying to use it?
Because we spend a lot of time looking for ways to put more fuel in the tank.
When sometimes it would be far more interesting to look at what we are doing with the fuel.