This dataset consists of 17 writings on the respondents' experiences of self-management in working life. The participants worked in expert organisations. In the writing instructions, the respondents were asked to describe what self-management meant for them personally and how it showed in their work, as well as what factors in their life contributed to their working capacity and how they achieved their goals in working life. Additionally, the respondents were asked to recount whether their supervisor's actions affected their own self-management and whether their supervisor was interested in the work they did. Finally, the respondents' opportunities to impact work-related aspects were discussed in the writings. Background information included the respondent's gender and age as well as area of residence (categorised), level of education (categorised) and occupation group (categorised). The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD. The dataset is only available in Finnish.