How to leverage your human design pressure centers daily in your business // Pressurized Soulpreneur series: pt 6 of 6

In this episode, I'm going to be discussing how to leverage the pressure that you experience from your human design pressure centers every day. This is the sixth episode of a six-episode podcast series that I'm calling the Pressurized Soulpreneur.

I'm discussing and contemplating the impact that these pressure centers can have at different stages in the soulpreneur journey from initial business idea to scaling your business. And how you can recognize these pressures and manage them with your intuition, if you haven't already listened I recommend that you go back and listen to the very first episode of this series, episode number 46, “How your human design pressure centers impact your business” and go forward from there and if you're all caught up. Then let's dive in.

If you’re still here at the end of this series, you might have noticed this series evolved over time.

Ultimately, it became less about the nitty-gritty of human design, as it started now it's more about how we felt the pressure rather than just knowing theoretically that pressure centers exist and the pressure you feel every day in various ways no matter where you're at.

I also feel at this point I've barely scratched the surface in many ways. It was almost hard to condense what I wanted to say in a shorter podcast format. Because ultimately, these pressure centers are at the root of every decision that we make as entrepreneurs.

There's always going to be this underlying pressure to think, to figure out, to plan, and ultimately to take action. Your human design pressure centers are always contributing to and applying that pressure to your soulpreneur journey.

We face these pressures every day and every moment, no matter what phase or inflection point we're at in business. Just take a breath because it's a lot and a lot of us feel this or have felt this for a long time, and for me, it was hard to put words to, but when I understood it from a human design perspective, it also brought a lot of peace with it.

Ultimately, the most important thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to understand your design and your patterns, and your susceptibilities so that you can be aware of them and how they impact your connection to your source of truth and your intuition.

The more you connect to & prioritize the voice of your intuition & what it is telling you, the easier it is to navigate these pressures and the decisions that need to be made. The force of pressure that you're feeling, these decisions may get bigger, and they may get more consequential over time, as we saw in the progression of this podcast series.

The bigger and more successful your business gets you get more consequential your decisions can become. No matter what size the decision is, through the awareness of the pressure and decision-making process, it remains the same. Which is why no matter where you're at in your business, the sooner you start to recognize these pressures & work with them, the better off you will be long-term.

So even if you listen to the last episode where I'm talking about scaling your business but you're still in the phase where you're don't know if you even have a business idea, I think it's still useful because you understand how these pressures can affect you at different places. Even if you're not at the place where you're ready to scale your business, I think those learnings and those contemplations can still help you where you're at the beginning stages of your business.

I talk about this and deciphering the noise to clear up space for your intuition and to understand and nurture and cultivate your intuition in human design and business in the 4-episode podcast series that I did earlier this summer.

So if you can think of points in your journey—no matter what inflection point you’re at—where you’ve experienced these pressures, and maybe even succumbed to them because you weren’t aware of exactly what they are –

I hope you know that you are not alone and you are DEFINITELY not a failure. And even if you made misaligned decisions under the pressure of your head and root center that doesn’t mean you can’t come back stronger and better than ever because NOW you are armed with the knowledge you can use to acknowledge, face, and work with this pressure going forward.

The thing is action creates clarity. It also creates lessons, the action might be right or wrong for you. But ultimately, you get clarity on whether it was right for you or not, and it gives you lessons that you can take going forward.

Most of this podcast series has been talking about these pressures from what I would call a negative perspective. Do you know what happens if you allow those pressures to make decisions for you? Maybe my previous episodes have left you afraid of them or in a state of trying to avoid them.

These pressures can also serve you and catapult you forward on your journey if leveraged correctly.

But it's also the source of the drive to just understand and to take in the world. It is the drive to see the big picture as well as the details that allow us to see things holistically and how all the moving parts work together. So you can break through barriers and can innovate, do things differently or do things that have never even been done before and do them more efficiently.

Head Center: Your Head Center is the source of the drive to UNDERSTAND.

To see the big picture and the details, to see things holistically AND how all the moving parts work together so you can break through barriers, do things differently or do things that have never been done before and do them more efficiently.

Root Center: The Root Center is the source of the drive to EVOLVE.

To construct and build, and create our dreams and desires and to be the best versions of ourselves. To fulfill our purpose and to make the most of the life that we have, so that we move with purpose, with intentionality, and for the greater good.

So, while these pressures can have a negative impact on us, without them, we wouldn't be where we are today or in this position. We can intentionally build our businesses our way, brick by brick, figuratively speaking, because I know most of us are online and that to be able to innovate and be creative in our way, if we didn't have these pressures, we wouldn't be able to do what we're doing right now, so that brings up the question.

What exactly is the boundary between good pressure and bad pressure?

Truthfully, everyone experiences this boundary of what's good pressure and what's bad pressure. They experience it differently.

Defined Root Center - As someone with a defined root center, experience the consistent pressure to take action, evolve & grow. There isn’t a moment in the day where I don’t feel some level of pressure to be the best version of myself and to put myself in a position to grow & expand should the right opportunity pop up.

