Podcast #15 Are You in the Zone?

Today I want to talk to you about something I recently discovered. And that is my zone of genius.

I discovered that I was really good at certain things, and not so good at others. And those things I wasn’t so great at were taking up too much of my day.

Why do we need to know about our zone of genius in order to create a brand? Discovering this for yourself will be a game changer. If we aren’t confident in our abilities, people can read that about us. They can tell. If you know what your zone of genius is and you can stand in that, it will propel your brand forward.

I learned about this from a book written by Gay Hendricks called The Big Leap. (I highly recommend this book if you’re looking to brand yourself or  do something in your zone of genius.)

In this book, he talks about how you can become the best version of yourself when you live in your zone of genius 70-80% of the time. Your zone of genius is a set of activities that you are uniquely suited to do - your special gifts and strengths. 

What do people know you for? What do they come to you for?

I’m what my brother would call ‘naturally bossy’, but I call myself a natural leader. People tend to listen to me and follow where I’m going.  And this has been happening to me since childhood. So, that’s a great place to start. What has been the same for you since childhood? What came naturally to you as a child? I was always the leader as a child. I would be the one picking teams, making decisions, making sure the game actually happened. 

That was one clue for me, the other is that people would call me all the time for advice. And if you’re not sure what you’re strengths are, then ask someone. Ask them what advice they would want from you, or what do they see you do exceptionally well?

I give you an exercise in this episode that will also help you to better figure out what your zone of genius is. It will help you to figure out what places you struggle in, where you’re comfortable, what you’re good at, and where you want to be.  This will also help you figure out places in your life and business that would be great to start outsourcing. Maybe you’re good at something, but someone else is great at it, or it takes up too much of your time.

Doing this exercise will really help you to get out of your comfort zone, and push yourself into the zone of genius that you desire to be in.

I want you to start thinking about what comes naturally to you, what do people come to you for, and what do you expend the least amount of energy on. You owe it to yourself, your brand and your legacy to discover what your zone of genius is.

Listen to the Full Episode Here

Watch the Full YouTube Video Here:

Featured on the show:

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

Clifton Strengths Assessment

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You can view Full Transcript Here:

*Note- The Brand Disruptors Podcast is produced for the ear and made to be heard not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting it in print.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, am I alive? It looks like it's still working. All right. We're live now. Hey, what's up. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome today. I'm excited to be talking to you guys. I know some of you are new to the group. Maybe you are watching this on the replay, so make sure you do hashtag replay. But today I'm talking about our zones of genius, our zone of genius. And this is something I recently discovered myself. My coach had us go through this process. And one of the things that I discovered about myself is that, Oh, I'm really good at certain things, but I'm not really good at other things, but I, I was doing some of those things and it took so much more time out of my day. And I got frustrated and I want to talk to you guys about that. So let's, let's dig into it.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
So you might be wondering why do we need to know our zone of genius in order to create a brand? Right? Because my brand is brand disruptors and I'm a brand strategist and a brand activator. And one of the things that I realized as I was doing this process for myself is that when you know what you're really good at, and what you know is your zone of genius. You typically stand in your brand weight with way more significance than you would if you didn't. So let's, let's break this down a little bit. Let's talk about how sometimes we get into, when we get into business, we're not really sure about our skill level and it could be in the area of the thing that we're actually doing the work in, which is why we get training and things like that. Or it could be that we're moving careers from we're changing our careers entirely.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
So when we do that, we're not as, we're not as confident in our competence and when we're not really sure about it, people can read that from us and the zone when you're in your zone of genius. And you know what it is that you can stand in that, and it really helps you to propel your brand forward. So let's, let's, let's jump into what this is all about. So zone of genius is a term coined by gay Hendricks, who is an author, and he's also a coach. And what he talks about in his book called the big leap. I'm going to read my notes here, but it's in his book called the big leap. I highly highly recommend that you get the book, especially if you're wanting to brand yourself, or if you're wanting to do something that is in your zone of genius.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
And one of the, what he says in the book is that this is us actually, and I'm paraphrasing, but this is actually us. Self-Actualizing like, you become the best version of yourself when you get to live in your zone of genius, 70 to 80% of the time. So you definitely want to be about this. Right? Love it. So the first thing is that your zone of genius is a set of activities that you are uniquely suited to do your special gifts and strengths. Let me repeat that activities that you are uniquely suited to do your special gifts and strengths. So last week, week before last, my clients and I, we had a, we had a retreat and we talked about everybody's strengths and we talked about their gifts. And if you don't know what they are like, that's where I would actually start this process.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
You want to look at the things that people know you for the best or what people come to you for the most, that could be advice. Like I am. I'm naturally what my brother would call bossy, but I would say I'm naturally a leader. Like people will listen to me and they will also follow where I'm going. And this has been something since childhood. So your indications are, your clues are going to be from things that happened in your childhood, the first being the first being like what came naturally to you as a kid and people know you for, right? So for me it was that like, we played school, we played church. Anytime we played something as children, I was the leader. I was the one who picked it. I was the one who made the decisions. I was the one, I was the one who actually made sure that actually happened.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
I was activating these things into existence. So that was one clue for me. The other clue was like, people call me for advice all the time. Like, what would you do in this situation? And it got me to thinking about my strengths, and then you can also ask people, right? So what did you do in your childhood? What do people call you for often? And in thirdly for me, it's like ask the people who know you the best, ask them, what would you say my zone of genius is? Or what do you say that I do really, really easily that you wish you could do or or something that has the most impact for you, right? So ask the people who are closest to you about this and look for the clues. So once you gather all of this information, I want you to take a look at those things, right?

