Megan Barrett: [00:00:00] So there's five types and I can walk through those. And then your authority is how you make decisions. And The bullet point that I will give you on that is that no one is designed to make decisions from pro con lists and by thinking things through. It's actually, according to human design, really in our body. We make decisions from somewhere in our body. And so being able to get back in touch with, you don't even have to know your human design. You can think back on decisions that you've made that have worked out well. And think about what did you do leading up to that?
Megan Barrett: And how did that feel in your body? You can just create that strategy. And I pretty much guarantee it's going to line up with what your human design chart says.
β[00:01:00]
Michelle Pualani: Navigating the intersection of business and motherhood is no easy feat. From deciding where to invest your time, to feeling the guilt of prioritizing either work or mothering, it can be difficult to decide how to spend your time while building a business. Today we're sharing insights and stories about how we carve out dedicated time for work while still managing the joys. Or difficulties of motherhood. We're chatting about ways to nurture your personal wellbeing amidst the demands of entrepreneurship. So welcome back to the, her first podcast, the place where you can prioritize you in business and life. [00:02:00] Today's guests, Megan Barrett began her entrepreneurial journey through a humble food blog and has evolved into a seasoned business owner, creating courses and empowering others to connect with their passions on a deeper level. With a unique blend of mindset mastery, human design, and strategic thinking, she's all too familiar with the roadblocks that can hinder the growth of a business owner. Based in East Texas and juggling the roles of entrepreneur and mother to three kids, today we're going to dive into the power of human design as a tool for really understanding your energy flow and identifying the areas where you shine the brightest. You may be experiencing the common challenges of feeling that kind of pervasive notion that success means always being on the grind. What if you could actually help reframe your mindset and embrace a more balanced approach to entrepreneurship? Megan is here to help with that today. So welcome, Megan. Thank you so much for joining us on the show.
Megan Barrett: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here and just to share wisdom, have a conversation. I'm [00:03:00] excited about it.
Michelle Pualani: Absolutely. Well, We're very happy to have you. And just to give you an overview as a listener, Megan is a life and business coach who really loves helping female entrepreneurs build the business of their dreams in a way that's sustainable and aligned to their values, strengths, and desires, which essentially is exactly what we all want as we're entrepreneurs.
Michelle Pualani: building. Megan, can we just start with a little bit of your backstory, how you got into entrepreneurship, and growing the business that you have today alongside Motherhood.
Megan Barrett: Absolutely. So my entrepreneur journey started a little over five years ago when I was home with my kids and in that place of, we lived on five acres on a little mini farm and I have a knack for improving things, so I'm like a one on the Enneagram, I look around and I'm like, Let's improve this.
Megan Barrett: Let's optimize the furniture in this room. Or let's move the animals over here and let's just do things. So my husband would come home from work and I would have this list, like this master list of things that needed improved. And [00:04:00] it was like, let's do this right now. Let's just go. We can do it really quick.
Megan Barrett: And he'd be exhausted from his day and he's really, can we, can it wait till the weekend? And so I was accumulating this list and all these things that I wanted to do. Cause I had that energy inside of I want to be doing something it was this like lightbulb moment of, I think I need something else for myself that doesn't rely on my husband like going out and putting in a fence or something. So I started thinking like, what might I want to do? And that's when I decided to start a blog. And It was not just some people who start a blog have the mindset of this is just a fun little hobby Mine was really I was starting it as a business And I wanted to contribute to the family finances I wanted like an outlet for that energy of like I want to be doing something I had no idea that I would really fall in love with online business as much as I did and so You I started, I [00:05:00] started learning.
Megan Barrett: I started taking courses. I started doing different strategies along the way. And at some point I, I realized I paused. It's probably on the adrenaline high of starting something new. And I paused and it was like, okay, This was fine for a little bit, but the way that I've been doing this is not sustainable to myself, my health, my energy, my family.
Megan Barrett: It was every moment that I wasn't busy, I was busy with my business. And so that was when I think I just started being more aware of what I was doing and how I was doing it and being more mindful about. What I was doing how much time was I spending on it? Is this actually the way that I want to be running a business?
Megan Barrett: Because at that point I had decided I did want to be running a business. And that was when things started shifting to where I I wanted to start helping people in a deeper way. I had sold some online courses and started seeing some common, Blocks with people. I had a food blog and I was [00:06:00] helping them with meal planning and I kept seeing kind of the mindset stuff coming up and I got really interested in the mindset behind, why people can't stick with habits and what are those blocks that are keeping people from doing these things that they say they want to be doing?
Megan Barrett: And I kept getting these responses like I've tried that before and it didn't work for me. And so I really started digging into the mindset and got into a lot of different I enrolled in some coaching certification programs, did a lot of work on myself and realized I really love the mindset stuff. I love thinking about, why our brains work the way we do. I, Almost was a psychology major until people were like, you can't do anything with that. They talked me out of it, but I loved it. It was always so fascinating to me. And so it's not really that surprising that I love the mindset and found human design also along the way and have really loved pairing the mindset and the subconscious reprogramming work [00:07:00] with human design and see, and helping people. Really tune into who are you designed to be? Giving them permission to run a business in a way that Really feels good to them. Not just how someone else might say, this is how you have to do it because there's so much noise out there that I experienced running my blog. Like you have to do it like this and you have to do this. And that just didn't, it wasn't working for me. It wasn't how my body is designed to really put out energy. And so I've had that firsthand experience of. That misalignment of what does that feel like? What does it look like to run a business that felt like it was like diverging from how I felt good, how I felt energized and what I felt like was needed.
