Clarity : how to get it, how to keep it & how to use it to balance your life part 5

[Audio] live with INTENTIONALITY accomplish and you never fail, you won't ever learn what you're really capable of. 9. Your goal building helps you create the future in advance. I have six pictures that represent a goal for every area of my life. I’m looking at them now. It’s the picture of what I want to do, and of what I want to be in the future. Actually, the writing of this book is a result of putting it on my visual goal map, as a daily reminder of what I’m trying to accomplish. Here’s the way it works: The pictures you create in your head turn into the reality you hold in your hand. Anything that was ever accomplished in this world—the greatest athletic feats, the greatest scientific feats, the greatest romances, the greatest achievements—all started as an idea or a vision or This is me with Scott Rigsby, The Ironman a dream in somebody's mind. _ (whose storyis told on pg. 55-57) after a 46 And they didn’t happen until mile bike ride to raise money for The Scott Rigsby Foundation. | look at this daily as they were written down and _ 4 Visual reminder for my fitness goal and also for inspiration. somebody took action to make them happen. 87.

[Audio] CLARITY 10. You stay on the offensive. Playing life to win is playing offense, not defense. Playing defense is playing not to lose. I meet so many people who play life not to lose. They play defense; they protect themselves, they live in a sheltered world where they don’t step out to see what they’re really capable of doing. [I’ve found that many business people in our volatile economy are stuck in their businesses because they're playing defense, and trying to protect themselves from not losing, rather than playing offense and being creative and taking action to make their product or service more relevant in the current environment. The people who are creative and make their product or service more relevant in this marketplace are the ones who are thriving. Remember, almost 70 percent of the current Fortune 500 companies were started in a down economy. When you play offense, you take control. In sports, a good offense really is your best defense. In the last 15 years, teams with offenses ranked in the top five have won more Super Bowls than teams with top five defenses. Offense is where it’s at. It’s making something happen, being creative, moving forward and—above all—taking action. When you stand up and take action, good things begin to happen. How TO WRITE EFFECTIVE goals So, how do you actually write an effective, clearly defined goal? The S-M-A-R-T acronym is a simple and useful way to break it down. 88.

[Audio] live with INTENTIONALITY S pecific: Highly effective goals should be written and specific. If a goal is not written down, and you merely keep it in mind, it does not have the same power as a written goal. W-R-I-T-E (I-T ) down, make (I-T ) HAPPEN. When you write it down make sure it is specific and well defined. Instead of saying: “I want to lose weight,” say, “I weigh 180 pounds and my body fat is less than 20 percent.” Instead of saying, “I want to make more money,” say, “I make $150000 a year.” Your written goal should stretch you beyond your comfort zone. Vi easurable: Highly effective goals are measurable. If you can’t measure your goal, how will you know when you achieve it? Let me give you an example. If your goal is stated as, “I will improve my relationship with my wife,” how will you know if you accomplish it? Instead, if you say, “I improved my relationship with my wife by reading three relationship books this month,” then you will, at the very least, have something to measure. Your goals should also be meaningful to you and motivate you to move toward them. Remember, you must have a compelling reason why you want to achieve a goal. The best way to keep a commitment, to reach a goal, is to understand why you are striving for it. fies one, Highly effective goals are stated positively and in the present tense, as if you have already accomplished the goal. This moves you towards action. You should have an action step for each of your goals; you need to compile the details, make a plan, and write down all of the required activities. Prioritize and time organize them, and rewrite them as often as necessary to make your plan effective. Revise your list of goals, improve it, plan it...but most importantly, put it on paper. 89.

[Audio] Ca ASRa ely Rs Highly effective goals need to be realistic and relevant to you. They need to be achievable. Make an assessment of available resources, knowledge and time. Taking an action oriented mindset will attract people and resources that aren't initially visible—you can and should factor this in. Just make sure you aren't confusing achievements with miracles. For example, I could state a goal of wanting to become a professional football player, but I don’t think the N-F-L is looking for a 56 year old tight end right now. ‘This is just not in the scope of my resources. Perak: Highly effective goals are time bound. Deadlines put positive pressure on you to take action; otherwise it’s just human nature to keep putting things off. Strangely enough, we tend to procrastinate on goals that are the most valuable to our long term success. To put it all together, here is an example of a written goal that hits all of the above points: I weigh 180 pounds and my body fat is less than 20 percent by December 31, 2012. Now I have a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic and Time based. That seems S-M-A-R-T to me! taking ACTION, taking responsibility One of my favorite anecdotes about taking action concerns a good friend and client, Bill Bartmann. You may have seen his name on Ine. magazine's list of the “25th Wealthiest Men that Nobody Ever Knew About.” Bill started a business back in the 1980 seconds with a $13000 loan. 90.

