Projectors

Projectors — 20% of the population

Main Characteristics:

• Penetrating aura
• Here to guide the energy of others
• Utilizes the energy of others
• Strategy is to wait for the invitation
• Loves being seen and recognized

The Sacral Center for Projectors is not defined, and the Root, Solar Plexus, or Heart is not connected to the Throat Center. 

Projectors operate in such a different way than everyone else I almost think of them as a separate species. If you’re a Projector and you wonder why you have felt different from everyone else, it’s because you are different from everyone else!

Your Aura and Your Energy

Your aura is penetrating. It’s like an ice cream cone penetrating into the aura of another person. If you’re staring at someone’s back, they’ll likely turn around, wondering what it is they’re sensing. 

One of the gifts of this capacity is the ability to guide the energy of others, which is what Projectors are here to do. Generators are here to work, Manifestors are here to initiate and have an impact, Projectors are here to guide.

That ice cream cone aura also goes in the reverse direction — you literally take in the energy of others and ride it, like you’re a passenger in a car someone else is driving. It doesn’t take anything away from the person driving the car to have you as their passenger, but it’s a lot more efficient and less depleting for you than it would be for you to run alongside the car as they drive down the road.

But like everyone else, you’ve been conditioned by people different from you, and so have been conditioned away from who you really are. If 70% of the population are Generators, it’s likely you’ve been conditioned to work like a Generator which is all wrong for you. But let’s face it, most of our institutions and workplaces are set up for Generators. Nine-to five, anyone? Soul-killing and highly stressful for Projectors.

It’s not that you don’t have energy of your own to do what you want to do. Of course you do. But your energy is better suited for sprints, not marathons. Relatively short-term projects are more your style, not long, drawn out projects.  

You and Others

For some things, you’re just going to do better when you have others with you. If you have a Projector kid, just being nearby will help, you don’t have to do everything with them. True for adult Projectors as well. 

This means that it’s extremely important that the energy you’re taking in is healthy energy. You’re taking it into your system! Make sure it feels good. It doesn’t mean you’ll die if you’re in the company of someone you don’t like. But it means that if at all possible, don’t get into commitments with them. You can’t help but discern their energy, but just use it as information, and get your “auxiliary energy” elsewhere.

Projector Superpowers, and How to Use Them

This penetrating aura also means that you can see things most people can’t. You can see more deeply than most people can. You can see in multiple dimensions and see how they all work together, in ways that most people can’t. You can often see details that other people miss. You can feel the energy of things more than most people can.

This can lead, as one person somewhat harshly said, to your feeling like “you’re living in a world of stupid people.” What is obvious to you isn’t obvious to everyone. 

Which can also lead, unfortunately, to your trying to enlighten the masses with your insights, imposing those insights on them whether they want them or not. 

Which, if they haven’t asked for them, they usually don’t. Which leads to them pushing back, resenting what feels like an imposition. Which leads, for you, to a feeling of offense and bitterness.

The way out of this is to wait until people ask you. In Human Design, they call this strategy “waiting for the invitation.” For Projectors, the fear is that people will never ask. So they try harder, only to meet even more resistance, and more pain as a result

The truth is that you are always going to be ahead of most people. People aren’t always going to be ready for what you have to offer.

But you are here for a reason, and the right people will find you. Your job is to immerse yourself in things you love doing. Enjoy your life. Be passionate about whatever you’re passionate about. That is what “brightens your light” and makes it easier for the right people to find you. 

Someone I know put it like this, “You need to stand in the light and let people come to you and tell you what they need.”

You doing what you love, or flexing those parts of yourself that you love, is what stands you in your light.

The Need to be Seen

For Projectors, it’s important that they be invited to share the gifts that are actually theirs. In other words, it doesn’t help if you’re invited to share your leadership, if you have no interest in leading. So to be seen as you are, is extremely important.

So Projectors, in general, like to be seen, like to be recognized. I’ve talked to many who feel kind of embarrassed about it. But it’s an essential part of who you are — you need to be seen in order to be correctly invited, and part of your consciousness recognizes that, wants that, loves that!   

But you can’t demand it, you just get to enjoy it when it correctly happens. Do what you love, be passionate about what you’re passionate about. You will naturally attract the right attention.

