The 3 Core Needs Every HSP Must Have to Thrive in Their Career

The key to thriving in your career as a Highly Sensitive Person isn’t about finding the “perfect job” - it’s about intentionally designing a career that meets your core needs.

I’ll never forget my first day of freedom being self-employed. Having the luxury of creating my day around my energy; feeling so cosy in my home office and working on projects that I actually cared about. It literally felt like I had won the career lottery!

Over the coming weeks and months, my overall wellbeing and happiness dramatically improved.

I actually had energy by the end of the week, which meant I could start enjoying my weekends. Creating spaciousness in my days allowed me to balance having a social life with my work, which was something I could never do in my full time job since I spent most weekends recovering.

Up until this point, I had no idea that ‘loving work’ was even a possibility - and now that I’d had a taste of what this could look like I realised there was no going back to jobs that drained the life out of me.

The truth is, Highly Sensitive People (HSP’s) struggle in traditional work environments that don’t cater to their unique needs.

It is not unusual for HSP’s to find themselves in a perpetual state of burnout, feeling unfilled and constantly overstimulated, wondering why on earth work feels so exhausting.

Here’s what I have learned on my journey: the key to thriving in your career as an HSP isn’t about finding the “perfect job” - it’s about intentionally designing a career that meets your core needs.

After my own spectacular failures in jobs and careers that didn’t serve my needs and experimenting over many years with different types of work structures, I have been able to identify that there are in fact three core needs that all HSP’s need in their careers to thrive, instead of just surviving.

The Three Core Needs Framework for HSP’s

1. Autonomy – the freedom to work in a way that supports your energy

Jobs that have rigid schedules, constant meetings, tight deadlines and micromanaging bosses feel suffocating for HSP’s.

Instead, we thrive when we have control over our time; with fluid and flexible schedules that allows us to work in a way that honors our energy.

Some days we will have more energy than others; some of us (myself included) love starting the mornings slowly and easing into the day, rather than rushing to start at a scheduled time.

Some of us are only productive for a few hours a day, but because we know when we are most productive, we can maximise what we can achieve in a day, simply because we’re working with our natural rhythms.

We need to be in control of our time, work style and environment so we can protect our energy and prevent burnout.

Environment is key because we’re so prone to external stimulation, we need to be in a space that supports our need for mental clarity and calm.

Signs you lack autonomy in your career:

Feeling constantly drained and exhausted from adjusting to external demands; and having no control over your schedule or workload are clear signs you lack autonomy in your career.

If you’re longing for more freedom to work in a way that feels natural to you, know that this is entirely possible and also essential for you as an HSP.

How to design a career with more autonomy:

There are many different ways to design a career with more autonomy including seeking flexible working arrangements that allow you to work from home; remote based work; freelancing and self-employment - these days there are a ton of options available.

It could also look like designing a portfolio career where you combine one or more of these styles of working that allows you to create an optimal work schedule. I have used this approach throughout my career to seamlessly blend different types of work.

For example, I used to combine website design and digital consulting services, while running a digital product business alongside it.

I have also worked part time for another business in marketing roles; while also offering mentoring and consulting services through my own business.

There are so many different ways you can spin making a portfolio career work for you, on your own terms.

No matter how you approach designing your career, it ultimately means organising your day in a way that honors your energy and need for spaciousness - these are not ‘nice to haves’ for HSP’s - they are essential to your wellbeing, productivity and happiness.

As part of your approach, it is crucial to set strong boundaries around meetings; deadlines and your availability, so you can manage your energy and prevent burnout.

The structure of your day matters too - start to experiment with your natural rhythms to understand how you work best. Do you have more energy in the mornings; or do you prefer a slower start to the day?

Perhaps you work best with just a couple of sessions of deep work during the day and clear the rest of your schedule so you can enjoy a quiet recovery in the afternoon.

Make it a priority to discover your optimal ways of working and aim to design your days in a way that honors this.

2. Alignment – doing work that feels meaningful and purposeful

As HSP’s we are values-driven and need to feel a sense of purpose in our work. We are deep feelers with big hearts, so having this connection with our work is essential. Without it, we’re left feeling empty and constantly questioning ‘what is the point?’.