[Audio] live with INTENTIONALITY He sat down with his wife and wrote his idea down on a napkin. Seven years later he had a 3 billion dollars dollar company. In 2008, Bill and I were working together at a “Get Motivated” event in Roanoke, Virginia, before an audience of about 10000 people. We were scheduled to zip off to the airport to catch our departing flight, right after the presentation. Naturally, as we got out to the parking lot, everybody was leaving at the same time. There was complete gridlock. No one was moving. We knew if we sat there much longer, we were going to miss our flight. Suddenly, Bill jumped out of the car and disappeared into the crowd of people and autos. About five minutes later, cars started moving. As we got closer to the exit of the parking lot, we could see Bill standing in the middle of the bottleneck point, directing traffic! He was the picture of calm authority, pointing, waving and signaling to each driver. In 10 minutes, we were out of the parking lot and speeding to the airport. We made that flight with time to spare. I guess thats why he’s a billionaire, 1 remember thinking. He didn’t let circumstances dictate his fate. He got up and took action. He took responsibility. You can’t do one without the other. When he took action, he took responsibility for changing the circumstances that 10000 people found themselves in. And when he took that responsi bility, he had to make something positive happen. Many people are stuck in their own gridlock; letting circumstances (or their perceptions of their circumstances) dictate what happens to them. They sit there and wait for something to change instead of taking action. Nothing happens until you take action. 91.

[Audio] CALTATRELT ¥ ACT ON What You ALREADY KNOW Here’s a rule of the action based life that took me a long time to learn: Stop asking or praying for wisdom and take action based on what you already know. For example, most of us already know that smoking ciga rettes will increase our chances of getting cancer and heart disease. For my part, I already know that if I don’t invest time and effort and energy with my wife and children, those relationships will falter. I already know that if I sit down and eat a pint of ice cream before I go to bed every night, it is not going to be good for my health. I know that if I don't get out and network with the right people every day, my business is not going to have an opportunity to grow. PRAYER HELPS, BUT ACTIONS ALWAYS CREATE results | remember when | first learned how to pray. It was really uncomfortable. My prayers usually sounded something like this: ‘Dear God, gimme, gimme, gimme, help me, help me, help me.” The focus was totally on me. And as | grew in my faith, | started to pray more for others. | might say, “God, please help the Smith family, the Jones family. Please help the people in Haiti who went through the earthquake.” The focus went onto other people. As | continued to grow, it went into the third phase. Instead of just praying, | took action. When you hear about somebody that is in need, instead of just praying for them, take action. In my opinion, God always works through other people. The earthquake victims in Haiti didn’t receive help until others took action. It’s the same way in your local community or in your own small circle of influence. Prayer works, but actions always create results. So pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you. 92.

[Audio] live with INTENTIONALITY Goals plus Action = Change. ‘The actions we take today will start to change the outcome of what happens tomorrow. And the more you can crystallize your goals into a form that makes them real and tangible, the more compelling they will be. And the better able you will be to achieve them. What action do you need to take right now that will move you one step closer to one of your goals? Don’t wait. Do it now. You'll find more exercises and tools to help you set effective goals at my website, www. VitalVisionsInc.com. 93.

[Audio] CHAPTER 4: find YouR GENIUS “Dont ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” HAROLD WHITMAN “Follow your passion, and success will follow you.” ARTHUR buddhold 5 ou have no greater responsibility than to determine what you are meant to accomplish on this earth. Why do you exist? As human beings we need a sense of purpose in our lives as much as we need food, water and oxygen. This sense of purpose provides meaning and significance to our lives. It makes us feel useful, and is a constant reminder that “my life matters.” With a deep sense of purpose or mission, you live from the inside out. You become the force that triggers your actions. Your outer life honestly and accurately reflects your inner life—your values, priorities and principles. You begin living authentically, behaving more freely and intuitively. When you tap into 94.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS your personal mission, you become more creative, energetic and pas sionate. Like a child at play, you become totally absorbed in the pursuit of your goals because your goals are in syne with what you're all about. ‘According to the depth of which you draw your life, Without a deep sense of purpose, life is empty and devoid of true significance or long term meaning. This type of existence is character ized by cynicism, pessimism, apathy and, ultimately, a life of medioc rity where you go through the motions in perpetual survival mode. The 1981 movie Chariots of Fire offers some vivid illustrations of a life lived with purpose. Two scenes in particular stand out to me. In the first, Harold Abram is on a training table, getting ready to run the race of his life: The 100-yard dash in the Olympics. He says, “I am 24 years old, I am constantly in pursuit, and I don’t even know what it is that I am chasing.” Without purpose our lives seem unfulfilled, uncontrollable and tiresome. Contrast that scene with another, in which Eric Liddell says to his sister, “Jenny, I believe God made me for a purpose, the mission fields of China. But he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” When do you feel God’s pleasure? There are four benefits to knowing your life’s purpose: It will give you focus, it will simplify your life because you stay focused on the things that matter and delete everything else, it will increase your 95.

