Early in my sales career, I landed a huge deal and hit 230% of quota. And got a nice 5-figure commission to go with it. And then something interesting happened: My sales manager raised my quota. Now I was expected to hit 230% of quota EVERY month. Uh oh….
Has this ever happened to you where you achieve a goal then become “successfully miserable” because you’re caught in your own “success trap”? As a type-A high-achiever, I’ve fought to get out of my own success trap many times. Now as a business transformation keynote speaker and leadership coach, I often speak to audiences and coach high-performing executives on how to make better decisions to ensure they do not become successfully miserable.
So if you find yourself caught in your own success trap and lacking motivation, one way to free yourself is to discover your “Zone of Genius”. In his bestselling book called The Big Leap, personal development guru, Gay Hendricks, defines “Zone of Genius” as you unique reason for being on this planet. That when discovered and acted upon, success becomes easy and enjoyable and you reach a level of peak performance effortlessly.
And to help identify your Zone of Genius, here are four questions that Gay challenges readers to answer in his book:
1. What do you most love to do? (You love so much you can do it for long stretches of time without getting tired or bored.);
2. What work do you do that doesn’t seem like work? (You can do it all day long without ever feeling tired or bored.);
3. In your work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to amount of time spent? (Even if you do only ten seconds or a few minutes of it, an idea or a deeper connection may spring forth that leads to huge value. Whatever it is, find it and I want you to put the highest priority on doing some of it every day.);
4. What is your unique ability? (There is a special skill you’re gifted with. This unique ability, fully realized and put to work can provide enormous benefits to you and any organization you serve.);
So who wants to join me in escaping from their success trap? Who wants to start living from their Zone of Genius? Start by answering those four questions above. And when you get stuck on the questions, leave a comment below or ping me at @mpveltri to help you get unstuck. I am happy to help — that is what my Zone of Genius is!
AND HERE'S A BONUS: I was recently interviewed on a wonderful podcast for successful professionals where I discuss more strategies for escaping from you “Success Trap”. You can check out the free recording of the podcast here — enjoy!