Find your genius

Genius usually happens when your strongest talents have a strong fit with your role. Getting to a ‘genius’ takes a while, but worth pursuing and iterating till you get there. In the meantime there are things you can do to keep putting your best foot forward;

Find your effortless actions: There are certain things you do that don’t feel like work because you have great competence in them. What do you do with ease or can you do for countless hours with joy; even with your eyes closed? Identify these and use them to fuel your very best performance.

Identify conditions that you excel in: When have you excelled? What made you excel? What did you do? What were your thinking processes? Did you have to overcome anything to achieve these and if so how did you do so? Understanding this will help you know what brings out the best in you and make it easier for you to repeat those successes.

Understand why you are attracted to certain things: Because whatever you are drawn to, you are likely to put more quality effort. This will also help you reinforce the things that excite your imagination, spark your interest and energise you. Once you know what holds your attention, it’ll be easier to say no to any distractions.

Identify and circumvent what drains you: Knowing this is as important as knowing what motivates and helps you keep out anything that will deplete you. Things that drain you take up a lot of time and energy, put you under unnecessary stress and can dilute your standards. What drains you could be activities, certain individuals or environments. Avoid these or find ways to minimise your exposure to what diminishes you.

Expose your work to others: What may seem simple to you could be deemed brilliant by someone else, but you’ll never know unless you share. Keep developing and polishing what you are told you do well or those abilities others admire in you.

Now take action: What are you told you are great at? How can you polish it further? n