I recently participated Felicia Hatcher’s “Genius Jam” workshop and she helped us figure out our zone of genius and encouraged us to lean into it. The concept of your genius zone comes from a book by Gay Hendricks entitled The Big Leap.
In the book Hendricks lays out four zones. Your zone of incompetence: things you are not good at. Your zone of competence: things you do well. Your zone of excellence: things you do really well–these are skills that you’ve mastered over time.
This is important: Most folks operate in their zone of excellence. Your friends, family, your colleagues, and society all want you to stay in your zone of excellence.
Then there is your zone of genius. In this zone you are tapping into “natural abilities which are innate, rather than learned. This is the state in which you get into ‘flow,’ find ceaseless inspiration, and seem to not only come up with work that is distinguished and unique, but also do so in a way that excels far and beyond what anyone else is doing.”
“In [an] interview with Forbes, Hendricks explained: ‘Most successful people are operating in their zone of excellence, in which they are doing things at which they are highly skilled. This zone is ultimately unsatisfying, though, because it does not engage the innate genius of the individual.’
“…commitment is the gateway to the zone of genius. When I work with busy executives, I start by asking them to make a commitment to blocking out just ten minutes a day in their calendars to devote to cultivating their genius. The ten minutes can involve journaling, meditating or any number of other activities, just as long as you are focusing on your genius for ten uninterrupted minutes. After you have gotten your ten minutes a day you’re your routine, then bump it up to fifteen minutes. Ultimately I want to see people I work with spending 90% of their time in their zone of genius, but you’ve got to start somewhere and my recommendation is to start with ten minutes a day.”
Operating in your zone of genius is the goal. Commitment and ten minutes a day are the on ramp.
Let’s do it.
TAKE IT FURTHER
Felicia Hatcher
The Big Leap
TUNING Design Co. 