Speaker 1 (05:54):
There will be some, some, there will be one common thread. So for me, the common thread was leading and advising, right? Leading and advising. So it was like this little loop that I would do, I would lead and advise leading advise, which makes sense that I do what I'm doing now. I I also worked in leadership positions in state government, but it wasn't, I wasn't able to utilize it to the best of my ability because I didn't have a whole lot of control over how I lead. So you want to make sure that you have the most well taught autonomy when it comes to bringing forth your zone of genius, right? So that's the first part of this. The other thing that you can do. And I, I really wish that my zoom was working properly because I wanted to share this on screen with you guys.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
But the other thing that I want you to do is I want you to look at, I want you to draw a T right, draw a big tea in the middle of the page. And on the left hand and left hand box. I want you to draw, I want you to write the word incompetence or incompetent and the box below that I want you to I want you to write competence in the next box, over on the right hand side at the top. I want you to write excellence. And in the bottom box, I want you to write genius. So in these four quadrants, you have different areas that you're good at and areas where you're not so good. So for me, where to start with incompetence, right in competence is made up of all of the activities that you are not good at.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
What's your probably doing that, right? Either your job calls for it, or you think it's what you're supposed to be doing because of your gender, because of some role that you play. And like, I want you guys to really start to think about is this the best use of my time? So here's an example of incompetence for, for me. So I am not good at tech. I have learned how to use tech. I have a bootstrapped myself. So you will. So if you will in order to be able to do it, but I am not good at it, which is why we're doing this on Facebook live and not on zoom. So I couldn't troubleshoot quickly enough in order to get us on the screen or to get me on the screen and do zoom at the same time to be on time.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
So that's not something that I'm good at. So I need to outsource my tech. I'm not good at doing household repairs. I'm super impatient. I like things now. And when things take longer than then I think it's supposed to take, I get, I get disconnected. I disconnect from the whole thing. And it's just not my thing. Right? So anything that you're not good at, but you might do. I want you to put that in the incompetent zone. I have no idea how to barbecue. Like I don't, I've watched it. I've watched it several times. I know that charcoal goes in there. I know you use lighter fluid or maybe you don't and you have to burn it off at a certain point. Like, I don't know how to do that. So I am not going to say that I'm competent. I'm going to say I'm incompetent at barbecuing.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
So think about the things in your work life that, that you're incompetent at and write them down and don't feel bad about them. I think the other thing is that we think we're supposed to be able to know how to do everything and as entrepreneurs or people who are just starting out in their own businesses, you don't have the resources to, to, to source this stuff out. So you have to do it all. So you learn things and you do these things, but they take you way longer and they're painful, like super painful. So make sure that I want you to come from the place of like, being really, really honest about what you're not good at and letting others know that you'll need help in those areas when you get to that point. So that's number one, number two, or the second quadrant that we're going to go into is the Kotter, the quadrant of competence.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
So these are things that you're good at. You're competent at them, but others do them just as well. Right? So nobody's going to give you a shining star award for this. For me, that's probably creating presentations, like creating slides. I've gotten good at it because I've had to get good at it, but it takes me a really long time and I don't actually enjoy it too much. Right. So there's a lot of energy that I'm expending on it. Another thing that I'm competent at is let's see what else I would say in my business, I'm competent, I'm competent at giving directions on how to do certain things or how I might want things done. Others can do it just as well as I can. It's not, I'm not the only one who can do this because I will get caught up in how I want it to be done.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
And instead of what is the outcome that I'm looking for, so others are excellent at that, but I am, and I am just as good at it, but other, somebody else can do it. So that's something that I would say would go into the competence zone. I'm competent at reading XL sheets and creating Excel sheets, but it's not my gift. Right. Administrative, anything, administrative I'm competent at it. And I don't really like it. I don't like it. I hate following up on emails. I hate having to do let's see. I actually don't even like emails. One of my least favorite modes of communication is email. And when I use it I like to, I like for it to be very, very short and succinct, I don't like having paragraphs that I need to read through. And I don't like receiving those. So make sure that you know, what it is that you're competent at and that somebody else can actually do

