Happy Sunday Everyone:
I’m rereading “the big leap” by Gay Hendricks, it’s probably been 5 years since I last read it. It’s a coaching assignment for me, and I’m grateful for that. Certain books need to be read more than once, and this is one of them.
He talks about having four zones:
- Zone of incompetence-things I’m not good at that others can do better.
- Zone of competence-things i can do fine but so can others.
- Zone of excellence-things I’m really good at.
- Zone of genius-place where I’m doing stuff few others can do and lose track of time because it’s so good/fulfilling for me.
There is obviously a lot more to it than that i.e., the whole book, but those concepts have been planted on my brain this past week. I’m going on a limb now in saying it will be one of my epiphanies of 2026. His premise is getting to and staying in the zone of genius, and I wholeheartedly agree but I can tell it’s going to take some practice getting there.
For now-the more useful concept for me is recognizing in myself the need (and stupidity) of thinking it’s super cool to get from the zone of incompetence to the zone of competence with various topics/things/skills. The amount of time wasted and energy sucked bouncing between these two categories is worth taking note of. I’m not sure if I’m alone on this or if it’s a universal problem but my desire to be good at things I’m not good at is real. I take my natural skills for granted and spend energy on the stuff I’m not good at, chasing the feeling of progress that comes from grinding from incompetence to competence. Somewhere in my past I had it locked in my brain that grinding was honorable and outweighed staying in a flow state with things I excel in that bring me joy. I’d like to believe I’m becoming less cynical as I age. The saying of “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” has gone from what I would consider a cheesy Pollyanna statement to having legitimate merit. This has everything to do with finding our way to our zone of genius.
I’m doing something with it. I started the Buffalo Division Coaching Academy. I love coaching, it’s where I’m in my happy place. It’s probably a little bold to say it’s my place of genius as far as my skill set to do it, but it’s certainly a place I lose track of time on the fulfilment side of life. I’m starting with a group of loan officers in our division as a test case and we will see where we go from there. The intentionality of going into my calendar, cancelling meetings I attend where others can do that particular role much better than me was incredibly gratifying. To create 7 hours a week of genius time by eliminating 7 hours a week of competence time feels healthy. Feels like I’m tracking well. Feels lighter. Feels more inspiring. Feels more fulfilling. Feels more exciting to rock and roll tomorrow morning when my eyes open.
It takes honoring yourself to look in the mirror and congratulate vs. critique yourself on considering what your zone of genius is. If you don’t acknowledge it, who else is going to?
The best homework assignment I can give anyone reading this is looking at your calendar and determining what portion of your day is allocated to these 4 categories. My guess is it will blow your mind!
Have a great week!