How to Identify your Zone of Genius
One of my favorite current books is The Big Leap by Gay Hendrickson.
I originally came across it for the first time by one of my coaching mentors who mentioned how impactful it had been for him in prioritizing his work/ life schedule.
He’s somebody who inspired me so I paid a close listen to what he was sharing.
Rich Litvin, a previous school teacher from the UK, went into coaching after being fired from his then full-time teaching profession.
However prior to doing so he spent some time traveling through Asia, to reset his mind and create a bit of distance from the constant hustle of work that he had become accustomed to in his previous role.
Fast forward, and while I don’t know exactly what he makes financially, he did share his tax bill alone was for over $300K in the previous calendar year.
Why do I mention this?
Because after following his work and attending one of his over two-week intensive trainings earlier this year, it was clear as day to me that he was operating from his zone of genius.
What is the Zone of Genius you may be thinking.
It’s a term coined in the book I mentioned earlier (here’s the Amazon link if you’d like a quick peak) where Hendrickson describes it as:
“In your zone of genius, work doesn’t feel like work and time flows by effortlessly.”
Sounds pretty simple right?
Alright, that’s all I got. See you next week :- )
All kidding aside, he takes this concept further in describing that there are 4 levels in which we all operate from on some level, dependent upon the activity in which we’re doing.
1. The Zone of Genius (which of course I’ve already mentioned and we have some brief though limited familiarity with)
2. The Zone of Excellence
3. The Zone of Competence
4. The Zone of Incompetence
I’ve already described a bit on the first one, which is the highest octave that we can experience when it comes to doing activities and work in which we love. When immersed in it we lose track of time, we gain energy anytime we’re doing it, and it comes so effortlessly that more times than not we may not even be aware of it (if of course it hasn’t already been consciously discovered and honored by said individual).
We’ll get more back to this later but let’s now go in reverse order with the remaining three.
1. Zone of Incompetence
The zone of incompetence are those things which we know we’re just flat out not good at. In other words, there’s a clear level of frustration that appears whenever embarking on said activity, and there’s a clear awareness of it being an area where it takes a lot of time and energy to complete.
An example of this for myself would be anything that has to do with website design or the technical aspects of computers in general.
A few years back when I first began my professional lifestyle coaching business, I spent a ton of time researching all the “must haves” to properly start.
At the top of the list was a professional website.
Me, not knowing anything different, decided to purchase a program that taught me how to build a website.
After two months and countless hours spent applying what I had learned, I finally completed my first website.
There was only one problem though.
I was absolutely drained from the experience.
1. I had no deep desire or interest in building websites
2. It took nearly every ounce of available energy for me to complete (and we won’t even go into all the tantrums in between and F bombs that were released throughout)
While appreciative of the experience and what I learned from it. I became aware that I not only had any real proficiency in building websites, but I also found nothing exciting about the process of doing so either.
Let’s now move on to the next in line.
2. Zone of Competence
So, the zone of competence is a step above incompetence, which is obviously a step in the right direction.
However, it’s the equivalent of our skills being on par or average amongst everyone else’s too.
I like to refer to this zone as the zone of “blending in.”
There is no standing out in this particular zone because the definition of competence in general is to; do something efficiently.
Another example on my end would come in this time as cooking.
I enjoying cooking and I’d estimate that close to 90% of the foods I eat are prepared at home.
I feel very confident in my ability to prepare simple meals.
When it comes to preparing ground beef (seasoning with a little turmeric, Himalayan salt, and pepper) or sautéing sweet potatoes on the stove (with cinnamon, a sprinkle of sea salt, and a drizzle of raw honey), I feel confident in my ability to prepare a satisfactory and well-tasting meal on the food game level.
However, this is an area that while proficient in, is not one where I see a drastic shift in being that different from many other meal preparers (either with friends or at restaurants).
It’s an area that I’m content in honoring that I know what to do in order to get the job done, but there are countless others on this beautiful planet who can prepare a salad, cook a burger, or sauté some veggies just as well as I can.
