“Are you trying to prove yourself? Again?”
Maybe it’s with your clients. Or your partner. Or that inner critic who always seems to be grading your performance.
The Will Center in Human Design holds the energetic theme of value—self-worth, commitment, and the material world. So, if you’ve ever found yourself in a loop of over-promising, over-working, or trying to be good enough, the Will Center might be at the heart of it.
Let’s explore what’s really going on—and how understanding this powerful center can be the difference between burnout and alignment, striving and sovereignty.
What Is the Will Center, and Why Does It Matter?
Located just to the right of the G/Identity Center in the Human Design bodygraph, the Will Center (also referred to as the Heart or Ego Center) is one of four motors. It governs themes like value, commitment, willpower, and the material world.
It’s not about “worthiness” in some abstract sense—it’s about the energy to prove your worth, make promises, and keep them. It’s also deeply tied to survival: money, resources, and how we navigate power dynamics in our relationships and careers.
Only about 30% of people have this center defined, meaning the majority are walking around with Open or Undefined Will Centers, vulnerable to deep conditioning around value and self-worth.
Defined vs. Undefined: What It Feels Like
If your Will Center is Defined, you typically have a consistent relationship with willpower. You tend to know your value. You may find it easier to say “no” and follow through on your commitments. But there’s a shadow side here: ego inflation, over-identifying with your achievements, or using value as a power play.
If your Will Center is Undefined or Open, the struggle is different—and perhaps more insidious. You may feel you have to prove your worth constantly. Your sense of value is inconsistent, and you may overcommit, exhaust yourself trying to be seen as good, valuable, or enough.
This is the “trying to be a Winn” story from my own life.
The Shadows of the Will Center
With an Open Will, I took in everyone else’s lack of self-worth and made it my own. I tried desperately to prove my value. My family was full of Ivy League high-achievers, doctors, debaters, and pilots. My mother, a Manifestor, was the star of the show—featured in the papers for racing her own plane. I was the overly sensitive kid who didn’t know who I was or why I was here.
Trying to prove I was lovable, valuable, and worthy of being in the Winn family became my full-time job. And I was failing at it. Miserably.
With an Open Will, the need to prove is the dominant theme. Whether it’s “I have to get this promotion,” “I need this client to say yes,” or “If I work hard enough, maybe I’ll feel okay,” we are driven by an inadequacy that can derail our lives.
Here’s the truth: The Open Will Center was never meant to prove anything. Its wisdom comes in when we realize we’re not here to chase worth—we’re here to remember it.
When You’re in Alignment: What’s Possible
When you stabilize your Open Will—not on ego—but on your True Nature, everything changes.
You stop chasing value and start living from being value.
You are not here to prove your worth. You are here to embody it.
You start making aligned commitments instead of reactive promises. You learn to say no without guilt. You no longer fall into the trap of measuring your value by your productivity, income, or others’ opinions.
And if you have a Defined Will? Your work is to use that strength with humility—not to dominate, but to uplift. Not to manipulate, but to stand firmly in your own inner knowing. Enjoy your capacity, without diminishing others or expecting them to follow through in the ways you can.
Client Story: The Day I Stopped Trying to Prove My Worth
I once had a client—let’s call her Jessica—who came to me in the throes of burnout. She was running a coaching business, raising two teenagers, and constantly felt like she was failing.
She had an Open Will Center.
The breakthrough came when we looked at her chart and named the game she’d been unknowingly playing: proving her worth through doing. We worked together to dismantle that story, using tools from The Work of Byron Katie, body sensing, and Human Design.
“I didn’t even realize,” she told me later, “that all my commitments were really just attempts to prove my worth.”
That’s the kind of liberation this work makes possible.
Ready to Explore This Deeper?
Understanding the Will Center is just one piece of the puzzle. In the Awakening and Human Design (AAHD) program, Pali Summerland and I will spend one full week on each of the Nine Centers—including guided meditations, live sessions, and real-time integration of your own design.
If you’re a coach or therapist, this course will change how you see your clients. If you’re on your own spiritual path, it will change how you see yourself.
Join us for this 9-week journey into the bodygraph—and into your deeper truth.
