What’s in your zone of genius?

Have you come across the idea of living/working in your “zone of genius” before?

As far as I know, it originates in Gay Hendricks’ book The Big Leap. It is not without its flaws (and detractors), and it also contains gems.

In particular, he outlines 4 different zones to describe one’s abilities and skills.

They are your zones of:

Incompetence – Things at which you are not good. Competence – Things you are good at, but many are better. Excellence – Things at which you are above average. Genius – Things only you can do the way you do.

You can make a good living in your Zone of Excellence—and many do—but “…it is a seductive and even dangerous trap. To remain in this zone is to hobble yourself from taking the leap into your Zone of Genius.”

The danger isn’t wasting time doing things at which you are bad or unremarkable. It’s wasting time on things you are extremely good at but that don’t draw on “your special gifts and strengths.”

Hendricks believes identifying and embracing your Zone of Genius is “your ultimate path to success and life satisfaction.”

And from what I’ve seen, that checks out. Especially the satisfaction part. It’s definitely worth thinking about.

So the question, again: What’s in your zone of genius?

Zone-leaping,
James