Now moving on to the next one, this is where things start to get interesting.
3. Zone of Excellence
If you’re like me, when first seeing the name, you may have thought that this would be an absolute great place to be.
On one level it absolutely is.
The zone of excellence is where you are akin to being in the top 10-15% of your craft.
You have put in the hours, obtained the experience, and have a deep understanding of an area that you know you feel more proficient at than most.
Admittedly, this is an area that I’ve recently put a deep microscope on within myself.
While I previously thought speaking to and coaching clients around topics pertaining to personal health and stress management was a part of my zone of genius, I’ve recently become more aware that this is actually an area within my zone of excellence.
Let me share more details with you on why that is, and why I was really frustrated at first, first, when creating this unique insight (though I’m authentically peaceful with it now).
A big part of my story (at least the one that I’ve been creating from for many years) is deeply centered around the importance of one’s personal health and understanding how to uniquely take care of one’s mind and body.
I’ll save all the details but I completely transformed my health a few years ago while in the middle of working in my then corporate sales career.
The short version would be that my body pretty much completely shut down.
My energy was not existent, I gained nearly 50 pounds, and my brain literally felt like it was in a cloud throughout most of the days.
This went on for several months until I reached a climax where instead of continuing to avoid confronting that I didn’t need help, I took a major leap forward and hired a Naturopathic Doctor.
For those who may not be aware, a naturopath is a doctor who is trained to look at the entire body holistically. Meaning that instead of looking at or treating singular areas where symptoms are present, they go deeper and look at the interconnection of all bodily systems and what the potential root cause is for out of balance areas.
Hopefully that makes sense.
A brief example would be if you went to a traditional doctor with continuous complaints of headaches, they’d scan your brain via an MRI or CT Scan, and if they weren’t any abnormalities present in the results, they’d either more than likely recommend taking an over-the-counter headache medicine whenever symptoms would reappear (or they’d prescribe you some medication to try and reduce or eliminate the discomfort you may feel within your head).
How do I know this? Because that was the life I experienced throughout several years of my childhood (you can read up on “My First Major Health Hurdle” if you’d like to learn the whole story).
Well, after working with my Naturopathic Doctor then for six months, I had an absolutely earth-shattering transformation within my own personal health. She walked me through (at a basic level) the connectedness of what I was experiencing throughout my entire body on a cellular level, to breakdowns of importance in hormonal production and why and how it affects the body when they’re greatly diminished (primarily my adrenal glands).
She awoken me to the importance of addressing the health of that area first (in my case) in order to reverse the lack of energy, weight gain, and brain fog that I was experiencing.
After months of making tweaks to my nutrition, removing caffeine and alcohol from diets, and taking natural supplements that were geared at reducing inflammation and creating homeostasis in the body, I felt like a brand-new car (Mercedes Benz) off the lot.
I was inspired and my whole entire world shifted.
I became infatuated with all things pertaining to health and learning as much as I could about the human body and how to optimize the health of it.
I studied and became certified in yoga and meditation. I studied and became certified in Eating Psychology, which was centered on discovering the unique relationships us humans have to food, body image, and the mindset and psychology of the decisions we make around them.
I studied and became certified in Function Nutritional, which dove deep into the biochemical and physiology aspects of our bodily organs and systems, and how to create balance between them.
I spent over $40,000 on these different certifications, hiring my own personal coach, traveling, and online programs to continue learning within these realms.
All of that is suffice to say that my knowledge in these areas are what I’d consider to be exceptionally high.
So, what’s the problem you may be wondering?
Well it’s not really a problem per say, as I previously built my entire personal coaching from seeing clients who came to me specifically for health restoration coaching alone (and I’m appreciative of being able to connect and speak to them on a deep level within the arena).
However, health coaching, on its own, is in my zone of excellence, not genius.
Let me describe why.
As much as I enjoy helping people completely transform their own personal health in these areas, and have assisted clients ranging from all three professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB), executives of one of the top performing car dealerships in the country, professional artist, creative entrepreneurs, and senior tech sales executives to name to a few, it requires a certain level of effort on my end in doing so.