The “Wait For the Invitation” Challenge

One challenge is to know when an invitation is real. I have a Projector friend who had a milestone birthday, and had been thinking deeply about what it meant to him. At a gathering, someone asked, “Hey, what is it like to turn [X]?” My friend started to answer, giving his thoughtful reflections, but the person saw someone else come through the door, and darted off to say hi, leaving my highly offended friend in mid-sentence. 

Now, this is obviously rude behavior regardless of your type, but it was especially offensive to my friend. 

Sometimes it’s hard to know when an invitation is real. Sometimes you just have to experiment and see what happens. If you do it intentionally as a way of gathering data, it can ease the burden of the bitterness that comes when you guess wrong.

One way around the “wait for the invitation” strategy is to ask people if they want your opinion. I was playing tennis with a Projector friend once, and I kept hitting balls into the net. I was working on something in my head, trying something new, and was experimenting. My Projector friend asked, “Would you like to know why your balls are going into the net?” Because of course he could see the details. 

I said, “Not yet.” I played around with my new thing that wasn’t working for a few more minutes and then said, “Okay, tell me the top two things I need to pay attention to.” He did, it was perfect, and my balls started going over the net again.

If he had just started telling me what I was doing wrong, I would have been irritated with him. I really appreciated his asking me first, and it worked much better for him, because when I asked him for his suggestions, I was receptive to and appreciative of them.  

So you can say, “I’ve got some ideas about that, would you like to hear them?” People will let you know if they’re ready or not, and things will go much more smoothly.

By contrast, another Projector friend decided he had to tell me in detail about the best way to arrange my silverware drawer (seriously) just as dozens of guests were arriving at my house for a party. Was I receptive? No. Was he offended that I didn’t stop and listen to him and his insightful analysis? Yes. Would I have been more receptive later? Probably. Okay, maybe.

So just because you’re right doesn’t mean you have to immediately share. Timing is an issue for everyone, and because you’re more likely to be ahead of people, it’s probably going to be more of an issue for you.

Sprinting hints

You have a greater awareness of what’s going on energetically with people than most, which is why you are here to guide (when invited!). As I said, your energy is more suited for sprinting, than marathoning. So what do you do if you’re in a marathon-type job?

Break it down into sprints, if possible. Projectors do better when they can work on discrete projects for a while then take a break.

Projectors also tend to get more done in their short sprints than marathoners get done all day.

So look busy, if you can, in between your brilliant sprints.

If you can get work that allows you to work in shorter bursts, with others doing the long-hauling, that would be perfect.

Need for Alone Time, and Sleeping Strategies

While you do benefit from having others to accomplish things with, you also need time alone to empty out all that energy you’ve been running. Sleeping alone is especially important for a Projector. If you’re in someone else’s aura, you can’t help but run their energy through your own system, even while you’re sleeping. So it’s harder for you to get back to “yourself.”

Our society has a lot of conditioning around sleeping with our partners, but it’s really just a made-up thing of relatively recent history. You can try it, to see what it feels like. See if you sleep better, or wake up feeling more rested. You don’t even have to do it every night. You still get to have physical intimacy with your partner whenever you want, but consider trying sleeping alone.

It’s also important for Projectors to go to bed before they’re exhausted, unlike Generators. You need to to transition, to let go of that “other” energy, and prepare your body for sleep.

In addition, Projectors also seem to need more sleep than other Types. In fact, most Projectors I know consider sleep practically a sacrament. It’s demanding, running all that energy. And it can be very helpful to understand that you aren’t being “lazy.”

The “Laziness” Trauma 

Speaking of which, most Projectors I’ve worked with have been accused of being “lazy” from a young age. It’s traumatizing, coming from a misunderstanding of how your energy is supposed to work, and coming from people whose energy operates so differently from yours.

You’re not lazy. Sometimes you do need the energy of others to get stuff done, and you do need to take breaks more than others. But again, when you do get going, with the proper support, you can get more done in less time than most people.

This is especially true for the athletes I’ve worked with. Projector athletes generally can’t train the same way that Generator-types can. Sometimes they can ride the energy of their teammates, but once out of their auras they will deflate like they’ve just been unplugged — which they have! 

For many Projector athletes, less is more — short intense training sessions will allow you to get more done than long-drawn out sessions, which tend to lead to injury.

So being in the right environment, with the right people, is essential to your success and well-being. Be discerning about this! Your gifts are needed here, and you need to be in a place where they can be recognized and called out to share.

And then go take a nap.