Speaker 2 (12:24):
For you. Then the

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Next zone that we're going to do, which is in the upper right quadrant is your zone of excellence. And in the zone, this is something that you do extremely well. You're really good at it. And people actually, you might've gotten a golden star for it. All right. You're really good at this. And you might actually be making a good living at your zone of excellence,

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Right?

Speaker 1 (12:49):
It could be that you are, let's see, you might be good at taking pictures, right. And you might be excellent. It takes taking pictures, but then you realize you're actually much better at directing photo shoots than you are at taking the actual pictures. So I want you to really think about what you're excellent at and what what other people can do for you. Like, is it the only thing that you can do? So I'm going to read from the book, this one little piece because I think it's important for us because I think that we, we know we're good at it, or we know that we're excellent at it. And so we make this good living. We think we're successful, but it can be a dangerous trap for us. It could have a stay in that comfort zone and not really Excel into our zone of genius.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
And that's something we definitely do not want to get stuck in. Right? So the temptation I'm reading from the book. Now, the temptation is strong to remain in the zone of excellence. It's where our own, your own addiction to comfort wants you to stay. It's where your family, your friends and organization want you to stay. You're reliable. There, you provide steady supply of all the things that family, friends, and organizations thrive on. The problem is that a deep sacred part of you will either die. If you stay well, wither and die. If you stay in your zone of excellence, pretty heavy stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
So

Speaker 1 (14:33):
If this feels scary to you, it is like when anytime you grow and you're on the edges of your growth, it's going to be scary. It's going to be scary as hell. So you want to make sure that you are prepared for it. You have the conversations that you need to have with the family, with the boss, with the associates, with, with everybody about this next move that you're going to be making, because jumping into your zone of genius and really living into that is, is the only way that you're going to become the person that you were always meant to be. And that's what a brand is really all about, right? Once we become the person that we've always been meant to be, that is when we become who we are. So let's talk about a little bit more about the zone of excellence.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
The zone of excellence is also one of those places where you can get usually happens in midlife. And that's when it happened for me. Like, you know, there's more to life than what you're already doing, but you don't really quite know how to get from a, to your zone of genius, right? So a to Z a to zone of genius. And, you know, I gave you guys some indication earlier about how to get there, but what you want to do is really go deep and really think about how is it that you want to live your life. A lot of us live out of the context that we can't have the lives that we want because we're stuck with the lives that we have. And it's just, so that's just not true, especially right now with all that's going on in the world, we still have agency over ourselves.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
We still have agency over what happens in our lives. And we still have agency over what we do with our zones of genius or with our genius. So get out of the comfort zone so you can get into the genius. But we're not paying attention. Like this is your calling. And if we're not paying attention to it, you're going to get whacked over the head with it. You're going to get it. And it's painful who wants to live in a painful existence when we have the option to live in Arizona genius. All right. So let's talk about that zone of genius. And we're going to wrap this up in a little bit, cause I don't want to keep you guys too long and I want you to be able to marinate on this information. When I did the retreat, the retreat was over two days, but it took us like five hours.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
And typically I'm doing retreats for 10 to 12 hours. And my, my participants, my clients, they got a little overwhelmed because I was like, we have to do this before Q4, because I want all of you guys to crush your Q4 goals. And the only way, the only way that we can do that is when we start to step into our zone of genius. And I wanted to make sure that they had this information in order to do that. So I'm going to use some bite-size pieces here and yeah. And then we'll, we'll do part two next week. All right. So zone of genius, again, something that came naturally to you as a child, something that other people rely on you for, and then the thing that you expend the least amount of energy on. That's huge. So I want you to start to think about what, like what comes naturally to you that you might almost miss it.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
You might almost miss it. Things that I'm excellent at, I'm excellent at cooking. Like I can totally organize and think about where to shop in the grocery store and how to make, be the most efficient with my time. Is that the best use of my time? No. I'm excellent at thinking about a recipe and saying, Oh, if I add this or take this away, I can actually do this really well. Or I will taste a lot better. One of my friends though, she can taste a recipe and she can duplicate it without even like nothing. Like, it's nothing that I'm not so good at. So think about the things that you're excellent at, and they're, they're very comfortable, but you want to get into something that's a little uncomfortable, but very familiar. All right. So what do you do that expends the least amount of energy and that you really good at?