What do I mean by this effort?
It’s not effortlessly for me in the sense of providing me with an abundance of energy.
I enjoy it, but if I spend all my time doing just this (then I would honestly over time feel like I haven’t fully been tapping into my true genius).
So, if you’ve read this far I’m sure you’re wondering, well what the heck is your zone of genius then?
Trust me, it’ll all come together now. If not I promise you a 100% money back guarantee for the amount of cash you spent reading this content ;- )
4. Zone of Genius
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Alright I’ll stop messing around now.
As I mentioned within the first paragraph, one’s zone of genius comes effortless to them and is aligned with something they could do for countless hours but receive nothing but energy from it.
Since we’ve already been discussing so much about me in the last category of excellence, I’d like to share with you my zone of genius and then I’ll wrap up with four questions you can ask yourself to begin identifying your own (though I also recommend purchasing the book too, as the author will explain it in much greater detail than I probably am).
My zone of genius is effortlessly seeing and solving complex human problems, and inspiring others so they can truly tap deeper into their life’s purpose.
The modalities I use for this are through coaching, speaking, and writing about topics pertaining to inner personal development.
That’s it.
The end, it was nice knowing you.
But no really, these areas (and specifically writing) are something that comes absolutely effortless and gives me an immense amount of energy each time I do so.
The key for me is discussing topics that I have a DEEP interest in and ones where I can tell a story (just like I’ve been doing here now).
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few other areas I’ve created clarity around that also have been reflected back to me by personal coaches and clients as areas where they see the genius in me.
Which are:
- Authentically feeling, expressing, and teaching others how to process the full range of all human emotions (in the moment)
- Creating an extremely calm and safe space for others to authentically share any and everything that’s on their minds and hearts
- Leading guided meditations for groups or organizations that create a profound level of inner peace and calm amongst its employees
- Helping creative and visionary minded leaders easily see and access their unique zone of genius, so they can share their unique gift(s) with the world
- Publicly speaking to groups around topics pertaining to purpose, spirituality, and personal development
Why are these areas my zone of genius you may be asking?
Because everything I mentioned above requires absolutely no effort on my end and fills me up with so much energy when I’m doing them, that it doesn’t even feel like work.
As an example, as I’m writing this right now I’m 8 pages in (roughly 2200 words typed) and it’s only taken me an hour and a half to write. I’m listening to some deep house music and have literally been dancing in my seat while typing this all out to you.
I genuinely love it.
I honestly feel that I’m not the one doing the writing, it’s something far greater than me and I’m just channeling what is moving through me. I refer to it as spirit and truly feel blessed to say this, as my life wouldn’t be as fulfilling if I didn’t create the space to allow this expression to be utilized in some capacity to help others.
Now enough about me, here are the four questions you can ask yourself to reflect on in order to gain clarity on what those Zone of Genius may be for yourself:
1. What do I most love to do? (Something you can do for long periods of time without getting tired or bored)
2. What work do I do that doesn’t seem like work? (You can do this ALL day and never break a sweat)
3. In my work, what produces the highest amount of abundance & satisfaction, to the amount of time spent?
4. What is my unique ability? (Your unique ability is usually camouflaged inside of a skill you already possess)
As an example how this looks for me – my unique ability is to create a deep sense of peace and calm when around others. This shows up everywhere but professionally it’s either within one-on-one coaching sessions, while leading meditations, or maybe (hopefully) you notice you may feel more relaxed and at ease since reading this.
I mention all that because after really spending some time with those above questions, asking my partner, a coach who I personally work with, and even my clients, these are areas that started to crystalize with more and more clarity. Now I 100% own it and am grateful for slowing down and intentionally creating the space and time to identify them on my own end.
One last bit of advice for those of you who decide to create the undistracted space to answer the above questions. Remain patient and gentle with yourself throughout the process.
Just by setting the intention and creating the space to honor it, the answers will naturally begin coming to you. I guarantee it ;- )
With Love,
Brandon