[Audio] CLARITY motivation in life because you'll have a clear direction, and it will give meaning to your life. If you recall the letter my father’s friend wrote to my family after my dad had passed away, it stated, “Your dad was ahead of his time in anticipating the needs of others and taking action to meet those needs. He was a counselor and a friend to those who were lost or stumbled. He had personal magic, and gave a lift and brought a smile to those he met each day. In the eyes of God and the eyes of man, your dad lived a successful life.” To me, that illustrates a life lived with purpose and clarity. Even though I didn’t know this about my dad, other people saw him as having an evident sense of purpose. We all share a common purpose of learning and growing, but within that larger purpose we must find our genius. Your genius is your unique path to learning, growing and con tributing to the world. No matter how far you stray from your genius it is always waiting for you, because no one but you can fulfill it. Every life experience, no matter how random it may seem, can be utilized to your advantage. It can fuel your genius. As I like to say, everything you have experienced in life has prepared you for what youre about to do. When you arrive at your genius, you will know it. A sense of destiny will come over you as you come to understand the difference in the world that only you are equipped to make. The more you experience your genius, the more you will be drawn into it. Tinges of dissatisfaction will fade. You will enjoy invigorating surges of self worth as you let go of the need to compare yourself with others. You will be healthier, more prosperous and full of joy. We spend a lot of our lives wishing we could “act like him,” or “look like her,” or “be as successful as him.” When you unlock your 96.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS genius, however, your sense of purpose and passion sweeps away your desire for what somebody else has. We each have many different potential paths in life, but we have only one genius. They say “perfect is the enemy of the good,” meaning we should go ahead with a small, useful action instead of waiting for some abso lutely ideal solution. There’s logic in that, but I feel we must often bypass things that are merely good in order to reach what is truly great. Developing your genius is all about this: God had one purpose when He made you. You came into this life with a unique vision or dream. For some this dream will shake the entire world and for others it will soothe just one tiny home. In either case the world is left a better place. Sooner or later, we are all confronted with the internal question of whether we are heeding our call and following our ultimate vision. “Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.” john wooden We each have a unique gift and purpose. Our job is to find it and use it to the best of our ability. Throughout your life you will constantly change and become slightly or extensively different from the previous version of yourself. With each change you will move closer or slip farther from your genius. Most people consider change to be an external event that occurs randomly and haphazardly. We react to life as if it happens like a leaf in a windstorm. This causes us to be thrown off course by our circumstances. As James Allen wrote in As a Man Thinketh, “Circumstance does not make a man, it reveals him.” This is one of the most important laws of human nature. Our circumstances a7.

[Audio] CLARITY are just a reflection of what is going on inside our world of thoughts, emotions and beliefs. PRIVATE THOUGHTS DON’T STAY PRIVATE For long What you think about most frequently will ultimately be revealed for everyone to see. In other words, your private thoughts don’t stay private for long. Human beings are really “human becomings.” As we begin to change, our world changes with us. As we become better our lives become better, and the prerequisite for changing circumstances is that you must first change yourself. To have it any other way is pretending to be the tail and trying to wag the dog. We have two choices when life doesn’t go our way: We can get bitter or we can get better. Regarding our past, we can become bitter and drag that bitterness through the rest of life, or we can embrace it and deal with it, and use it as the means to positively impact others. Staying on purpose requires you to change and grow into the person you were meant to be. To do that you must get in touch with your core desires. It is these high intensity desires, often referred to as the “DNA of success,” that reveal the role you are meant to fulfill. Accept the fact that you have been custom made to serve an exclusive function in this world, even if that role and plan to fulfill it are not yet clear to you. This is your genius, and it’s up to you to find it. your g p toy You might ask, “If this is so compelling, why isn’t everyone doing it?” After working with thousands of people over the years at the 1% Club and undertaking an enormous amount of research, my former partner Tommy Newberry came up with some strong conclusions: 1. We are all born with unique gifts and have a specific purpose to fulfill. 98.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS . This purpose for your life will align with your unique gifts, talents and a combination of other factors. . The activities and pursuits that you find most enjoyable and attractive are the best indicators of strong talent and giftedness. . When you engage in activities that demand your special talent, your brain releases chemicals that trigger within you a sense of satisfaction and significance as an incentive for you to keep it up. It’s a positive reinforcement mechanism that is part of our perfect design. These talents get converted into strengths and eventually genius if we sustain the course long enough. . Your unique combination of talents, life experiences and personality merge together and spark a vision or dream within you. The more you engage in your strengths, the more crystallized your ultimate vision becomes. . With this dream imprinted on your mind, you become very intrinsically motivated, requiring less and less prodding from the outside. You become inner directed, and self discipline becomes effortless. . This whole process is contrarian and countercultural. Instead of competing to max out their potential, most people compete to keep up with each other. They are in the wrong race. Philosophically they tend to desire comfort more than character. Strategically, they often find themselves in the wrong career. Tactically, they've resigned themselves to simply enjoying their evenings, weekends and vacations. That’s the very definition of the rat race. My friend Pat Morley says in his book The Man in the Mirror, “When youre in rat race, even if you win, youre still a rat.” Think about that. “When 99.