Megan Barrett: And so I love helping people bring those paths back together and help them expand their thinking there isn't just one way to do it. There's so many ways [00:08:00] to run a business. And if we can start with. Like, how are you designed? And what actually sounds fun, then that's like the most sustainable way that we can run a business for everybody.
Joanna Newton: What's so interesting is so many people, we become entrepreneurs because we want that freedom. We become an entrepreneur because we're like, I can make my own schedule. I get to decide what I do. I do all of those things. But if you've ever worked a corporate job or look at the models you have of how to do business, it's so easy to just create the same problems for yourself in your own business that you had in your corporate job or you had in your typical nine to five.
Joanna Newton: You just can get into those patterns. If you don't have a model to look at then you. Then you just copy, copy what you know, and then you can end up being burnt out, stressed out, overworked, just like you were in your nine to five, and maybe not making more money, right? And maybe not even improving your [00:09:00] income in any sort of way.
Joanna Newton: So thinking that through Going back to your mindset, you have to be thinking about how you design your day, how you design your workflows. How do you say yes or no to clients? Michelle and I did a whole episode about finding alignment with clients and it being okay if someone isn't the right fit for you because you're the one deciding.
Joanna Newton: What you do and who you are. One big topic I'm seeing a little different than designing your work day is that I've been having on my personal social media accounts is about like leadership qualities. People say a leader has to be aggressive and out front, all of these very specific things to be successful.
Joanna Newton: But why? What if we rethink leadership and people lead in the way that is natural and designed to them, and so for our listeners who are listening in and thinking [00:10:00] like, Oh, this sounds like me, like I've been a business. I'm a business owner. I'm designing my days, but I'm experiencing stress. I'm experiencing friction.
Joanna Newton: It's not quite Working for me, how might they go about thinking about their business differently in a way that better aligns with who they are? naturally.
Megan Barrett: I love what you said about you experience your nine to five maybe in one way. And then you join, jump into entrepreneurship and you find that you're doing the exact same thing because that's just how our brains work, right? Like we've associated to be successful. That means this, and maybe that looks a certain way to you. And so I really think the first step is bringing to awareness, those patterns that we have and those assumptions that we're making at like the deepest level of. Like I have to work this many hours a day, or I have to work at this office or whatever those things are that you're feeling, like really tapping into the emotion of it, of [00:11:00] which parts are feeling that friction.
Megan Barrett: Like, where are you feeling that misalignment? Is it how much you're working? Is it what you're working on? Is it like who you're working with? Like, where are those, where's that friction coming from? And then really digging into you. What if that wasn't like, what if that assumption that you have there isn't true at all? For example, if you're working, maybe you think you have to work 40 hours a week as an entrepreneur, but that's really burning you out, like digging in. What if. What if it was possible that you could work 10 hours a week and be just as successful? Like, how does that feel? Does that feel more expansive?
Megan Barrett: Does that feel more like aligned for you? And what are those thoughts that are coming up? Is it like that's not possible for me. And if so, tuning into those tapping and writing them down, finding someone who can help you work through those, because those are those limiting beliefs. That are keeping you in that pattern of continuing to make those choices that are going to produce that [00:12:00] friction. And so really, it's just the Awareness, because most likely it's not everything that's friction. Most likely there are parts of what you're doing that feel really good. And that's probably why you got into it. Or maybe at one point they did feel good. And so really just assessing that what is actually working right now and not just what's bringing in the money, but what's feeling good to me.
Megan Barrett: What. What do I like doing? What do I enjoy doing? What like soothes my soul for, to do in my business.
Michelle Pualani: Mindset is something that keeps coming up on the podcast and the interviews that we've been having and what we've been chatting about recently is that the intention, mindset, frame of reference, belief system, the way of thinking, that you go into something is going to dictate your actions, how you show up, what you choose to focus on, how you perform, and it ingrains everything that we do, and I think sometimes we forget that because we get focused on the tasks, we get focused on [00:13:00] the day to day, we get wrapped up in that to do list, we get wrapped up in the schedule, and we just think, okay, I've got to, I wake up in the morning, I've got to get the kids taken care of, I don't have kids, I got to get the dogs taken care of, but for those of us, as we're talking about motherhood today, we've got to get those kids taken care of, we've got to take care of ourselves, we've got to, Take this meeting, we've got to do this task, we've got to post this thing, like we've got to respond to all of these things, and we almost go into this cycle of just getting caught up in the activities.
Michelle Pualani: So first step that I completely agree with is always taking a step back, learning to assess, learning to understand and bring awareness to those things that we are doing, and starting to uncover and understand why are we doing them. What is that motivated by? Was it something that someone taught us that we just have?