Speaker 1 (19:15):
That's what I want you to think about for your zone of genius and then take those. You're probably gonna have one or two things that, that are the zone of genius and it could be leadership and under leadership falls a lot of things, right? It could be that you should be the brand and the face of a company. It could be that you are, you're really good at getting stuff done, right? So you know how to execute things. People can give you something to do and you execute them really, really well. You're fast. You're organized. You think like it comes naturally to you in that is you like, those are the kinds of things I want you to think about. Put that into your zone of genius. Now that was a lot of information. I know, read the book, go over the information in this training, make the T with the four quadrants, put your information in there.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
Like really start to think about this. And the next week, what we'll do is we'll talk about how to marry what you feel like your zone of genius is with your strengths. Like, what are you really, really good at naturally, right? What are your strengths and what are your gifts? Also write down all of the things and you've ever done in your life, in your professional life. So if you were a lifeguard, if you were if you were, if you went to beauty school, if you went to coaching school, like whatever you did in your professional life, that you feel like applies to your zone of genius. I want you to write all those things down. And when we get together next week, or for part two, we can actually go through these things and figure out what your zone of genius is.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
If you are here, are, are on here live. And if you're making comments and things like that. So put your comments in. Even if you're watching the replay, this is on Facebook, where we're also going to make a podcast out of this. So put them in the comments here, put them in the comments on the podcast, put them in the comments on YouTube. Like put this stuff in there and let me know what you guys are up to. Let me see your quadrants. Let me see, like take a screenshot of them. Let me see what you think your zone of genius is and do the people around you agree, right? Ask the people around, ask the trusted people around you, what they think instead of people who don't want to see you get into your zone of genius. Because remember, remember what I said, your folks are going to, they like you in your zone of excellence, because that's where they know that you're comfortable.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
There. You do. Okay there. So moving from zone of excellence, the zone of genius might be painful for you and for the folks around you. So ask people that you actually trust and who won't stop you from trying to do this, ask me, especially if I know you. Okay. All right. So that's it for today, that is the beginning of the zone of genius training. And I want you to pick up a copy of the big leap by gay Hendricks. I am not an ambassador for him or anything like that. I just feel like his work is super important and I I've, I've gained a lot from doing it. And also right after quadrant, write out what you think your zone of genius is where you're incompetent, where you can farm some things out, either to family members or to staff.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
And then let's get back together next week and talk about it. And then we'll talk about the strengths that, that I have. And I'll demonstrate that for you guys through what I'm doing, and then we can apply it to you. And then I'll tell you some of my favorite tools to figure out what it is that because a lot of people have trouble with what their shot with their strong suits are. So I'll tell you some of the tools that I like to use to do that. All right. Thank you so much for being here today. I totally, totally appreciate it. And I'm looking forward to next week and looking forward to find it out, helping you find your zone of genius,

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Take care.