[Audio] CLARITY youre in the rat race, even if you win, youre still a rat.” This leads us to... 8. The dream in your heart won't come to fruition by accident. Naturally, there is a price for all of this, one that requires you to surrender the concept of safety and comfort in exchange for the higher and more significant reward of living the life you were intended to live, and leaving your unique mark on the world. You must grant yourself a promotion and escape from your personal comfort zone if you want to become a difference maker. We all have the tendency to get complacent and comfortable. It’s like having a box around you, and as you step beyond the borders of that box, you start to get an uneasy feeling because you don't know what lies beyond that border. As I’ve mentioned previously, you're afraid of what people might think if you try something and fail. You're afraid of failure itself. Yourre afraid of succeeding. You're afraid of the unknown, so you never wander beyond the borders of that self contained box. I have spent most of my life trying to get myself out of that box, and, having learned how, it is now my purpose and passion to help other people and organizations get themselves out of that box. abandon ALL THOUGHT OF retreat All along the path you will face resistance—institutional resistance, cultural resistance, relationship resistance, financial resistance, mental resistance. Often we are our own worst enemy because of the “mind monsters” that inhabit our brain. This is simply part of the dream game. You must press on against the forces of conformity. You must take action that is committed to your ultimate vision, and you must 100.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS do this before you have the money, before you have the confidence and even before you have the blessing of those closest to you. The first step is unconditional resolve. You must draw a line in the sand. Then the plan will come, the resources will emerge, and— with all thought of retreat cast aside—you become an unstoppable force. It reminds me of the historical account of De Soto's landing on the shore of what is now Florida. When the Spanish conqueror Hernando De Soto reached the New World five centuries ago, he ordered his troops inland. They marched along as ordered until they came to a rise. Looking back, they saw the smoke and flames of burning ships—the ships they'd arrived on. Now they knew they had no alternative. They could not go back. The only decision they could make was to move forward, do battle, and defeat the enemy and win the cause. What ships do you need to burn so that you don’t have an excuse to go backwards? THE INTERSECTION OF GENIUS Your area of genius is the intersection where what you enjoy doing most intersects with what you do best. This is the specific area where youre capable of making the greatest difference or contribution in the world. Excellence is achievable once you find your genius. You find your genius by first asking yourself what youd do all day long if money were not a factor. Only when you really love what you do will you have what it takes on the inside to generate tremendous results on the outside. A genius is someone who believes and takes action on the ideas and dreams inside them. We all have dreams and ideas. The only dif 101.