Michelle Pualani: ingrained into our way of being and our way of life, and that doesn't actually work for us? Is it something that we think we should be doing? Because, again, this is something that we either learned at some point, or we've created some sort of [00:14:00] unreasonable expectation or sense of lifestyle that we're putting on ourselves and putting that pressure in order to fulfill.
Michelle Pualani: So yes, taking that step back, learning to assess, learning to become aware, such an important part in terms of how you're showing up in your business on a day to day basis. So when it comes to your business and how you've seen that expand, I'm curious, you started with the food blog, you launched some courses.
Michelle Pualani: I know that you've done some perhaps one to one, launching a group program. So what does your business look like? And what's that structure in how you're generating income, showing up online, and building what it is that you want to create, that you feel called to create?
Megan Barrett: It's an interesting question because I'm on this journey myself where it seems to happen in layers of I start my coaching business and like I have to do it this way. Like we all have these things, even myself as a mindset coach, it's I have to do one on one and I have to have calls and I have to do this. And I did [00:15:00] that for a while. And then I pushed pause and I'm doing the things that I'm talking about here of I don't really love having a full call, like my calendar full of calls on the days that I work. I want to have more things to do. Space. And I want to have time to really plan ahead and create some courses and create more of a foundation in my business. And so I had a little bit of a pivot moment where. I was able to step back and assess and decide I don't want to have one on one clients if it's all about calls. And so I've been making this shift towards what my coach calls asynchronous coaching through Voxer. It's what, how she provides it.
Megan Barrett: I'm not opposed to calls, but I can see so much value both in my own life. In human design, I am a manifester. I don't have consistent energy. So I have these like urges and like pushes of energy. And so for me, having a schedule that's like full of calls Feels like his heavy weight in my body. [00:16:00] If I look at the week ahead and it's wow, I'm just booked that it doesn't feel good to me. So I've been reducing my calls and increasing maybe one off calls for human design or even continuous human design packages.
Megan Barrett: Like one, one call a month for people And then for people who really want that, like integrated. Mindset, human design, business support. That's where I am offering like Voxer coaching.
Megan Barrett: It's primarily in Voxer. So it's like Monday through Friday, someone can reach out and be like, okay, here's this question, But I think it serves people so much in a different way. The right people who are right for me are going to feel the same way that I do about, I don't want to wait two weeks for my next call. And then oftentimes in the past with me, when I've had coaches, I make this like list of all these things I want to bring to the next call. And then once I get on the call, it's like they've lost their charge. It's okay, that was a big deal five days ago, but I feel fine about it now. And you assume. I'm through it. I'm over that. And so the beauty [00:17:00] of the like asynchronous boxer coaching is like in the moment okay, this just happened.
Megan Barrett: A client just said this to me. Like I just said, I got off a sales call. I'm not sure what to do. Cause I'm feeling X, Y, and Z. And I'm not sure what next steps to take. It's just such a more in the moment option. And I've been, it's every, we all have these layers, like layers of the conditioning and layers of the beliefs and limiting beliefs and how we've observed people doing things.
Megan Barrett: And so I'm in the process every time I'm like, putting like a new offer out there or shifting things. I feel like, okay, this feels very aligned for me.
Joanna Newton: I think sometimes as entrepreneurs, it feels really counterintuitive to limit what you offer. Like you want to be able to offer everything to everyone in order to serve the most people, have your business make the most possible money, all of those things, right? So one of the things I do is I end up I help people build online courses and memberships and all of that.
Joanna Newton: And we have very specific [00:18:00] offerings that we offer people. And when you get on a discovery call with someone, you can want to like make up a new package for them on the spot so that you can get the sale, and get the people in your system. But that's not always the best thing for your business, right?
Joanna Newton: Like it might not be the best thing to do a custom project. It might not actually profit margin wise work very well for you if it's not what you offer. I think sometimes if you encounter something and you don't have a service for them, you want to just give that person what they want, even if it's not right for you, even if it's not right for your business, because you think you will make more your brain says, I will make less money if I'm saying no to people or if I'm not offering something that happens.
Joanna Newton: But I find A lot of times the opposite happens is you can increase your income by getting more specific with your offerings. And that can feel so wrong to us. But I think what happens is over [00:19:00] time you become known for this specific thing that you do. So when someone hears, Oh, I need someone who does this.
Joanna Newton: You specifically do that thing. So someone's going to refer you or your messaging on your website, on your profiles and your things is so clear. I offer specifically this thing. Then people, it like reduces a barrier for them because one of the things we talk about it when we coach. Course creators is instead of worrying about having so many competitors become a competition of one.
Joanna Newton: If you're the only one who offers exactly what you do in the exact flavor that you do it, when someone aligns with you, they're going to make that purchase and join you. When I think about your more on demand coaching aspect, that would work well for someone like me. I am freaking busy. Do you know I've had like I don't know.
Joanna Newton: It feels like I've had eight hours of calls before getting on this [00:20:00] podcast and it's two o'clock in my time zone, right? And I have a couple more calls. I have to send proposals. I've got a laundry list of things to do. Adding a regular call to my calendar right now would put me over the edge. So for some people, a coaching program that has very specific time commitments is too much.
