One of my favorite authors, Gay Hendricks, coined the term “Zone of Genius” to describe that super sweet spot where your best talent intersects with your primary purpose. You feel in flow and your actions take on a deeply personal drive and meaning.
It took me ages to figure out my own Zone of Genius. I read dozens of books on finding your purpose and passion and calling and I simply couldn’t locate mine. Many books suggest to mine your childhood for clues. Ok…the most enduring theme of my childhood was playing pretend. For the entire year after watching Annie, I wanted nothing more than to be an orphan (to my parent’s chagrin) and would play orphanage with my sisters for hours on end. And the year that The Little Mermaid came out all I wanted was to live in the sea and swim and sing. Hmmm….neither option is ideal as a career destination, let alone a Zone of Genius.
Then there are the books that say do what you love and can do for hours without noticing the passage of time. Frustratingly, I didn’t have any of those either. I have the attention span of a fruit fly and the list of things that I love is very long. Even taxes, all that calculating is just sublime to my nerdy mind.
When I finally realized what I was really passionate about it was so simple and ever-present that I had assumed it didn’t qualify. I assumed that it couldn’t count as a Zone of Genius because it’s not really an action. What I love to do the most is stare off dreamily into the sky (or the trees, or the lake) and allow my mind to wander. I can loose hours letting my meandering mind stumble upon disparate ideas and find ways to connect these crooked puzzle pieces. And then find a way to explain it. This passion was handy in my previous corporate role whenever someone needed input from an “out of the box” thinker. And it’s really helpful as a Coach because I can see the underlying themes and currents in my clients’ lives. I definitely feel in my Zone of Genius here.
All this mingling of passion and purpose has me wondering about a new type of Zone. I’m going to call it the “Zone of Intrigue”. It’s inspired by something I heard Elizabeth Gilbert say recently: “follow your curiosity, not your passion”. Her point was that staying with your passion day after day is like trying to stay permanently high on cocaine. You’ll crash. Curiosity is calmer and more stable. It’s constant.
Getting into the Zone of Intrigue means allowing yourself to be pulled towards the things that uniquely interest you. First, your curiosity is piqued and you simply must know more. You gain some skill as your intrigue deepens. Then, the rush of novelty transforms into something more enduring: it blossoms into passion. And you improve. You get really good. And the most important element: there is a profoundly personal sense of rightness about it all. This is the tug into the Zone of Intrigue.
Within the Zone of Intrigue, a new talent begins and a fresh purpose is sparked. And while there’s no guarantee that your curiosity will develop into genius, you certainly cannot get into the Zone of Genius without first inhabiting the Zone of Intrigue.
What’s sparking your curiosity right now? What’s calling you into the Zone of Intrigue?
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