We need to feel connected to the work we’re doing in order for it to feel meaningful and give us a reason to keep getting up and going to work each day.

It’s hard to feel excited, inspired or energized about work when we’re not being driven by a greater purpose.

I remember back in my corporate career feeling so disconnected from the work I was doing. It felt like the only thing that was valued was the bottom line and making sure we met our budget.

The message about hitting the numbers was driven home to us on a daily basis and honestly, it just made my skin crawl. It literally felt like this was the only thing that mattered - and when this is the case, it's really hard to stay motivated and actually enjoy our work.

If work feels transactional or disconnected from our beliefs, we lose motivation and energy, fast.

Signs you lack alignment in your career:

Feeling unfulfilled, disconnected and uninspired in your work are clear signs that you’re misaligned in your career. If you find yourself regularly questioning “what’s the point” and you feel like your job is just a pay check rather than something that contributes to the world, ignoring these signs won’t make them go away - from my own experience, they only grow stronger with each day that passes.

How to design a career with more purpose and alignment:

The first step to creating a career with more purpose and alignment is to get super clear on your core values and making sure your work reflects these.

It’s also important to choose work that allows you to make some kind of impact - whether that’s helping others, using your creativity, or solving problems for people.

Getting paid isn’t enough for HSP’s - there has to be a greater purpose for our work and why we do it.

If your current career doesn’t allow for this right now, you can always explore other ways to integrate more purpose into your life whether that be through a side project; volunteering or mentoring.

3. Activation – the need for mental engagement and growth

As HSP’s we’re full of contradictions: while we need calm and balance, we also crave deep thinking, problem-solving, and intellectual engagement.

Work that is too repetitive, monotonous or lacking in challenge can feel soul sucking.

On my quest for finding work that was calm and balanced, that wasn’t overstimulating and in a high-stress environment, I decided to seek out jobs that I thought would be less taxing and more gentle on my nervous system..

This ended up being a huge mistake, because they were so dull and boring I was literally tearing my hair out from not being mentally challenged! It became incredibly stressful trying to appear like I was engaged in work that felt like complete drudgery.

Signs you lack mental stimulation in your career:

If you feel bored, stuck, or uninspired in your daily work; being under-challenged doing tasks that don’t push your thinking, and you’re dreaming about more exciting opportunities, you’re likely lacking the mental stimulation you need to thrive in your career.

How to design a career with mental stimulation:

Find work that lets you continuously grow and evolve, whether through learning new skills or working on diverse projects.

The key is to ensure your work is mentally engaging but not so stressful that it leads to overstimulation.

Actively seek opportunities that allow for deep work, creative problem-solving, as well as skills development.

Striking a balance between mentally stimulating work, being in a calm environment and aligning with your values, is a challenge in its own right, let alone trying to find a perfect job which fits this criteria!

This is why I firmly believe that designing a portfolio career or going down the path of self-employment offers so many benefits to HSP’s for designing a flexible, autonomous and deeply fulfilling path that honors your true nature.

How to begin designing your HSP friendly career:

To begin designing your HSP-friendly career, the first step is to assess your current career against the three core needs: Autonomy, Alignment and Activation.

Next identify the gaps and explore ways that you look to fill this, whether it’s flexible working arrangements; taking on a side project or skilling up in areas of interest you’re keen to further explore. Then it’s time to begin experimenting with different career structures and work styles so you can understand what suits you the best.

One important thing is to get clear on your version of success and what this looks like to you.

While a high paying salary and positions with status might be nice, if they don’t meet your core needs then it’s not worth pursuing.

Instead focus on creating alignment with your values, your energy and what you can uniquely contribute to the world.

The truth is, you have a plethora of choices available right now in defining your unconventional career path - more than any other time in history.

So, if you’ve been considering reinventing the way you work and creating a career that honors your core needs - there’s never been a better time to do it.

You don’t have to settle in a career path that wasn’t designed for you. When you intentionally build your career around Autonomy, Alignment, and Activation, you’ll naturally feel more energized, fulfilled, and in flow.

Which of the three needs are you currently missing most?

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