Joanna Newton: And that could be the perfect person who goes, I need help, but this is going to work so much better for me, because I don't have to dedicate, 10 specific work 9 to 5 hours in the day, especially like I'm a mom, right? Sometimes it makes more sense for me to work, do my work after my kid goes to bed.
Joanna Newton: You can't do calls at 10 o'clock at night, but I can write content at 10 o'clock at night, and so you have to start rethinking what you want to offer. And being specific will likely expand what you are able to do and accomplish and not actually reduce [00:21:00] it.
Megan Barrett: because I've had that tendency to, getting on a call with someone or just talking on Instagram to someone and they're like what I really need is this. And like that tendency or that almost not like the impulse to be like I can do that.
Megan Barrett: I can feel that need, but I think really what people are looking for is for us to stand really confidently and firmly and saying, you This is what I offer and this is why it's actually the best option for you. And I think that can I've been on the receiving end of that and it feels almost like, Ooh, interesting.
Megan Barrett: Like they're so convicted in what they have. They're like, so there's something so magnetizing to that of someone being able to stand, even if it's like. No, that's not what I'm offering. And this is why, having that I don't know, I don't really want to say data, but almost like almost data, like data of this is what feels good to me.
Megan Barrett: This is how I've helped other people with this. This is why it can be so supportive for you. Like that confidence in. This is what I'm offering and this is why it's great. I think that's often what people are [00:22:00] actually looking for even if they're like, I need this and I need this because So many times I hear people who will come to me and they're like, oh I'm like I'm planning a lunch and I just need I just don't know do is it gonna be a three day lunch or a seven day lunch like I can't figure it out and it They think it's a strategy problem, and it's always a mindset problem, like almost always.
Megan Barrett: If they're stuck on something like that, it's let's dig into why you think this matters. What is, what's going on underneath of this? And I think, It's the same for what we're talking about with these offers. Like you might think, Oh, I have to have this many calls and this type of support in, in this coaching package, but really what you need is someone to be on your side and someone to be there for you.
Megan Barrett: And you think it might need to look a certain way, but what if it doesn't it's not like expanding. What if it doesn't have to look exactly how you think, or you've been told that it actually has to look.
Michelle Pualani: I think it's part of that people pleasing nature that we tend to have, especially as women, to meet their needs or what they say they're expressing. But [00:23:00] what I've found is that people don't always know what they want. They don't know how to articulate it, or maybe they think they have this idea, just like you're saying, Megan, is they think it's this thing, but it's actually this thing.
Michelle Pualani: So we, as practitioners, as coaches, as business, Owners and entrepreneurs have to understand, okay, this is what you're telling me, but how do I actually meet that? And obviously the marketing and the delivery are going to be two different things because often you're marketing that want, that desire, that interest, that outcome.
Michelle Pualani: But sometimes the delivery of that is gonna be different because it meets the need of what they really need. they're truly looking for. And sometimes only we know that and can articulate that and share that. So I think it takes a bit of consumer education and it takes being really convicted in what you're doing and not, like you say, just like giving into the whim of those people that are coming to you, standing strongly in what it is that you do, believing in your offer, believing in your service and how you help and support, and then being able to
Michelle Pualani: As you're [00:24:00] navigating your business, one of the things that we wanted to talk about today is motherhood. And you have this very specific kind of human design quality. We've had other folks who have focused on human design before. How do you navigate balancing business, motherhood, and life?
Michelle Pualani: And for those of us listening, motherhood is, I think, a unique thing in and of itself, but it also could mean, if you're not a mom yet, because I Don't have kids. I still have family obligations. I have nieces, nephews. I have dogs. I have all of these other things in my life. as you're listening to Megan, thinking about how this applies to you when it comes to the personal side of things and balancing personal with professional and thinking how is this going to all work for me.
Megan Barrett: back when I had my food blog, I it would be, I had two young kids at the time. And so I would wake up before they woke up and I'd work on my business and then they'd wake up and I would be in my mom mode and then I put them down for a nap and I'd work on my business and maybe I'd get an email and I'd be like, Oh, this'll just take 15 minutes.
Megan Barrett: I [00:25:00] gotta just, I gotta do this really quick. And so it was it was occupying my mind so much. And then, I'd put them to bed at night and then I'd work on my business some more. And so that was, that's one way to do it. There are probably moms that is how they're running their business right now.
Megan Barrett: For me, at some point I decided that was not working. I had no mental margin. I had no space for myself. I had every moment that was, quote free, I was working. And so things like self care and like my own health was taking a toll and it was just was getting pushed out because I was pregnant. Focusing so much and just felt like I had to put everything that I had into my business. And so now I work on my business two days a week and we like split time with my husband and my mom. And so we work out some childcare and my older two were in school and having that boundary for me is really supportive and it helps in so many ways because I know I have this time, this is my space.
