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The zone of genius, where ability + practice means success.
In his book The Big Leap (2009), psychologist and professor Gay Hendricks identifies four zones or categories of competence that human beings move through during our lives.
The four zones are:
| ZONE | WHAT YOU DO |
| Incompetence | Something you inherently are not skilled at; you are not that great at doing or you do not care about |
| Competence | Something you are efficient at, but you are not interested in them that much. You recognize that many people are likewise efficient at it. |
| Excellence | Something you are tremendously skilled at and you enjoy doing so much that you cannot stop. |
| Genius | Something for which you have natural abilities to do, rather than learn. |
The zones of incompetence and competence are easily identifiable. The problematic step is often the transition between the zone of excellence and genius, because the boundaries are sometimes blurred.
The zone of excellence is the most dangerous zone, and interestingly, the one in which humans tend to spend the most time. In this state, the person performs tasks that allow him or her to earn a good living because he or she excels beyond anyone else at them. That is, there is always a comparison with others. This state has the advantage that the person can live in security, but at the same time the fear of leaving the “comfort” or convenience zone means that he or she does not take risks and does not reach his or her full potential.
The maximum potential is found in the zone of genius. Hendricks claims that people feel more fulfilled and happier when they spend more time on activities in their zone of genius; at the same time their business success grows. But what is the zone of genius or how do we exploit it?
First of all, the zone of genius is made up of the activities that come easiest to you because they are innate to you. And be careful, because that doesn’t mean that you love everything you do. On the contrary, you may not like it very much at first, but it is something you know you are naturally made for. The difficulty lies in identifying what comes most naturally to you, rather than identifying what comes naturally to other people, and trying to teach yourself those skills in order to imitate and recreate their genius (as in the zone of excellence).
Secondly, once you have identified that naturalness, you need to practice it. In an interview with the journal of ForbesWomen, he admits that when he works with busy executives, he forces them to set aside ten uninterrupted minutes a day in their schedules to cultivate their genius, either by meditating, writing or resting. Once those ten minutes a day become routine, they move to fifteen, and so on until they reach 90% of their time in their genius zone.
To sum up, according to Hendrick the key to success lies in the combination of talent and hours of practice, because if you constantly work on those skills, you will be able to get the most out of them. But to get this far you have to take risks and get out of the routine.