Find your zone of genius!

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m actually doing with my time.

Not in a dramatic “what is the meaning of life?” kind of way, but more because I do so many different things and sometimes end up feeling completely overwhelmed by it all. And yes, of course, there are the obvious things that help, like resting properly, taking care of yourself, setting boundaries and planning recovery into your calendar instead of waiting until you burn out.

But there’s another concept I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Your “zone of genius.”

Maybe you’ve heard the term before. I had too, but I never really stopped to think deeply about what it actually means in practice. So I started reading about it, and I came across a definition that really stayed with me.

The idea is that there are four different zones we tend to operate within:

Zone of incompetence - Things other people probably do much better than you.

Zone of competence - Things you’re perfectly capable of doing, but honestly, a lot of people could do them just as well.

Zone of excellence - Things you’re really, really good at. Better than most people, actually. But you don’t necessarily love doing them.

Zone of genius - The things you are uniquely good at, and genuinely love doing so much that time almost disappears while you’re doing them.

I think many of us spend most of our lives somewhere between competence and excellence. We become reliable. Productive. Good at things. Maybe even very successful at them.

“I think many of us spend most of our lives somewhere between competence and excellence. We become reliable. Productive. Good at things. Maybe even very successful at them.”

But that doesn’t automatically mean they are the right things for us.

The idea behind the “zone of genius” is that once you become aware of what belongs in each category, you can start making smarter decisions around your time and energy. Especially as entrepreneurs, leaders or ambitious people, we often assume we need to do everything ourselves. But maybe the goal isn’t to become better at everything?

Maybe the goal is to spend more time where we are the most alive.

And that also means understanding that tasks affect people differently.
Something that completely drains you might energise someone else. Which is why outsourcing is not always about “getting rid” of work, but about letting the right people do the things they naturally thrive in.

Try this!

If you, like me, sometimes struggle to define what actually gives you energy versus what silently drains it, here’s a simple exercise you can try:

For one week, write down everything you do during your workday. Big things, small things, everything.

Then go back through the list and mark each task with either:

• “gives energy”

• or “takes energy”

You can even use colours if you want to make it visual. Green for energy. Red for draining. Patterns usually appear surprisingly quickly.

And once you know which tasks mostly take energy from you, your goal becomes one of these three things:

• Eliminate them

• Outsource them

• Or find a way to make them better, lighter or more enjoyable

I think many people are exhausted not because they’re lazy or doing too little, but because they’re spending too much time outside their natural zone of genius.

And maybe success is not just about doing more. Maybe it’s about doing more of the right things.

Let me know if you try the exercise. I’d genuinely love to hear what you discover.

/M.