Megan Barrett: And I think [00:26:00] as moms we're just interrupted like all the time. So I don't know if other moms are like this, I'm pretty sure they are, if a kid has a choice to go to dad or to go to mom, they go to mom and it's like my door is closed. They still would knock on my door before they would interrupt my husband if he was like standing there doing nothing. And so I have, in our house I have the office like the spare room, I have the door that's closed and I've had to really put up. The boundary, like a physical boundary, but also I have to hold that boundary for myself and so that's like communicating to my husband, my kids, if that door is closed. don't come in. That means I'm busy. And I think I hear from moms sometimes who feel really frustrated that their family isn't respecting their boundaries or that they don't have the time that they want to work. And I think it really starts with us have like us holding that boundary for ourselves and saying, this is my space and this is my time and this is what I'm doing [00:27:00] here. And just because I have the full two days a week that I'm like working, that are my work days. That doesn't mean that I'm working all day, both days. That means like I get the space to do what I want to do. And sometimes I'll leave my door open if I'm like open to conversations, but I've practiced holding this boundary enough to where they're respected now.
Megan Barrett: Now they know. And that, that may require some uncomfortable conversations and even. Family who's local want to be like, Oh, let's like get together. I'm like this is my work day. And so having that transition to holding your own boundary and making sure other people know this is like my space and this is my time. I think that can relate to business that can relate to like your health, like this is my time that I go to the gym or this is how I make my food. This is when I do my meal prep. It can relate to any area of our lives. We're talking business today, but I think that's one thing that's really been helpful for me is [00:28:00] just setting that boundary because I do have that people pleasing gene, if that's a gene.
Megan Barrett: I spent a lot of years as a kid. I was the middle kid. I was the kid who got the good grades and did everything for everybody else trying to be like as quiet and as hidden as possible, not like wanting to make any Don't make waves. Don't do anything. Don't upset anybody. And I'm stepping more into this person of my, like this version of myself that is like able to take up space and this is who I am. And these are the desires that I have. And like, how can we make this work as a family? And I truly believe that if we have a desire to run our business, to start a business. That it's actually what's best for everybody else around us. Having those desires are going, the more women we can help start their businesses and run their businesses in a way that they can really continue and sustain them in [00:29:00] a way that really supports their family systems and whatever else they have going on.
Megan Barrett: That is going to benefit the world and the community and their families.
Joanna Newton: You bring up so many good points. Like, all of those things are so good. And when you listen to them, you're like, yes, I should do that. And I should do that. And I should do that. And when you're a mom and a spouse and you have a house to take care of, and you're a person to take care of, and you have a business and you have clients, it's so easy to your boundaries.
Joanna Newton: You're saying, I'm going to do, you might, for example, if you're looking at your week and how you work best, you might say, okay, on Mondays I want to do this and on Tuesdays I want to do this and on Wednesdays you want to do this and you have this schedule set up and then someone wants to meet with you on Wednesdays on the day you say you're never going to have any meetings and then you say, I'm just going to take that one meeting.
Joanna Newton: I'm just going to do that thing. And I think that can be [00:30:00] really helpful. easy to say no to your boundaries and then say no again. Cause again, I think you would get into this mindset. If I don't say yes now, I'm going to miss X, Y, Z opportunity, and then with your kids are really easy at interrupting.
Joanna Newton: And my husband listens to this podcast. Hear this as well. Husbands are really good at interrupting, too. I love him, and I'll have to tell him, pre tell him I'm talking about him. But, sometimes in families moms make a lot of decisions. I think that's just people look, kids, husbands, spouses, they look to the mom to like, Oh, should I do this or this?
Joanna Newton: Should I do this or this? Should I do this or this? And when you're an entrepreneur You may have lots of people looking at you. Should I do this or this or this? And sometimes that decision fatigue, I know for me, just overwhelms me. Last night I was playing Twister with my daughter and my husband was working on something.
Joanna Newton: And like they were both like vying for my attention back and [00:31:00] forth. And like I just snapped. Like I hit this I cannot. Be brain switching between these two topics back and forth. You need me, back and forth. It became too much, right? And sometimes that happens and figuring out how to set your life up in a way to, to limit that, to communicate with your family, to communicate with your co workers, to set those boundaries.
Joanna Newton: And that's the thing about what, the thing about boundaries is they're your rules, right? You need me. And you have to enforce them. You can ask people to respect them, but they're your rules to enforce. And I think that's a hard lesson to learn, I think, as a mom, as a woman, to stick to those things because I think there's so much in our society that tells us that we should mold to others, right?
Joanna Newton: And we should adjust to what others need.
Megan Barrett: things that you said pop out to me that I want to respond to. But I also I have three kids and they will just sit in a room and be like mom. [00:32:00] And it it drives me crazy. I can't do it. And part of that is knowing, you My human design. And so I love coming back to human design.
Megan Barrett: I know all my kids, human design, my husbands, and it's super helpful because for a long time I made that mean I'm a bad mom. If I can't handle three kids calling to me at all times a day, that's just what motherhood means when really. My human design does not do very well with responding all the time. having that awareness and being able to communicate to my kids of, okay, let's like find a different way. I know you want my attention and I want to be able to support you, but I mean, one day I kept a tally of how many times they said mom, and it was like in the seventies, it was like a lot.