Undefined Head Center - As someone with an undefined head center, I experience inconsistent mental pressure - the pressure to figure it all out and get to the bottom of things is either non-existent or all-consuming where my mind gets stuck in thought loops that are hard to escape.

So, if you're someone that has these, you might relate to this or if it's vice versa. Everyone experiences these things a little bit differently, right?

And for me, the biggest sign or symptom of whether I’m experiencing good or bad levels of pressure is to ask myself - is this pressure destructive or is it productive?

Destructive Pressure

The pressure that makes you feel less-than, unworthy, critical, or yourself and/or others. of yourself and others. It’s that pressure that makes us feels constricted. It feels kind of nasty and sticky in your body.

It's that pressure that motivates you to "catch up" because you feel like you’re behind or might be missing out. It's that pressure that moves you forward because you're feeling FOMO.

It’s a pressure driven by scarcity-when the pressure comes with shame, guilt, or anxiety, I know that I’ve crossed the line from healthy to unhealthy pressure.

It simply feels sticky, like trying to walk through mud and is extremely constricting. There's a lot of guilt, anxiety, and shame associated with it, and that is destructive pressure.

Constructive Pressure

It is the pressure that comes from a place of feeling safe, ready, and worthy. There may be a little nervous too but the foundation of your self-belief is strong & sturdy

It’s the pressure that feels like a nudge or a step of growth in the right direction that feels like knowing that step is correct for you

So this balance between constructive and destructive pressure, as well as discernment between these polarities, appears for me whenever I feel compelled to act. I feel urgency behind what I need to do or plan or think about. I always pause and tune into what I'm feeling and take a moment to decipher that pressure that I'm feeling and why it's there and I'll be honest, I'm going to give you some examples of that.

Destructive pressure is erratic and chaotic, whereas constructive pressure is centered and calming, sometimes tinged with fear.

This balance and discernment show up for me all the time. Whenever I feel compelled to take action, and to take action urgently, I always pause and tune into what I’m feeling and take a moment to decipher the pressure I’m feeling and why it's there. And I’ve taken action on both types of pressure.

How I’ve allowed Destructive Pressure to take over..

Planning out all aspects of my business without putting myself out there in any tangible way, or with any offers for the second half of 2020 and then again in late 2021.

Or accepting the offer from my last corporate job because the job was super prestigious and something I literally had on my vision board at one point

Or investing most of my time and energy into building up my Instagram account because that’s what others in my industry do and trying to be visible on all the platforms because of FOMO.

Another decision that I made from a place of destructive pressure was making a multi-four-figure investment in my business because it felt like it was going to be THE THING that allowed my business to finally grow as quickly as possible.

I invested in that container to try to catch up to where I thought I should be, so those are some real examples like I said, they were made from a destructive place. It's not like it totally burned my business into the ground necessarily. They were huge learning experiences.

When I’ve allowed Constructive Pressure to serve me & my business

This year actually over the summer I've been focusing a lot on reimagining my offers to be more simple, streamlined, and impactful to my clients and also to make them more solution-oriented for my clients.

Side note: So this is something like I said I've been working on a lot this summer behind the scenes. So this is something I haven't really talked about yet. But I'm actually going to be. Sharing more detail about this in next week's podcast episode.

Another use of constructive pressure in my business was that this year I turned down partnership opportunities that felt like great opportunities but were going to spread me too thin. It would be taking me away from other things in my business and in my life that I actually wanted to do, but that was a constructive pressure where I felt pulled towards the no and creating that boundary for myself.

Another example of constructive pressure in my business is just starting this podcast, even though it was scary. I went public with my human design as an online business manager and how I integrated these two very different modalities, even if it meant losing clients.

And the biggest piece of advice I can give you as you navigate this journey and awareness of yourself is something that I’ve mentioned over and over throughout the 6 episodes of this series.

When you feel your mind in overdrive or spinning and or you feel like a loaded spring that needs to be released into action?

Or when you’re questioning what the next step forward is or should be, it is OK to pause & take a beat.

Do what you need to in order to clear some space & open up your energy & your awareness.

And trust that what is meant for you will be or become clear to you in the perfect timing

If you’re feeling the pressure, the best thing you can do is allow yourself to EXHALE for a moment and do your best to compartmentalize the spinning that the destructive level of pressure is causing so that you can come back to yourself and your truth.

I do this through journaling. I do this by talking out loud to my husband and trusted friends (my conscious design is a mental projector with sounding board authority).

The best thing you can do is find ways to empty out that pressure you’re feeling so your next steps are not only correct for you but are aided by constructive and empowering pressure. The pressure is that 10% boost or power-up that gives you the little bit you need to forge ahead on your journey.

And before I officially wrap up this series, I'd love to know how you’ve experienced this pressure in your own journey and how you are committing to managing, mitigating, and truly leveraging it as you use human design to build your business.