What Are YOU Meant to Do
People come to me when something is off in their lives. Often that starts with the feeling that they are in the wrong job. Sometimes that’s the case, but more often it’s a symptom of a larger issue: you are not living the life you want. In essence, you don’t know your purpose. The good news is, this problem is solvable.
A few months ago, I wrote about how to calibrate your body compass so that you can understand when something feels aligned with your purpose and when it doesn’t. Today, we’re going to take that to the next step and use the body compass to help you find your Zone of Genius.
The Zone of Genius concept comes from a book called “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendrix. This is a book I go back to all the time - if you are a coaching client of mine, you have probably heard me talk about this book. In it, Hendricks talks about four different levels of work. There’s work that is your Zone of Incompetence - this is work you really are not good at and should not do. For example, I am not the person to come to with a tech issue.
Then there’s the Zone of Competence - work you can do, but is not the best use of your time. You can do, but you are not the best person to do it. I can clean my house, but I don’t like doing it and I would rather use my time for other things, so I pay others to do it (and I recognize that is a privilege).
The third zone - your Zone of Excellence - is where most people get stuck. This is work - or tasks - that you are really excellent at; you might be the best person at these things, but they don’t light you up. Often this is work that you have been praised for, and likely also promoted because of. It might be the basis of your whole career. But when you think about doing this work, you feel kind of meh, or tired, or like you’re merely checking things off a to-do list.
Finally we come to the Zone of Genius. This is work that you are called to do. It is the work that feels like you are living out your purpose (because you are!).
So, how do you find your Zone of Genius?
Here’s where we go back to the body compass.
When you are doing Genius work, you will feel really good. Your body compass will be at a +8 to +10 (reminder of what your body compass is and how to use it). It’s work that you could do for hours and your day would feel like it’s flown by in the best way.
The goal is not to do only Zone of Genius work - we all still have to pay bills and wash the dishes and sit through some boring meetings. But if you can begin to do more and more Zone of Genius work, the experience of your work will feel more and more purposeful. You will get closer and closer to living your purpose.
Start using your body compass by noticing what you’re feeling when you do various work and life tasks. This will tell you what zone you might be in. Write down anything that feels great - like you could just keep doing it forever and not get tired. Also notice what tasks feel like your zone of excellence - things you are excellent at, but that do not light you up. Remember that you are likely doing A LOT of things in your Zone of Excellence because we tend to get stuck there. That’s okay; the first step to becoming unstuck is to notice.
Once you have a good list, get curious about how you might begin doing more Zone of Genius work. A few unexpected things might happen when you do this:
Guilt about wanting. I wrote a few years ago about why it’s so difficult for women to know what they want.
Guilt or anxiety about stepping away from your to-do list.
You may be unfamiliar with prioritizing yourself. This can be uncomfortable at first, especially if you were raised to make others comfortable instead of yourself.
Realizing nothing you do at work is in your Zone of Genius. Hint: if this happens, look beyond your work to other things you love (for example, one of my former clients Zone of Genius is gardening).
This exercise is asking a lot. It’s asking you to feel, and to understand what feels good.
This is why coaching exists because it’s difficult to do this on our own. I’m here to support you. Please reach out if you need help.