Episode 231: Time Management for Projectors
In this episode, I’m answering the question of how Projectors can manage their time when running a business, studying and/or doing a lot of other things! You’ll hear me share:
Why it's important for Projectors to reframe “time management”
How to rethink time management beyond managing time versus priorities
What areas of your Human Design to consider, beyond your Projector Type, in creating a system or routine that works best for you
Listen to the Episode:
Mentioned in the Episode:
Episode 182: Human Design Non-Sacral Types and Their Strategies
Episode 184: Your Human Design Authority - How Do You Best Make Decisions?
Coming soon - Be the first to know about new service offerings for Projectors!
Connect with Naomi:
Share the Episode:
“Much of the conversation is centered on time versus priority management. What we should be talking about is energy management, and this applies to everyone whether you’re a Projector or not – we all need to know how to best manage our energy!”
Read the Transcript:
Hello there, my friends and welcome back to The Live Fab Life Podcast. I’m your host Naomi Nakamura.
Today we’re talking about Projectors and time management.
Specifically, I’m answering this question: Time Management for Projectors? I’m trying to run a small biz and study at the same time. As a Projector, how?!
Since I was a kid, I’ve had a deep love of planners and organizers. My Mom used a Franklin planner and as soon as I was considered old enough, I had a Franklin planner for myself. I thought I was weird because I loved planners so much, but Instagram has shown me that there are tons of other people who love planners, and Lisa Frank stickers, washi tape, stamps, and decorating and doodling in planners as much as I do. It's like a whole community. I was deeply entrenched in this community about 8 or 9 years ago.
But as much as I love planners, the reality is, I’m a digital girl. So as tempting as it is at the end of every year to get a new analog Erin Condren planner, I only use digital apps.
I've tried all the apps - Asana, Basecamp OmniFocus, which by the way is overly complicated, in my opinion, Todoist, and right now I'm using ClickUp. And of course, there's my Google calendar that has multiple color-coded Google Calendars attached to it.
So, I was really into time management and am very organized.
As I’ve learned about Human Design and what it means to be a Projector, I've come to realize that much of how I had approached time management for the majority of my life was the result of Sacral conditioning.
The Sacral center is the center of lifeforce energy. People who have it defined have energy like the Energizer Bunny – they just keep going, and going, and going.
That’s how I operated and was very Type A. My planners and calendars, whether analog or digital color-coded, are often scheduled down to the minute.
If you’re familiar with Franklin Planners, then you know that on the left side of the daily pages, there's the to-do list. And they have a system of symbols for it - if you complete the task, you check it off; if it’s in progress, you put a circle in it, if you need to push it to tomorrow, you write in a right arrow.
I was of the mindset that if I didn't get everything done, I failed that day. And given the unrealistically long task lists that I had, this happened often and eventually, I was telling myself stories of how unproductive and how much of a failure I was.
Then I learned about Human Design and what being a Projector means. Part of my Human Design experiment has been about learning how to reframe how I think about, and how approach time management.
We live in a role world that's carries a lot of Sacral energy. It’s very supportive for Generators and Manifesting Generators but the reality is, that not all of us are designed to operate this way – specifically non-Sacral Types, Manifestors, Reflectors, and Projectors.
So, while these days, there’s more of a conversation on embracing rest and how to approach time management, I’ve seen much of the conversation centered around time management versus priority management.
But really, what we should be having a conversation about, and focusing on is energy management. And this applies to everyone whether you’re a Projector or not – we all need to know how to best manage our individual energy.
To be clear, I’m not saying that time and priority management doesn’t matter, what I’m saying is that its an incomplete conversation, and perhaps you should lead with energy management.
Human Design is an energy framework for how we can best optimize our energy in this experience we call life, and that's going to look different for each of us depending on our design.
It really comes down to asking yourself, “How do I best manage my energy? How do I best maximize my energy?”
So, rather than having a conversation on time management for Projectors, let’s also talk about energy management for Projectors.
I know there’s a belief that because Projectors are non-Sacral beings, with undefined or open Sacral centers, Projectors have less energy than Sacral beings.
I don’t believe this is true. Yes, Projectors may require more rest, but they don’t necessarily have less energy. They have less consistent Sacral energy but overall, they still have a lot of energy – it's just expressed differently. Believing that energy is only Sacral energy and the only energy available to us is part of Sacral conditioning.
We live in a society where a full-time job is considered 40 hours a week - at least that’s how it is in the United States where I live. The work week is 5-days a week, the workday is 8 hours a day – often more, we get two weeks a year of paid vacation (as a side note, can I just say that I get extremely jealous of my European colleagues who have anywhere from 2-4 weeks off for their summer holidays).
It's not like this in the US, much of how our society operates with Sacral energy.