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, Mia here. I'm alive yet? Yes I am. Hello? Hello. Hello. All right, let's talk Turkey today. We're talking all about your strengths and your zone of genius. So last week I talked to you guys about zone of genius and we kind of broke it down based on gay Hendricks, his way of seeing, right? So you have a zone of incompetence, one where you're competent, one where you're excellent and another where you are in your zone of genius. So last week I asked you guys to go and figure out what that actually is. And some of you can be coming back with some of those, the same things that I've said, like you might be really good at leadership. You might be really good at getting people to move. You might be really good at service. So you want to know these things about yourself.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
You get to know yourself really well. And what we're going to talk about today is actually your strengths. So gifts, strengths, talents, all of those things matter. But I want to talk to you about your strengths from maybe a different perspective than you've heard it before. One of the things that my coach, like, as I told you last week, my coach has me doing the same, had me do the same process, which brought me to all of these great things that I'm sharing with you. So the first thing that I want to say is like, you know, 2020 has not been kind to many of us, right? We've been having like a lot of social unrest. Not that that hasn't been going on, but it's been heightened. We're all in this pandemic. We have uncertainty around the election here in the U S and it's really starting to have an effect on a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
But the one thing that I want to say today is like, nobody is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves. We get to create whatever it is that we desire. Yes. The world burns down. Then of course we have no control over that. But what we do have control over is ourselves. And that's what I want to talk to you all about today. Like you got to save yourself and you can't do that if you're not living in your zone of genius, because if you're not living and working in your zone of genius, you're actually passively living. And who wants to do that again? A passively be on this earth, like, why show up? Why be here, get active show up in your own life and show up in your zone of genius. So that's what we're going to talk about. All right.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
So here's the second part. Yeah. Strengths. There's this assessment by the Gallup people. So G a L L U P people, and it's called the Clifton strengths tests and they give you 34 of your strengths and they put them in order, based on their criteria. So you take this assessment test, whatever. And once you take the assessment, they give you this full report of your strengths. And typically you will work within your first five or your first one to 10. So I'm going to share with you my first five. And then I'll tell you a little bit about what they mean. And then what's like, this is really helping me to say, Oh, you know what, that's why I don't like to do X or that's why I feel super drained when I do X. So the first one is relator. And I remember when I heard, when I first saw this, I said, relater, that's not really me.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
I don't even know what they're talking about. Like, I don't, I'm not one of those people who you know, when you, when I go out into a networking group or something like that, like I'm not the first person that everybody's drawn to. I'm not the first person that people are going to be talking to because I don't do superficial. Like I like to go in deep with people. And I sorta knew that about myself, but I really did not know that about myself. So when I saw relater, I w I immediately dismissed the assessment. And I also didn't really look into it much further until later. So that's what I wanted to tell you, like, make sure that you're not dismissing the information that you get from this assessment. If you decide to do it, I am not a spokesperson for them. I do have a strengths coach has working in our brand disruptors group and she's part of the freedom lounge.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
So she is a guest expert there. She has a presentation and you can also hire her to work with you on your strengths, but that's besides the point. We'll talk about that a little bit later, but I did want to bring it up here. So in here, I'm not, like I said, I'm not a I'm not a spokesperson for them, but what I realized was that this thing is dead on. So I'm going to read to you what it means that as a relator, I'm going to bring to the table, and then I'll talk to you about what I need from the people that I bring that I'm at the table, what, right. So I bring social death and transparency. I also bring in formality that sets others at ease, solid, genuine, and mutually rewarding relationships that foster trust. And I have an ability to work hard with friends to achieve goals.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
So that's the, what I bring. So how I contribute now, what I need on the other side of that is opportunities for one-on-one interaction. So guess what? I'm a coach. I get to interact with my clients on a one-on-one basis all the time. I need time to learn about the goals of others. So I sit with my clients and we map out what their goals are and they get to tell me about, they get to tell me why. So any time for that, any outlets to learn about the talents and strengths of those around me. So I get to see them in action, but I also get to do, I need to study and study them, study myself. I get to study all of those things. Opportunities to form meaningful, close relationships with colleagues. Like I have a tight knit group, and I'm really tight with the people that I'm tight with.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
So this is what I need in order to thrive. So you need to know what your strengths are and why you need these things, or what you bring to the table in order to be at your best to be living in your zone of genius. And then finally people are valued over processes, right? I don't, I don't do that. Right. It's not about how things get done, which is really interesting to me because I was in state government for a really long time. And sometimes the process is in the law. You know, those things are valued over people. So it's surprising that I lasted that long. So those are, so this is just one example, right? So the relater, I wanted to give you my top strength, because I wanted you to understand a little bit more about how this works, but also more about me.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
And like I said, when I read it, it really did not resonate for me initially. Now that I'm really seeing it in a different kind of context, it does. So my other top three, four strengths are input and selection, activator, and futuristic. So I'm going to read like one or two things from each one of these and kind of tell you a little bit how these show up for me. So for input, I need to have tangible tools or information that can facilitate facilitate growth and performance. I have a natural curiosity in craving for more like, if this is not the truth, slapping me all up in the face, right. For me, I love more and more and more and more, and not from a, not from a point of view where I'm like really like overindulging, but from the point of view of growing on my greener edge, like getting to what I really came here to do, like getting to what others would call consciousness and living in that framework.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
The other part of this, like the natural curiosity, my brother to my significant other, they would say I'm nosy. Well, yeah, I'm naturally curious about things and I'm naturally curious about people and you know, what, being nosy, it's not a bad thing, guys. So this is the other part of how I want to bring this to you is because in our strengths and in our zones of genius, like that, might've been something that people told you was wrong with you when you were younger, because they didn't understand it because it wasn't something that they did or something that they appreciate it, but it doesn't make you wrong and it doesn't make you bad. So if you have a naturally curious nature, like go with it, it's best for us to lean into who we are naturally going to try to, to, to fix ourselves, to be in somebody else's box.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Like I am so over us doing that to ourselves, right? Because we have been doing this for way too long, especially women and especially anybody of color we've had to make ourselves different. So we can fit into that corporate box. We've had to make ourselves different so we can fit in at work or we can fit in at home. And it just doesn't work anymore. And the world is tired. Like the world wants to see the authentic you, and that's what it means to be authentic, like own your gifts and your talents, own the nerdy parts of you and own the fact that, you know, what you might not be the kind of person who likes to go out and drink all night and that's okay. Like you do not have to be that person. All right. So in selection is my third strength. And this one is really awesome, right?

