How to Make Your Next Move

[The Pivot Forward Series] Finding an area of genius is not a perfect path. There are twists and turns along the way. Not to mention just how many life changes come to make you realize what you used to like and love, you no longer do. There is no right or wrong way to get to your area of genius. The only requirement is that you set your intentionality in the direction of discovering what that is for you.

The problem is, that’s hard to do! It sounds like I’m asking you to pick a star out of the void right? For some of you there are so many possibilities that it overwhelms you daily. You wake up with a sense that “today is the day I’m going to get it all figured out, only to be met by the crippling notion that you don’t even know where to begin. Others of you may feel pressure to pick THEE “right thing,” so you end up in a constant state of analysis paralysis considering every option until one of those things you are mulling over identifies itself as your area of genius. Still others, who believe they have discovered their area of genius, the thing that sparks their light, build an entire life around that idea only to discover that what used to be satisfying was only temporary and while it is hard to admit, it feels like you find yourself back at square one. Which is a challenge in and of itself because now it feels like you are going backwards! Regardless of whether you fall perfectly into one of these categories or find yourself somewhere in between, It’s a lot! [Spoiler alert, we’re going to solve this] 

Mythbusting Time

If you know me by now, you know I love a good myth buster, so let’s get into that first. First of all, while it is the essential component of this practical dive into getting you fully connected to your area of genius, our general adaptation of the word “try” needs to go out in the garbage with yesterday’s negative internal monolog (we’ll get to this one next). The word “try” is tricky. It is necessary to indicate our intent to make a move in a direction - hence it’s importance here - but it isn’t commonly the word that represents making the move. In other words, the more you are “trying” in most cases, the less you are “doing.” The generally understood definition of “Try” has become this way of hiding from actual productivity, and instead convincing ourselves that as long as we are thinking about what your area of genius “could be” then that amounts to trying - nope!

The other area that needs a little myth busting is that every idea that comes into your head about yourself or your identity is absolutely true. Not so! A common burden with visionary people is the negative internal monologue masquerading around as imposter syndrome. It sounds something like “you aren’t good enough,” “someone else is already doing this,” or my favorite “nobody needs to hear from you.” Suffice it to say none of this is true, but as you may have already discovered, it isn’t enough to simply know those terribly rude thoughts are not your own, you have to combat those with truthful affirmations daily. Only with enough practiced positive reinforcement will some of those negative ideas start to silence so you can begin hearing the true you calling out from the inside.

If you’ve gotten here in this read, and any of this is ringing in your head as true, you might be wondering what if anything can you do about this daily, weekly, yearly predicament you find yourself in. It’s almost like if you could just get the negative conversation in your head to slow down you could make a move to try. And if you just knew what to pay attention to, then you could really give your all to the ONE thing inside your area of genius.

Practical Application

I don’t know if I would say this is another myth buster, but for the purpose of this writing, let’s call it a really practical application. Here’s how you solve this problem…

For 60 days, that’s 2 months, try everything.

This approach to finding your area of genius is what I like to call Casting the net. If it interests you, do it. If you are thinking about it multiple days in a row, schedule an appointment. If it came up for you in the past, and you put it down, and haven’t thought about it in awhile, pick it back up again and give it a whirl. There is no interest too small, or minuscule to attempt. Whatever you do, don’t take your foot off the gas until you start to identify things that really “spark joy” (thanks Marie Condo). What we’re looking for here are deep degree of satisfaction. In Tik Tok land they call that following the dopamine.

That’s how you can overcome the analysis paralysis - Try Everything, and don’t let up until you find the things that really resonate with you.

Now to this inner monologue that has to go…

The only way to get rid of the inner monologue is with a ton of truth. I mentioned earlier incorporating affirmations. Another way is to know yourself better. If you know who you truly are, when that pesky inner monologue comes up, you have more ammunition to combat it. Here are two self identifier assessments you can take right now to take you one step closer to knowing yourself more deeply.

16personalities.com (duration: approximately 10 minutes cost: Free in exchange for your email address) Learn More

Clifton Strengths (duration: approximately 20 minutes cost: $19.99 for top 5 results; $49.99 for all 34 strengths *recommended) Learn More

The information you can discover here, between these two assessments is so important, I require anyone who intends to work with me to take them and send in their results. It is so helpful!

The bottom line is that you won’t be able to identify your area of genius without actually doing, not just trying to do. In the infamous words of one of my mentors Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no try.” Try is an illusion. Do is what’s real. Do what’s interesting to you until you find the peace that comes from knowing your area of genius. Once you have that, the rest comes a little more easily.

Already think you have your area of genius nailed down? Schedule a FREE Coffee Chat with me to see what you can do to build a life you love around what you have discovered.