Author Gay Hendricks in his book The Big Leap, talks about the different “zones” we operate in our day to day work. We do many things — things we’re not-so-good at, things we're excellent at, and things that we seem to be exceptionally great at (and enjoy!) In a nutshell, Hendricks breaks down the zones like this:
- Zone of Incompetence – Things you aren’t good at and a lot of other people can do better
- Zone of Competence – Things you’re pretty okay at, and some people can do better
- Zone of Excellence – Things you’re really good at, and only a few can do better
- Zone of Genius – Things that you’re exceptionally really great at and no one does it quite like you do!
It takes a lot of self-awareness and humility to admit the things that fall under the Zone of Incompetence and Zone of Competence and be okay with it (perfectionists, I know you’re out there!) Instead of chasing the things we aren't good at (and can possibly outsource), how can we focus on our Zone of Genius, on the thing that we bring a magic touch to?
Your turn!
Spend some thinking about the tasks you do each day and the tasks you wish you could do more of.
How are you spending your time in each of the zones?
- Zone of Incompetence …
- Zone of Competence …
- Zone of Excellence …
- Zone of Genius …