045 - Unleashing Your Zone of Genius for eCommerce Success

045 - Unleashing Your Zone of Genius for eCommerce Success

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Welcome to this episode of Women Powering eCommerce. Join me every Tuesday as I take you behind the scenes of my journey as a female e-commerce entrepreneur. Together we'll explore the highs, the lows, inspiring you to take action and achieve your own business goals. So let's get started.

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All right. Hello everyone. For today's topic, I want to talk about your zone of genius, living in your zone of genius. Is that something you've already heard about? A concept you've heard about? Maybe you have if you've read a book called The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. If not, I definitely recommend you read that book, and this concept is not only found in that book. I've seen it, I've heard it in other ways, but definitely I really liked how they explained it in the book, Big Leap. So definitely a good read to look into.

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So if you have not, or if you have, I mean, sometimes we forget about what we read, we forget about certain concepts and we just need to be reminded. But today I really want to share with you why I really go by this concept of zone of genius as much as possible because it has made a significant change in my work life and even in my personal life, I would say, but mostly for work. So what is your zone of genius? And I think the easiest way I can put it is this way. When you say to someone, "Oh, sorry, I was doing this thing. I did not see the time go by," I was so much in the zone. So that's a great and easy way to put it, but I'll deep dive a little bit more in it because they actually studied there are actually different zones that you can be in, and I really think it's important to understand that when you're working and they actually categorized it in four different zones that you can be in when working.

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So zone number one is your zone of incompetence. So that's when you know suck at something. So you don't like to do it, you suck at it, so you're just not competent at all. So that's your first zone. Zone number two is your zone of competence. So you're all right, but lots of others cope better. We could say that. So you can do it, but you're definitely not the best or it's something you're okay to do, but it's not something you really like to do. So yeah, I think that would go into the zone of competence. And the third one is your zone of excellence.

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So that means you're highly skilled, you like to do whatever the task or the thing you're doing. Yeah, you feel good at it. So that would be your zone of excellence. And before understanding the concept of zone of genius, which yes is the fourth category, I thought that zone of excellence is probably the highest level of being good at something or liking what you do. But no, there is actually another level and that's your zone of genius. So the zone of genius is I would say it's like your natural calling almost. It's where your special abilities and skills blend seamlessly with what you're truly passionate about and just waiting for you to discover and unleash them. That's really, really powerful. And once you understand that, it's like a whole other world is waiting for you to open it up and really discover it. And it's amazing.

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It's when passion meets your talent. I would say it like that. Yeah. Actually, in the book, I think it's in the book, yes, that's what it said. And let me read it to you. I thought it was really good. It says, "In the zone, you capitalize on your natural abilities, which are innate rather than learned." That's very interesting. "This is the state in which you get into flow, find ceaseless inspiration and seem to not only come up with word that is distinguished and unique, but also do so in a way that excels far and beyond what anyone else is doing." So I thought that was a great definition and honestly, who wants to work in that zone as much as possible? Sign me up. Definitely. And that's really what I try to consciously do as much as possible when I work. And one of the questions I had a couple years ago about this was, "That's great, but is it even possible to work in your zone a hundred percent of the time?"

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And I feel that the answer is no. Let's be realistic. Eventually you'll come up with a task you'll have to do that you just don't have a choice to do. But if at least you can really be in a role and really take on responsibilities that will most of the time have you in that zone, that zone of genius, wonderful. That's amazing. If you can find that sweet spot, that's great. And personally, I feel like I'm really... I mean, I can always improve and I love what I do. I really, really genuinely love my work right now, but I feel that I could even do better in that area. I feel like there's still so much to discover, and I'm definitely on a mission to find that. So if we go back, we rarely work in the zone of incompetence because we naturally don't last long there, either by choice or someone will just tell us that's just not our place.

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But I find them the struggle with most of us is the following. We accept a lot of the time in our okay to be working in our zone of either competence or even maybe in our zone of excellence, which I said earlier I thought that was the best zone you could be in before. But here's the thing, if we're going to do that, we are actually doing a disservice to ourselves and to others. So next question is how do we get there? And I thought I'd just share with you how I got there. So I've done the following work and it has helped me tremendously and definitely increased my happiness in what I do. Now, like I said, I really love what I do.

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I love almost every aspect of it and whatever I don't love as much, it's just little things I have to do here and there. But I would say 90% of the time I'm doing something I feel like I am really made for, and I'm just trying to find ways to make sure that percentage goes up even more if possible. So what I did to help me work in my zone of genius as much as possible is ask myself these questions. You have to do this self-reflection analysis to get there, and they're very simple questions. So what do I love to do? What work do I do that does not seem like work? And what am I really good at? Those are three simple questions.

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But if it's crazy how probably a lot of people didn't really sit down to reflect about this, and I had not. I had not before. I had somewhat, but really, if you want to be honest with yourself and accept the fact that it probably has nothing to do with what you're doing right now and accept that maybe it'll require small changes or maybe really big changes, then it's really interesting what you'll find out.

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So the second thing I decided to do was send out a survey to some close friends and family, asking them a few questions. And that was actually an idea from my coach at the time, which I really am thankful for because that really clarified a few things and let me on others. So here are the questions that I asked in that survey. Okay, so what am I doing or talking about when you experienced me most energized and happy? Like the following questions, all of these questions, they help you understand a little bit more, learn about yourself in a different way that you probably maybe didn't even know. So very interesting responses. I really encourage you to at least do the exercise. So the second question is, when you experienced me at my best, the exact thing I'm doing is... And then they can fill in the blank.

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Third question, what do you see as a special skill I am gifted with? Now, fourth question. There are 6, 7. 6, I think. Okay, so fourth question. What are your three favorite qualities you see in me? And then I put in brackets, do your best to use one word per quality. So what are your three favorite qualities you see in me? The second to last question, what results am I able to create when I am in my zone of genius? And I think I used Google Form to do the survey, and at the top I explained the reason why I was doing this. I also gave a little definition of what zone of genius is. So now they can actually answer that question, what results am I able to create when I am in my zone of genius?

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They will probably see things you don't remember, you do or feel. Yeah. You can learn a lot from it. And then last question, how have I most contributed to your life? So those were great questions. I got really good answers. Some were actually quite, I don't want to say shocking. You really have to take on those answers in a very constructive way and be ready to receive some answers that might not be what you want to hear. You have to be very open-minded, and the idea is just to make sure that you want to improve your life. So it has to go through some things you want to hear, but sometimes things you don't necessarily want to hear or that will surprise you simply. So those are really the things that I did personally to help me really get into that zone of genius.

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It's not only is this exercise fun, but it can really help increase your happiness at work mostly. And like I said before, is it realistic to always work in your zone of genius? I don't think so. But if we try to balance out our days to be as much as possible in that zone, then that's awesome. That's really what I strive for. So I hope that helped you today, maybe improve your quality at work. Rate, share, subscribe to this podcast or episode if you liked it. And again, your support is definitely crucial in helping us reach and inspire more women entrepreneurs in the e-commerce business. Thank you for being part of this journey with me. I hope you gained valuable insights and inspiration today to keep growing and taking action towards your goals. Please follow me on social media. Also follow us on your favorite podcast platform to get notifications every time a new episode is uploaded. See you next time.