This week, I’m rereading Gay Hendricks’ “The Big Leap.”
If you aren’t familiar with the book, you’ve probably heard of its most popular takeaways about finding your “Zone of Genius.” According to Gay, there are four zones in which we operate:
- The Zone of Incompetence: In this zone, you are engaging in something you are simply not good at. If you’re doing it as a hobby, that’s okay. But you can spend many working hours on tasks in this zone for poor reasons and it causes you to waste a lot of time.
- The Zone of Competence: You can get the job done, but no better than the next person.
- The Zone of Excellence: In this zone, you are doing something you are very good at compared to most other people. This is where most people actually get stuck. Because you are good at these tasks, you think you are succeeding as best you can and there’s no reason to change.
- The Zone of Genius: When you’re in your zone of genius, you’re in a flow state. You’re taking advantage of your natural talents and doing what you earnestly enjoy. You have what could almost be called an “unfair advantage” over your competition. This is what you strive for.
This book is both enlightening and terrifying at the same time for people like me.
First, I have a lot of different hobbies — a lot of different things I love and dedicate my time to. Secondly, I have a lot of different jobs — multiple revenue streams that all require significant time and energy.
The problem that many people, including myself, face is that it’s often hard to know which zone you’re operating in at the moment.
It’s pretty easy to understand when you’re in your Zone of Incompetence. You suck at it and it takes too long to accomplish any task. You hopefully aren’t getting caught up there. You probably even understand when you’re just in your Zone of Competence, though many people do get stuck there.
But by far the biggest problem, and the biggest trap, that people face is getting stuck in their Zone of Excellence. You’ve found something you’re actually good at, and you can make money doing it? Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Sure. And there’s nothing wrong with finding something you’re good at and making money doing it. But you can do better.
There is a world out there where you can do something you love — something that only you can do the way you can do it. Something that you love so much that it doesn’t even feel like work. And you’re so great at it that you don’t have to convince anyone to give you money for it. You will attract it.
That’s your Zone of Genius.
But there’s another problem. Some people don’t know what their Zone of Genius even is.
If that’s you, start to ask yourself: “What are you uniquely good at doing? What can you do for hours on end that doesn’t feel like work? What can you offer people that no one else can?”
These are the types of questions that will help you find that zone to operate on another plane, where you’ll feel fulfilled on a level that could only be from you finding your divine purpose.
Sound too “woo woo” for you? It’s not. You have that available to you. You just have to find it.
For me, the struggle has been the let go of the other zones I operate in. I’ve got a baby on the way and it’s hard to leave tasks that are making me money. I am ingrained with a “hustle hard” mentality.
But that’s also a scarcity mindset and a trap that keeps me in my Zone(s) of Excellence. The mindset is where you and I have to start this change.
It’s funny how when you worry less about time, you magically seem to have more of it.
Similarly, when you worry less about chasing a single dollar and operate in your Zone of Genius, money starts to flow more freely — not associated with the time you spend, but with the value you provide.
Indeed, it requires a lot of trust in yourself to make that move.
But what investment doesn’t?
Rain Bennett is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and competitive storyteller with over a decade of experience producing documentary films that focus on health and wellness. His mission is simple: to make the world happier and healthier by sharing stories of change.
You can read the rest of “Right as Rain” here, and check back every Wednesday on Chapelboro for a new column!
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