Again, whether you have a defined Sacral center or not, everyone has Sacral energy – it’s just a matter of its consistently available to you – or not. So, while Projectors have less sacral energy, perhaps they might have more Splenic energy, more emotional energy, or more Throat energy. It's just energy allocated differently.
So, getting back to answering the listener's question of how to manage time and energy while trying to run a small business and study at the same time.
First, let me just say that I understand, I get it, I've been there myself, I see you and I feel you and it’s hard. In addition to my full-time job, which I have always had, seven years ago, I went back to nutrition school, which was a year-long program with a robust curriculum. We had new material to study and assignments to complete every week, and we also had coaching circles, i.e., group work where we had to meet.
Then, halfway through the year, we were allowed to start seeing clients. So, in the last six months of the program, not only were we continuing our studies, but we were trying to find clients, doing everything that’s required to start a business, then also run, and maintain it. It's a lot.
I finished that program in 2016 but being who I am, I was also taking other online business programs and went on and take another year-long functional nutrition program that had so much in its curriculum that we were actually given two years to complete the program. I ended up doing the program for four years to allow myself time to really absorb the content - all the while continuing my full-time job, seeing clients, marketing my services, and showing up consistently with blog and social media content.
No wonder I felt so burnt out during that time!
Things stabilized for a few years, but fast-forward, to two years ago when I discovered this thing called Human Design. I’d never felt so energized to learn something since I had started nutrition school.
I jumped into self-study programs, and delved into training and certification courses while maintaining my coaching practice, but also figuring out how to bring Human Design into my existing business.
I share all of this to tell you that I do understand what you're going through. I do understand the amount of energy and time it takes - it's a lot! There were periods when I went through burnout and was forced to slow down and reprioritize.
But learning about Projectors and what it means to be one is what really shifted things for me in how I approach productivity and time management. These days I'm more cautious about productivity advice that I allow myself to be exposed to. When I hear someone giving productivity advice, I ask myself, “Is this for me?”
This is not to say that don't take time management and productivity advice from a Generator or Manifesting Generator because they may actually have a really good tip that might work for me!
But now that I understand how my Projector energy best flourishes and is maximized, I practice discernment in knowing what advice is right for me and what isn’t.
And I hope that how you approach this episode, or any that I share or advice in, that you keep in mind that I’m a Projector too – so for this, and all the many that I’ve shared thus far, with the same discernment for yourself.
You may not be a Projector there may be a tidbit or two, here or there, that you might pick up that could be helpful to you as you try to better manage your energy.
Maybe what I share won’t work for you because you're not a Projector? Or maybe because we don’t share the same (Splenic) authority.
The point that I’m trying to make is that you be mindful and discerning of what you're allowing yourself to take in and absorb. It all comes down to self-observation with non-judgment.
So, when you're a Projector, who may or may not have a full-time job and are trying to run a small business while also trying to study, whether, in a formal academic setting or your own personal study, you need to practice self-observation with non-judgment.
Some inquiry questions to ask yourself are:
What time of the day do I feel most energized?
It's important to observe what are the times of day when you feel most energetic?
I'm a list maker and whether you're a Projector or not, you need to have a system that organizes yourself. I mean honestly, Projectors are people of efficiency, so having a system that organizes your business, your studies, your life, your thoughts, all of it - it's important, but my reframe with this has been not attached myself to arbitrary dates. Of course, we have commitments, obligations, and deadlines that we must meet, but I would guess that some of your deadlines may be arbitrary, self-imposed, or at least historically, they have been for me.
Right now, I have a whole plan of Projector offerings that I plan to create for you, and of course, my first inclination is to write a project plan because I'm really good at planning - it's the executing part that as a Projector, I’m challenged in. But say I make a project plan and assign specific deadlines to it. They’re arbitrary because there are no dependencies on them.
So, while I write a list of things to do, if I don’t have to assign a date to them, I don’t because I don't know what my energy is going to be on any given day.
Let’s say I set a target date to have my first Projector offering available by July 15th (this is just an example because just to manage expectations here – it won’t be ready in real life by then) but, I have a full-time job, and it's summertime! And I have my Relaxed Girl Summer theme going on!
So, how would I feel if I set this random due date of July 31 and I don’t meet it?
While I’m still working on this, every single day, the old me would feel like a failure but the current me, who is working on reframing success and failure understands that not meeting this date doesn’t impact anyone else but me. And if I managed my energy by choosing rest and delaying this project over pushing through, I’m ok with that because it’s likely that whatever the end product ends up being, will be better if created with aligned energy versus battling fatigue, overwhelm, burnout that ultimately ends up with me feeling resentment and bitterness. Remember that bitterness is what Projectors feel when not in alignment with their design. That’s not the kind of energy I want to bring into a new offering, let alone a new Projector offering.
Through self-observation, I’ve come to realize that the best time of day when my creativity flows is in the morning. This is when I feel most energized when my creative juices are flowing.