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Because this talks about how I am like I have the energy and the desire to think about areas of interest. So I am a voracious reader. I am always reading a book, listening to a podcast like I'm always trying to learn something new and intellect is important to me because I feel like I gained so much by doing these things. One of the other clues that came up for one of my clients in this past week, she was cleaning out a storage unit. And a lot of the books that she had in her storage unit really showed her that she is absolutely on the right path to, in her career. Right now she's doing some coaching around social, social justice, and it's for women who are black lawyers and having them come home to themselves. Right. And she had, she had every indication that this is where she should be in the, the selection of the titles.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
So maybe go and look at your book selection and see what that is. If you don't read books, maybe look at the TV shows that you watch, maybe look at the things that matter to you as in you know, like the songs that you like, the kind of things that you like to do. I think that would give you a really good indication if you don't have a lot of books around. So intellectual might not be your strength. I love to go, you know, have a depth and an understanding and wisdom, right? So that's part of the intellectual piece. The fourth strength that I have is activator. Now this one, really, this one really resonated with me like these other ones resonated a lot, but this activator piece really resonated because I saw how I did this with my clients. So it's the spark to get things started.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
So I'm the kind of person that will create a sense of urgency. I have energy and instant momentum to projects and groups, endless energy to get things done and courage to take risks. So while most of this is true enlist energy to get things done, but I gotta be excited about it. And it has to be something that is in my wheelhouse. I shared with you guys last week that follow through and administrative stuff is not really in my zone of excellence and I'm in my zone of genius. So it may seem like I don't get things done because I'm not the one actually physically doing them. But the, the, the twist to this is, is that I'm the one who's always generating these ideas and I need other people to execute them. So you have to know yourself really well in order to be able to say that.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
So right now I belong to a board. And on this board, there's a lot of doing, and that's not really who I am and had I known that it was a lot of doing, I probably wouldn't have joined. And so, you know, it's a lesson, it's a lesson for me, but also a lesson for them to be able to communicate to people in the future about what kind of person that they need. And finally, so my last top five is futuristic and I never really would have seen myself as futuristic. But then when I read the description, I was like, Oh my God, that's totally me. And for all of my daydreamers out there, I am about to validate the shit out of you. Because I think in school, most of us probably were taught that daydreaming is wrong. And guys, that's just not it like we need daydreamers if we didn't have daydreamers, we wouldn't have, we wouldn't have these phones that we can put in these little computers that we can put into our pockets or where on our wrists, we wouldn't have electric cars.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
We wouldn't have any of the new technology if we didn't have those daydreamers. So if you're a daydreamer, keep on daydreaming and envisioning the world in a different kind of way. So it says that a futuristic that previews predictions and forecasts a forward looking focus for what could be, this is important guys, a forward looking focused focus to what could be. There are a lot of people who are mired in history and who are mired in the present day, and there's nothing wrong with that. Those people have their place, but when you're trying to move forward and you're trying to build a business, or you're trying to build a brand, you need to have somebody on your side that can see what you can't see. Like, you might have a vision for yourself, but they might have something even greater for you, or they might even have something that you're missing.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
So if you don't have a coach or someone who's helping you vision, like you need to find somebody like that. And of course, because it's in my zone of genius. And because it's something that becomes so easily to me, I took it for granted. And I thought that everybody was able to do that. And it's just not true. They're not you gotta have the futuristic. Other things says that there's an inspiration and energy with visions of the future. Like I'm always in the future, which, you know, I come back to the present so I can be present with people, but I can see things. I have a vision for things that others can't prime example, Sanford and I were talking about doing some renovations in our house. And I was like, we're going to knock out this wall. I'm going to open this up.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
I'm going to knock this out and do this. And he was like, I just can't see it. And we watch enough HGTV together for him to actually get the vision. But he doesn't because that's not one of his strengths. And it does. I mean, I guess it happens to help that I grew up in a family that did a lot of construction and I was around a lot of things that were built, even though it's not part of my talent or anything that I do, I absolutely can see, I can envision something for our home. I can envision something for a client. I can envision something for myself. I can envision something for some kind of operating system that I might need that might not be create yet. So those are, those are like my, those are my five top strengths from the Clifton strengths test.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