Megan Barrett: And so brought awareness to them. It brought awareness to me. You like. Okay, everybody. this doesn't really work for me. Let's find another way to communicate. You say mom once, and then for me as a manifester, I do much better when I get to decide when I go and respond. When I go and Kind of [00:33:00] initiate. Hey, what did you need? I'm ready now. I have this time and I have this space. Whereas some human designs like generators, manifesting generators, actually, they thrive on responding. And so that may not bother them as much as myself, a manifester who I need to be the one to who decides this is when I'm going to do this. And so part of that awareness is So helpful because I think for a long time, I would make that mean something's wrong with me. Like, why do I get so irritated when really it can be a simple switch? even like shifting how we communicate with each other can be super supportive. And I think also about what you were saying about the boundaries. It's easy to be like, Oh yeah, like there's, today's a Wednesday and I'm doing this podcast recording. And that was a conscious decision. And that means that on another day, I'm going to block off extra time. And I think part of it is knowing what is the motivation for this boundary in the first place for me, it's, I [00:34:00] don't want to be someone who's always thinking about work. And so I make sure I have that blank space where. Sometimes I love my work and I love thinking about it and it's addictive. And so I have to make that space and I'm going to go to the kitchen and I'm going to make cookies and I'm not going to think like anytime work comes into my head, I'm like swiping, like pretending it's a little tab in my brain.
Megan Barrett: I'm swiping. No, I'm not going to think about that because I've been like, that's my tendency. And I know that about myself. And I know that It's easy to overbook myself, whether it's actual bookings or it's just like the ideas like I flood into my brain or, maybe I should do this or maybe I should do this.
Megan Barrett: Maybe I should reach out to this person. And so for me, I know the motivation behind like the two days is making sure that I have that space. we can know, why did I set this boundary in the first place? And it's that slippery slope where if you don't know why you're like, why you set the boundary in the first place, that's [00:35:00] how you can get into those situations where. You look around and you're like, How did I get here? Like I, I said, I was only working this much or I said that I was only doing this and now look at my schedule and just being able to come back to that. What do we want? What are like, who am I? What really feels good? And how can we return back to that?
Michelle Pualani: Getting clear on how we want to design our day, our business, our schedule, and how we're really investing that time. I want to lean into the human design piece a little bit more, but just highlighting before we get to that, the mental capacity that we have the ability to hold space for is limited. And so allowing yourself to give time, energy, physical space, if that's necessary, to clear or Opens up for improved thinking, better mental clarity, higher levels of creativity, ability to focus, and decision make. Which is again, something that we've highlighted multiple times today and that we've [00:36:00] talked about on the podcast before is we do so much making of decisions as business owners.
Michelle Pualani: We, we have to. It's part of, it's part of the job, so to speak. So with human design specifically, if someone wasn't super familiar with human design, Can you, and is it possible to just outline the main types of human design profiles and how they apply to business for each person? And just, again, I know there's so many details and so many directions we could go, but just showing up in your business in this way, as an overarching statement.
Michelle Pualani: would be a good place to get started. Is that possible?
Megan Barrett: It is possible, and I will give a caveat that, right, human design is a rabbit hole, and there's so much nuance, and so even within the types, it's very possible that you're like resonates with what she said about that other type, and that's totally fine, because I think that there are, oh, there's so many shades even within the types.
Megan Barrett: We could be here for the next four hours and I could get into all the nitty gritty, but nobody really wants that. Everyone wants what can I [00:37:00] take away from this? And so I'm happy to go through the types and like how you might show up in your business. I will say for human design, if you can live by your strategy and your authority, your strategy is determined by your type.
Megan Barrett: So there's five types and I can walk through those. And then your authority is how you make decisions. And The bullet point that I will give you on that is that no one is designed to make decisions from pro con lists and by thinking things through. It's actually, according to human design, really in our body. We make decisions from somewhere in our body. And so being able to get back in touch with, you don't even have to know your human design. You can think back on decisions that you've made that have worked out well. And think about what did you do leading up to that?
Megan Barrett: And how did that feel in your body? You can just create that strategy. And I pretty much guarantee it's going to line up with what your human design chart says. So we don't even have to get into the authorities today. I'll just give you that advice to think back. What are the decisions that have worked out well for you [00:38:00] that you've made in the past?
Megan Barrett: What are the decisions that didn't? And like, how did those feel differently before you made that decision and as you were making that decision? And that can be just enlightening because so often we're told you got to think it through. You got to make sure you have your pro con lists or whatever, especially I think in business, it can be data based and so I think that can be super supportive for people. About the strategy, each type has a different strategy. And it's like the way you show up in the world and in your business. Manifestors are really here to initiate, which is like starting new things. So as it relates to business, if you're a manifester in business, you are here, which that's my type, you're here to start a project.
Megan Barrett: So you're going to get some sort of creative urge. It's not just an idea. It's like something that you'd feel like compelled. I don't exactly know how this is going to end. I don't know all the step by step. I don't know everything about it, but I know I have to do this thing. [00:39:00] And so you're going to initiate it with whatever that looks like for the specific. thing that you're initiating. And it's important for manifestors to have people or a group of people to support them to carry it through because manifestors don't have consistent energy to finish everything that we start. So it's all about initiating and informing about what you're doing. So in business, a lot of times that means your audience.