So, depending on the schedule of my full-time job, which is very fluid, if I have some free time in the morning, I use that time for creating. These would be things like creating content for this podcast or creating content for Instagram or writing copy for emails or my website or just brainstorming.
Tasks that feel more mundane, that don't require so many creative brain cells - things I can do without thinking - these things that I scheduled or pencil in for the afternoon or evenings. These would be things like responding to emails or DM’s, operational tasks, managing my schedule, prepping for client readings and sessions, etc. These are things I do when my energy isn’t high but still functional.
When it comes to studying, at this point in my life, what I do study are things that I have a deep interest in. They’re things that I study by choice, not based on what a curriculum dictates.
So, if I wasn’t interested in it, I wouldn't be wasting my time and energy on it. If I did, it'd be an energy leak for me. So, I reserve study times for the weekends in between chores or an afternoon nap because I have more blocks of time available.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t do any studying during the week. If I happen to have 30-min or an hour between calls or during my lunchtime, I’ll open a book, listen to a lecture, or watch a video.
With some things, not all, I find that I learn better in shorter increments versus longer blocks of time.
It’s all become an exercise of self-observation with nonjudgement, to become awareness these preferences that I never paid attention to before, but that helps me to understand the ebbs and flows of my energy.
To add to this, I have a Sound determination. Your determination is how your best nourish not just your body, but your brain too. It’s how you best process information.
So, having Sound determination, having the tv or music on in the background helps me focus and retain information better, which might sound weird for people who don't have Sound Determination, but this is how it is for me.
So, you might want to look at what your Determination and Cognition (which goes together with your Determination) are in your Human Design to see how you best process information, and then see how you can fit those conditions or circumstances into your schedule.
The takeaway today is:
Don't fixate on time management or priority management. Also, think of energy management. I’m not being dismissive of commitments or deliverables or deadlines, but you are a Projector, and you have a natural gift for building efficiencies and creating systems. So, I know that by prioritizing energy management as your guiding principle, you're going to figure out a system that works for you so that you can run your small business and study at the same time.
It’s a practice of self-observation with non-judgment. I know that I say that over and over again. I sound like a broken record, but it's true.
And self-observation really is what the Human Design experiment is all about – observing ourselves and building self-awareness to understand ourselves better and know what the best ways are to use our energy.
Look at other parts of your Human Design beyond your Type as a Projector for insights on how to create a system, framework, or routine that's best for you.
The bottom line here is that what works for me may or may not work for you, parts of it might and parts of it may not. When we look at someone else's system, especially if you're a Projector, trying to make a Generator’s or a Manifesting Generator’s system work for you know that it's not going to create more ease and flow in your life. Parts of it might but trying to adopt it entirely likely will not.
Therefore it's important to have a solid understanding of your Projector aura. Many want to jump to specific gates and channels, variables, and incarnation cross but if you don’t have a solid understanding of your foundation, your aura, it’s not going to click for you.
Don’t forget it's also important to follow your Projector Strategy of waiting for invitations, and then following your Authority as you decide on what’s the best course of action for you to take.
If you're running a small business, but you're not waiting for invitations, that's going to drain your energy.
And if you’re making decisions without following your Authority, things aren’t going to happen with ease and flow and that's also an energy drain. These are unnecessary energy leaks because you’re working against your energy instead of aligning to it.
So, here are some questions for personal inquiry for you:
Are you approaching life with a time management perspective, or an energy management perspective?
Are you following your Type, but also your Strategy and Authority in everything that you do? If you’re feeling drained and tired all the time this is one of the first things, I ask myself - Am I honoring the natural gifts of my Type, following my Strategy and Authority?
What are you observing in how your energy flows? What activities do you look forward to doing? What activities require more energy? How can you organize them to fit into the ebbs and flows of your energy?
If you haven't yet had a reading to dive into your Human Design, beyond just knowing that you're a Projector, I invite you to book a reading with me. I offer three different levels of readings, Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced. You can choose which one best fits you for where you’re at in your Human Design experiment.
As I shared earlier, I am creating offerings just for Projector. I’m not committing to a specific date that they'll be available but if you would like to best the first know when they are, you can sign up to be notified. I have a link for that over on the show notes for this episode at www.livefablife.com/231 for Episode 231.
As always, thank you so much for listening. If you're a Projector or have one in your life, I hope you've been able to gain some insight and ideas on how you can reframe time management to energy management.
Have a great day and we'll see you back right here again next time.
Naomi Nakamura is a Health x Human Design coach who’s creating a healthier society through aligned energy.
She blends a bespoke mix of Functional Nutrition and Human Design to help others shift into alignment to leverage and correctly manage their energy to support their body, mind, and spirit.
She believes that when we embrace our authenticity and lean into our bio-individuality, we naturally live a life of freedom, empowerment, and optimal health.
Naomi resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and can often be found exploring the area with her puppy girl, Coco Pop!
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