And I'm just going to tell you about the other five, just in case you're curious, but also guys, like this is such important information. I feel like everybody should go and do this assessment. And like I said, I'm not a spokesperson for them. I'm not going to make any money off of this. And not yet, anyway, I'm not a spokesperson yet, but I feel like this is absolutely a game changer. We, I had my clients do this as well, and we did, we had a retreat where we had the strengths coach that's on, on in my group, come in and teach them about themselves or teach them a little bit more about these things about them. And they said it was worth the price of admission and that's not into the retreat. That's, that's into my five figure program. So like that's something for you to know.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
All right. All right. The other stuff, or the other themes that come up for me are significance. So I help people to get their sense of importance. I'm a learner, so I need the complete picture. I'm inquisitive curious. So that goes back to that intellectual piece. Self-Assurance I have initiative in the midst of uncertainty, right? We're in that right now. I am creating a business. I have a business I'm creating a community in the middle of uncertainty. Some people are like, Oh my God, I'm so glad I didn't open that yoga studio. I'm so glad that I didn't leave my job. I'm so glad I didn't. I did. I didn't. And I'm like, Oh my God, I'm so glad I did. Of course, there's some days when I'm like, are you sure about that? But for the most part I am. And it's because I get to talk about things that I care about.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
I get to do the things that I care about and that make an impact and make other people feel significant. And then responsibility is number nine. So I have a drive for doing things that are right. I take ownership to deliver on my promises and I'm super, super stable in my impeccable ethics. Right. And I'm going to hold you to that too. Like I tell people the truth about themselves and about me. So you want to know the truth, just ask me, or I might even tell it. And you're like, Oh, well that might be a little bit too much. I feel like in our communities, we have not opened up enough. And I think that that's, what's hurting us. People are in pain and is because they're not speaking their truth. They're not speaking, what's been happened. What has happened to them and what is happening to them.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
And that's when we get into pain and into addiction and into all of the things that affect us in a way that tells us that there's something wrong with us. Like dig deeper. I watched this documentary yesterday. I don't know if it was a documentary. It was an interview with Jay Z. And I can't remember the other guy's name. So I'm really sorry about that. But he was from a newspaper in New York, I think. And they were talking something about how there was four 44, which was the album that came out after eliminate. And if anybody's a BSA fan, you already know what lemonade is all about. We watched the video and they both talked a lot in these two albums. They both talked a lot about their pain and they talked about how they hurt each other and hurt other people and how this, and how actually talking about it and bringing it forth and bringing it into the world and getting therapy actually helped them to heal from it.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
And it helped to the relationship. So you want to make sure that you're looking at yourself really with real honest eyes, right? And telling yourself the truth, but not only telling yourself the truth, telling other people the truth. And then finally belief belief is about dependability, dependability, stability, clarity, and conviction. It's a willingness to make sacrifices for the things that are important. Remember I told you guys that, you know how my friends might be like, Oh my God, thank God I didn't open that yoga studio. Thank God I didn't this. And for me, it is about that. Like, I absolutely believe in what I'm doing. I believe in the contribution that I'm making to the world. And no one can shake me from that. Even if they can deter me for a minute, I get to like, this is when you know, you're in your zone of genius.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
When people can't shake you from your personal truth, you are in their zone of genius. Okay. So when you are unshakable and it's the same thing with your brand when your brand is unshakeable, no one can tell you that, Oh, I don't like what you do. I don't like the fact that you X or Y or Z. So I'm going to take one of my favorite people as an example, think about Chrissy Tiegen and how controversial she is. Like she speaks her, my actual gonna talk about too. So Chrissy speaks her mind. Like she has no problem saying what is on her mind. And, and she's not like she can be very snippy with it, especially if people come at her that way. But the thing that I appreciate about her is that it's typically in the, in the realm of the overall good for the world.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