Megan Barrett: Like I'm about to make this program. Here's why it's important. Sometimes for manifestors, informing can be full of conditioning, limiting beliefs because often manifestors as kids had to ask for permission. if you say what you're going to do, There's a chance people aren't going to agree with it.
Megan Barrett: And there's a chance that people are going to tell you, no, you can't do that. Or that's like, why would you do that? And so there, it's very vulnerable for manifestors to inform. [00:40:00] And so as you're just getting started on initiating something, whether that's an online course or a new offer or a new business or whatever you're doing.
Megan Barrett: As you're getting ready to do that, as you're building that momentum, inform the people that need to know first. So if it's like your husband and you need a little bit of extra time to work on this thing, inform them, clear that way a little bit, and trust that the people who are right for this offer, whatever you're doing are going to be like magnetized to you for it.
Megan Barrett: And the people who aren't are going to just get out of the way. So that's manifestors really start things. Next we'll talk about generators. Generators are like the worker bees of society. The generators and manifesting generators make up like 70 percent of people and they really have that consistent access to energy it's that energy of like creativity and pleasure.
Megan Barrett: And. It's really important for generators to find something that feels [00:41:00] really good, that really lights them up, that makes them excited and really want to do it. And their strategy is to respond. And my husband is a generator, my oldest is a generator Do you want to do this or this?
Megan Barrett: So having something to respond to is really supportive for a generator. I think like a manifesto to start things, a generator to finish things is a really good pair. My husband and I, that works really well for us. I'll say, I want to start this project. And he's great, I'm taking it away. And he can finish it for the family and for us.
Megan Barrett: And so for generators, I think the main source of conditioning with them is really they can have some people pleasing, they can have this idea that I have to finish this thing just because I started it when really it's once you lose that spark, Oh, this is like not fun anymore, that's when you got to step back and find a way to either bring that spark back or like really make a plan to shift gears. I think it can be a little [00:42:00] bit unrealistic to think that everyone's gonna love every minute of their job for every day for their whole life. And so there's going to be those things that everybody like some people aren't gonna like to do the things that maybe are part of entrepreneurship or their job. And so when you have those things as a generator, it's really important to like, maybe after work is over, you need to go do something that you love. Go watch a movie, if you love movies, go out to dinner, find something that's going to replenish, refill, recharge that sacral battery. Because if you don't, that's, that can lead to burnout really quickly for generators.
Megan Barrett: I think a misconception about generators is that yeah. because they have that energy, they can just keep doing things and keep working when really they need to be doing those things that are lighting them up and bringing them joy. So that's manifestors and generators.
Megan Barrett: The next one would be manifesting generators, which is a combination of the first two. They're [00:43:00] generators first, so they're really here to respond, but they also have some of that initiating energy. So You know, the responding is like either to a person, like someone actually saying, Do you want to do this? But it can also be to ideas. And I learned human design from a manifesting generator, and she used this rule of three. So if she got an idea three times, she considered that something she can respond to if she felt really good about it. Manifesting generators in business often, the ones that I've interacted with, often will have a lot of projects going at the same time, and that's just normal for them.
Megan Barrett: a lot of conditioning can happen for manifesting generators because they've been told you have to do one thing at a time. You have to start the thing, and then you have to finish the thing. When really they're designed to just have a, they're like designed to be multitaskers. And so not making that wrong, like it's okay to have multiple interests and multiple things going on. and then projectors are [00:44:00] really like the guides, the wisdom, They have a very penetrative aura, so they can see very deeply into what's going on with a person or a situation. And so projectors are here to wait for an invitation to then share what they're seeing, or share their wisdom, or share what they have to offer. I've heard it referred to as If someone came up to you with x ray vision and they're like, Oh, I see. I see what's going on here. And you're just like, Ooh, that's like, how did you know that? You're going to put up your defenses like, Ooh, don't don't tell me everything about myself.
Megan Barrett: And so that's like, where that waiting for the invitation opens the doors for projectors to come in and say, Okay, like they can even ask for an invitation. You can say, Oh, Can I share with you what I'm seeing here? And if someone says, yes, you've received an invitation and now that's going to be much better received than if you just walk up to somebody and you're like here's five things you're doing wrong in your business.
Megan Barrett: like, that's going to be taken [00:45:00] much differently. So for projectors they're like usually very good at systems great coaches if they have that interest but again, like really waiting for that invitation. even sometimes working in like higher level, like this needs to work in a certain way.
Megan Barrett: So projectors will probably be the people, if they have an email list, they might have the automations all set up. Cause they want to have the system in place before they start anything. And then reflectors are very rare. I think it's like one, one to 3 percent of the population. And reflectors are here to be like the mirrors of everybody else.
Megan Barrett: They don't have any defined centers and they just kind of reflect back what they're seeing. And for a reflector it's traditional teaching that reflectors are here to wait a lunar cycle to make a decision. 28 days. So that's a long time. And if you're a reflector in business, you can't usually always wait 28 days to make a decision.
