The zone you get into where time disappears, your spirits are most uplifted and you are doing “the thing” that gives you the most energy – this is your genius zone.

In my conversation with Finola Howard, a growth strategist, she reminded me that when you focus 80% of your time on the thing that you are BEST at, your business will soar along with your joy success meter.

A bit further into the conversation we honed in on what your ‘BEST’ really is and where your uniqueness lies.

We spend so much time when we grow up from young people into adults focussing on how to ‘get a job’ and put all those foundations in place that we’re told are the “right thing” to do.

Also as young people we spend time trying to blend in, be the same…or to belong.

As we get into adult life we forget about the things that we enjoyed spending time doing and that actually brought us joy and lightness.

We also start to feel this itch that we actually want to stand out, be seen, be taken seriously…and to be chosen. (In this case – be chosen as the expert or specialist that people want to work with).

Enter: the job of Personal Branding

More often than not when we work with clients on their personal brand strategy, we find that there have been clues all the way back to when you were a child as to where your strengths actually lie and the root of what makes you happy.

When you re-connect with your true strengths and gifts, you realise that they have been with you all along and they’ve been trying to wink at you for years. And that, my friend, is when the magic happens.

By reflecting on where you’ve come from, how you got to where you are, and what you are doing now – you also get to shine a light on the unique flavour that you bring to the world.

Ways to find your Goldilocks Genius Zone

I know I’m playing with the analogy of the Goldilocks Zone…smushed up against your genius zone, but it’s catchy and hopefully it will work to flip the switch in your brain to find the space where everything is just right. The space where time flies, you are feeling your best and you sparkle for others.

Here are some clues that will help you:  

#1 When does time disappear?

Watch yourself over the next week and look out for the times in your day when all of a sudden the clock has skipped ahead, and you’ve been “in it” for hours without knowing. You may feel like whatever you were doing was:

• ‘not important’
• ‘too easy to be work’, and
• is just ‘what you do’

TO-DO:

Make a note of:

• how you were feeling in that time that disappeared
• what exactly were you doing? (Tasks, thinking, making, dreaming, physical actions)

#2 Do a simple timeline

Take an hour out of a day – go and sit in a quiet place with a notebook. Think back in your life and look at these windows of time:

• Early childhood (under 10)
• Tween / teen (11 to 18)
• Young adult (19 to 25)
• Adult (26 to now)

TO-DO:

Ask yourself:

• what did I enjoy doing?
• what did I do at school that stood out?
• who saw me and helped me?
• who inspired / motivated me?

#3 Flesh out your human diversity

Each and every one of us are individual and unique, even if we are not convinced of that at times. Take some more reflection time to flesh out some of the things about what your life looks like. Think about the things that shape you as an individual like:

• Communities you are a part of, or run (e.g. book club, running, cycling, nature walk groups, Knit and Natter, volunteer groups, etc)
• Country you were born and grew up in (may be different to where you live now)
• A religion or faith you follow
• Lifestyle (e.g. live half the year in another country, have a blended family, do big travel adventures with family, adrenaline junkie activities, etc)
• Neurological diversity (e.g. autistic, ADHD, OCD, photographic memory, ‘certified’ genius, etc)
• LGBTQ+
• Greatest fears (e.g. spiders, heights, snails?)
• Addictions (e.g. crunchy Wotzits, soap operas, baked goods)
• Guilty pleasures (e.g. cookies in bed, Vampire Diaries, etc)

I did a podcast episode on this topic, if you want to go and listen to that: ‘Build Your Human Diversity Into Your Personal Brand.’

Some of the answers you will get from these three little activities will give you some indicators of where you get joy from, and also where you enjoy spending your time the most. Once you work to match these observations with what you do for a living – that’s when you get closer to what your Goldilocks Genius Zone looks like.

Finding it hard because you’re too close to it? No problem, my magical team and I can help. This work is our genius zone and we love doing it. Feel free to book a discovery call and find out more about our personal brand strategy work.