Are You in Your Zone of Genius?
We've all had moments when we hit our zone of genius. You suddenly (in a good way) feel like you're on fire - you're doing important work you find interesting, you're developing your talents and turning them into strengths. How often have you felt like you're hitting it out of the park while delivering great results? Here is what you need to understand about your zone of genius. You can create more of them by being intentional about using your strengths daily.
"Each person's greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength.” ― Donald O. Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths.
As a student, I was urged to work on my weaknesses. It allowed me to get through the educational systems with flying "C's". However, when I was able to really focus on those things I was naturally good at - my C-average became a college scholarship and eventually an MBA.
It’s your strengths that act as the fuel to turn your every action into a success. Your strengths are an expression of you at your best and most authentic self and expressing them powers all your other abilities up to the next level.
when you mindfully link and use your strengths to shape ‘how’ you do your work that's when you’ll feel the most powerful.
So how can you use your strengths to fuel performance at work?
The first step is identifying your strengths by taking the CliftonStrengths Assessment. Then you can try three of my favorite strengths interventions to feel more engaged, powerful and happier at work.
Pick a Strength of the Week and be intentional about using it every day. Make sure to journal your results and check in how you feel your day went. Once you do that for a week try to imagine you're not allowed to use that strengths at work for the next months. What would work be like? Make a note of your thoughts. Now just enjoy the fact that you get to use this strength every day, and find even more ways to put it to work.
Notice Strengths in others - Identify others strengths in action. Let them know you notice them using it. Have a conversation about strengths and get to know them from the perspective of their talents and not just their favorite football team.
Target your Strengths – You can target your top strengths with any activity, conversation or routine to improve your engagement and sense of purpose at work. No matter how mundane, you can bring your best qualities to that particular task. List the five things that you do most frequently at work, it could be filing, leading team meetings or solving big problems. Write down one way you can use your top five strengths for each of the five work tasks.
I believe that we are all better off when we open up the doors of momentum through understanding and putting our strengths to work. You'll be amazed at just how awesome you really are.
What can you do to be more consistently in your power zone?