Megan Barrett: what I have [00:46:00] heard and what I've talked to about people is really if you can optimize your environment, You can make a decision quicker. So get into a space where you feel really good, track a decision. Maybe it's do I want to, launch a new offer? How do I feel about it today? I feel good about it today. How do you feel about it? The next day, like really paying attention to, can I get into a space where I feel good and I feel safe and I feel able to make this decision, track that decision. If you get like a yes, five days in a row. yeah, this is the right decision for me. But reflectors are going to be really like influenced by the loop of the lunar cycle, the moon. And so that's why you want to wait a little bit because, some days it might, you might have all this different energy that's not even yours that's coming in.
Megan Barrett: And just very influenced by the people around you. So finding a community that you feel good with can be super supportive for reflectors too. Those are the five types. Like I said there's definitely nuance and there's a spectrum, and so I think if you can [00:47:00] start by using those strategy, start by tapping into your body.
Megan Barrett: Like, how does this feel when I make this decision? I think that's a really good place for people to start.
Joanna Newton: I think one of my big takeaways hearing you talk through that is that different people really make decisions and need to work in different ways. And I think sometimes when We feel like we're not living up to like our own expectations. We can say Oh, why am I that way? Like may, maybe it takes you a long time to make a decision.
Joanna Newton: Oh, why does it take me so long to make a decision or why I'm a manifesting generator? Why do I have 75 projects that I'm juggling at all times? Like, why is that instead of just actually embracing, like embracing what makes you uniquely you and Creating an environment that helps you thrive, right?
Joanna Newton: Because that's what this is about, especially if you're an entrepreneur, you're working on your own, even if you [00:48:00] do still have a corporate job, you still have some kind of control. Of how you react to things, how you set up your day all of those things. How can you actually create an environment?
Joanna Newton: a system, a situation that allows it to just be okay that you're the way that you are, that you need more time to make decisions, that you're good at starting things but not necessarily finishing them. You have permission to make your way of working work for you. And I think that can be really freeing.
Joanna Newton: So instead of sitting around thinking, oh, how can I be more not like myself? You can think, how can I make who I am, make sense in my business, make sense in my life, right? And that's a very different way to think that I think can be hard for people to, to shift to.
Megan Barrett: It's like the assumption that there is nothing wrong with you. And I think some of us have that. Like that almost ingrained belief that something is wrong with me because I'm not like them and they're [00:49:00] not like me. So something must be wrong with me. A lot of us internalize that I'm one of them. And so human design has been a incredible tools, like so freeing for me because it's like, Oh, I learned by pulling people's human design charts and I'm like, Oh, it makes so much sense. That's why they're like that. It's such a freeing thing because yeah it helps me. I don't need to compare myself to other people. And say, I need to be like them, but it also helps me not assume that they're doing something wrong. I think it can go both ways, and I think either way it gives you so much freedom. When you can just feel that ease and that settling in and taking that deep breath of I'm, how I am designed is perfect and I can be successful because of who I am, not like in spite of who I am, so yeah, I love human design and I, I love how freeing it can be for people. And I've seen so many people just feel that aha moment of, Oh, so I don't need to stop doing that. [00:50:00] that's okay. And it's that's a gift. Like let's, Let's like look underneath what we make wrong about ourselves.
Megan Barrett: And oftentimes we can find that there's actually a gift underneath there. And maybe that's the gift that like the world is waiting for and like waiting for you to step into and own. And what if that's, what's like the, quote missing, if anything's missing from your business, maybe that's what it is.
Michelle Pualani: Yeah, and I think there's a lot of rhetoric in the online space about, you've got to do it this way, it should be this way, this is what was successful for me. And when you're trying to absorb and process and then implement a lot of those things, it can feel unnatural or misaligned to how you're being. So I think really tuning in, understanding who you are, trying You know, at your core, whether that's human design or your strengths and weaknesses and leaning into them and then not comparing, not allowing yourself to feed into that narrative of it should be like this.
Michelle Pualani: I have this expectation. They did it that way. So Megan, thank you so much for sharing everything today. If someone were to want to find you, learn more from you, how can they do that? And where can they get in [00:51:00] touch?
Megan Barrett: I am on Instagram at it's Megan Barrett and my website is redeemingrootscoaching. com. I also have a link to just like a beginner's guide to human design, how to find your strengths in your chart that the link will be down below, I believe, and would love to have you download that and just get started.
Megan Barrett: Human design can be. A little overwhelming. I was one of those people who first opened the chart. It was like, Ooh, not going to dig into that. So I'm trying to simplify that as much as possible for people to see how it can be a tool in your toolbox.
Michelle Pualani: Absolutely. And I think for our listeners, also knowing that we are ready for different things at different times, and that we can go through phases and seasons and experiences in our business and in our life, and we find things and adapt things as we go, so not feeling like you have to absorb everything at the same time, you have to learn about human design and then implement everything right [00:52:00] away, it's more about it.
Michelle Pualani: What is going to assimilate, what's going to be a part of what I'm doing, how I'm showing up right now, and I can continue to grow, evolve, and learn over time. So we'll link everything up in the show notes. Thank you so much, Megan, for joining us today, and we'll see you next time.
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What is one thing you can do today to prioritize you in business and life?