So I appreciate the fact that she has no problem calling people out, the other person that I admire greatly. And I'm gonna, we're going to have a newsletter come out about him later on today is the rock Dwayne Johnson. And I was obviously following him because like, I mean, who does not want to follow Dwayne Johnson? And I had, you know, I knew what he, he was the rock and wrestling and I don't follow wrestling, but when he started acting, I was like, okay. And then I heard the story, the seven bucks story. And if you haven't heard it go Google it. And when I heard the seven bucks store, I was like, Oh, this guy's he's top notch. And then I started watching ballers and I fricking loved how he showed up in that show, but also how ballers was very controversial.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
And the last they they really disrupted a bunch of stuff and, you know, hello, brand disruptors. Like that's what I'm up to. That's what I love. So I appreciated the fact that he was part of something like that, but let's see two weeks ago, well, maybe a week and a half ago he endorsed Kamala Harris and Dubai. And there was some shit on his Twitter page about it, Twitter, Instagram, like everybody was upset. And I called somebody who I know is a supporter of the other president or other president and was asking some questions because one of the bio comments that was repeated was one about celebrities should not have opinions about politics. And I'm like, why the fuck not? And why are they even saying this to him? Like, who are they to say? So two things came to me. Well, what would he say was, you know, entertainers are supposed to entertain.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
They're not supposed to, you know, endorse people or have an opinion about politics, but are they not citizens of this your'e country? Like number one, don't they get to have an opinion. And number two, like you, we all get to say who we are and we should be able to do that without people judging us or without people out lashing. So lashing out lashing out lashing would be better lashes lashing out. So what happened? Right? So he lost a bunch of followers, right? He lost a bunch of followers. A lot of people pissed off at him. And you know, Dwayne is very, he's a very compassionate guy. Like he shared the story about his family and the coronavirus and how he really hated that he brought that into their home and how they were all on lockdown and all the things like that.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
But what he said was, you know, we have to be able to be, have empathy and compassion for people, but we also get to speak our truth and we get to speak our truth in love. And when I, when I heard that I was like, this is why this guy's a stand up guy. This is why people follow him. This is why he broke two Guinness world records after endorsing those two people. He's, I can't remember the one of them, but he's the most followed American man and entertainment in the world. And then he's the most followed. I want to say actor in the us, but I'm not sure, like, I don't know about that second, but the fact is this guys, like we get to be ourselves and that's who people want to see. Like that's the person that people want to see. And we get to do it in a nice way.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Like everybody who follows me, they know like I am not a fan of the current president. And I also will stop by when people who I know support him. And let me tell you why it's more about what he stands for than it is about him as a person. Like I have no problem with him as a, as a human being, but what he stands for and what he insights. Like, I just don't get down with that. And I don't feel like money is enough reason to, to follow someone like him. So that's just me. And you get to have your own opinions, but I think that the main point that I want you guys to get from this is that you guys get to brand yourselves in a way that is in your zone of genius. You are, you were here made in the likeness and image of God, if you believe that, or some greater power and your strengths and your gifts were given to you, and those are the ones that you should be living out of.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
The other thing that I want to say is that in order to attract the people that you want to attract to you in order to stand out, you have got to repel the wrong people. So for me, I'm repelling those folks who, who don't believe in science, I'm repelling those people who don't believe that you get to be who you are and I'm repelling those people who don't believe in disruption. Like that's the kind of person that I want to work with. So if you don't believe in those things, then I don't want to work with you and you probably don't want to work with me. And there's nothing wrong with that. So when you're creating your brand, you really want to think about who is it that you want to invite into your space? A lot of people do their branding around, Oh, what does my ideal client like, well, what the hell do you like?

Speaker 1 (28:54):
What do you like, what colors do you, like? What does your brand say to you? Like, what is it that you like, what do you want to say to the world about who you are? And the right people will show up. So I'm getting off my soap box. It is right around 30 minutes. I have been talking. So for any of you who have questions, please put your questions in your comments, in the chat. And I will definitely take a look at those. We're going to also use this as a podcast, as a part, two of finding your zone of genius. And like, I just want to hear what you guys think about what I had to say, because I'm interested. I want to know how you feel about this. I want to know how afraid you are to really let yourself be seen. So let me know. And if you're not afraid, like what was it that changed it for you? What was it that made you say, you know what, I'm ready to show up in the world as my authentic self. I'm ready to show up as, as me and I'm okay with people not being okay with me. I want to know. All right, let me know. And can we just see you guys next week? Take care.