10 Questions to Unlock Your Genius

What’s your genius zone?

In other words, where does your creativity really thrive? What headspace do you need to be in to get your best work done?

This is such an important thing to know about yourself, but as business owners, we’re often so focused on everything going on around us that we forget to pay attention to ourselves.

 Everyone’s different of course, but generally speaking there are four different zones we all move in and out of:

• Incompetence

We might hate admitting it, but there’s always something we’re not very good at. (For me, it’s calendar management.)

• Competence

Here are the things we can do pretty well, but so can pretty much everyone else.

• Excellence

The zone of excellence includes things we’re really great at, but don’t necessarily stand out or set us apart.

• Genius

Ah, now this is where the magic happens! The zone of genius includes the things you were born to do, and the things you do best (and better than the rest).

Now, when you’re looking to figure out what your zone of genius is, there are three things to consider.

Think of it like a 3-way Venn diagram:

Then the sweet spot (your genius zone) is an equal balance of all three things; things that naturally come easy to you, things you’ve learned and honed, and things that give you energy and fulfill you.

So let me ask you again, what’s your genius zone? You’re about to find out!

Grab a pen and paper. Write down your answers to the following 10 questions.

1. What do you absolutely LOVE to do (and never get bored of)?
2. What unique ability do you have that’s really valuable to your business, your community, and yourself?
3. What are you doing when you’re at your very best and most fulfilled?
4. Get more specific with your answer to question three… Name a few things (activities, tasks, etc.) that you do day-to-day that fall into that category. What do you love about each of those things?
5. Pretend money and titles don’t exist. What role in your business would you love to be playing?
6. If you could do absolutely anything every single day, what would you do?
7. What are the things you’re currently doing in each of the four zones?
8. What % of your time are you spending on things within your genius zone?
9. Are you satisfied with that %? What % would you like to get to?
10. What can you start doing today that will allow you to operate more within your zone of genius?

Maybe your answers don’t come to you straight away, that’s perfectly fine. Keep these questions in front of you, whether you leave them at your desk, on your fridge, or taped to your bathroom mirror. The answers will find you, and when they do, they’ll be clear as day.

Okay, so we’ve figured out where our zone of genius lies (eventually). Now what to do with it?

This is a core motivator for every business owner. Without the right person doing the right things, businesses become stagnant, or worse, they move backward.

Start putting effort into the right part of your business and watch it soar like never before.