[Audio] CLARITY ference between dreams that come to life and dreams that don’t are the actions or inactions of the dreamer. I can’t tell you how many people approach me with ideas but are afraid to take the first step. I always ask them this question: “Are you willing to mortgage your house and every thing you have and invest it in this idea?” Most often the response is, “No, that’s why I came to you.” My response is always, “If youre not willing to invest in it, why should I be willing to invest in it?” The point is, most people aren't really committed to their ideas. Rather, they're committed to the idea of the idea, but are unwilling to follow through and sacrifice and take the steps to make it happen. Suc cessful people follow their dreams by getting them out of their head and down on paper so they can take action on a daily basis. They don’t always succeed, but they learn, they grow and have information for next time. What do you secretly want to do with your life? Can you exercise the courage to honestly identify where you have been uniquely blessed, where you have special talents and abilities? If you don't know, pray about it, ask your spouse or ask your friends. But whatever you do, seek it out. I believe every person has the ability to become outstanding at in at least one pursuit if they are strategically selective and they throw their whole heart into it. Excellence and the abundant opportunities that come with it can only be achieved if you do what you love and love what you do, focusing on your unique strengths to the exclusion of all else. If you're not passionate and excited about what you do, how can you expect anyone else to be? The concept of genius is closely aligned with two major principles of peak personal performance: The Strength Principle, which states that by focusing on your strengths you ultimately render your weaknesses irrele vant, and the 80/20 Principle, which states that 80 percent of your results 102.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS come from only 20 percent of your input. Over the course of my career, I have seen it time and time again. In business, 20 percent of your clients, 20 percent of your customers, 20 percent of your actions, will produce 80 percent of your results. In relationships, it’s the same way: 20 percent of your input creates 80 percent of what comes out the other side. What exactly is your genius? Your genius is a set of related activi ties that, collectively, produce superior results in the marketplace, whether youre an athlete, a pastor, a business leader, an entrepreneur, in law enforcement or a teacher. Everyone has a marketplace, a group of people they are charged with serving in one way or another. When you operate in your genius, you produce outstanding results. Best of all, these outcomes are generated with an investment of time and effort that is disproportionately small—as long as it’s properly calculated. Your genius is where you are most fully leveraged. This is where you can work less and earn more. This is where you can do less but become much more. This is where you can significantly increase the dollar value of each hour of your time. This is where you're capable of making the greatest difference or contribution in the world and create the most influence on others. “Courage is rightly the foremost of virtues for upon it all others depend.” winston CHURCHILL Almost everyone has experienced brief glimpses of genius, yet only a small percentage have capitalized on their potential and transformed it into their daily operating system. When most people look back on their lives, they don’t regret the things they did as much as the things they didn’t do. How many times have you wanted to do something that you knew would make you and the people around you better off, but you hesitated out of fear? It takes courage to push beyond our fears. 103.

[Audio] Cae AG RY IaeY How TO IDENTIFY YouR GENIUS How can you best acknowledge and understand what you were uniquely wired to do? These six clues will help you identify your genius. 1. Be passionate: Your area of genius is characterized by enthusiasm, intent, interest and pure fun. This passion will be difficult to turn offeven when youre away from work. You'll have boundless energy. Working in your area of genius will energize you physically, mentally and emotion ally, and when you do experience fatigue it is accompanied by a powerful sense of satisfaction. On the flipside, non genius activity drains your energy. Norman Vincent Peale shared the story about a trapeze instructor who was teaching a group of people. After getting some basic instruction on the ground, they had to climb way up the pole and stand on a little platform waiting to launch out and jump for the trapeze. One particular young man froze like a deer in headlights. The instructor shouted out to the young man, “Throw your heart over the bar and the rest of your body will follow.” Your heart is your emotional center, the control panel for the rest of your body. Whatever that bar is in your life, being passionate about it is part of the process of understanding your genius. When we started Trillium Health Products, I commuted between Atlanta and Seattle. On plane rides I would ask people about what they were eating, and theyd ask me what I did for a living. My response was, “Well, I have a company and our mission is to educate people about good health and nutrition and provide them with products to live a healthy and nutritional lifestyle.” Inevitably, they'd start pushing their airline food away because I was so passionate about talking to people about what I did. Whether flying to or from Seattle, the person sitting next to me would usually wind up purchasing a juicer after witnessing my passion. 104.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS How often do you talk about what you do fora living? When you're out socially, when you're around other people, when youre having lunch, when youre at the ballpark? I’m not talking about being overbearing and always trying to sell somebody, but the first time you meet people, the first question they ask is: “What do you do for a living?” Do you respond with passionate enthusiasm or do you just say, “I’m a clerk.” Lyndon Johnson was on a tour of nasa’s Mission Control in Houston when he came across a particularly energetic and enthusiastic janitor. Johnson said, “Young man, I just can’t get over it. I never met a janitor who was as energetic and as passionate as you are.” The young man replied, “Mr President, I’m not just a janitor. ’'m part of a team of people that put a man on the moon!” How do you think about what you do? Are you just a janitor? Or are you part of a team of people that put a man on the moon? The way you think about what you do makes all the difference about the passion and energy you exude to other people and if you aren't passionate about what you do, how can you expect anyone else to be? 2. Never stop learning: In your area of genius, you'll notice that learning new information takes little time and comes quite easily. New concepts are easily visualized and quickly integrated into your existing knowledge base. Just as important, the learning process is fun. Never ending improvement comes naturally. Your area of genius is characterized by a_ vivid, clear and almost perfect memory. Facts, figures, dates, names, con versations and key points related to your genius activities are effortlessly recalled when needed. I’m a voracious reader on the subject of health and fitness. I love to read articles and books that talk about the latest breakthroughs. I make it a point to stay up on it, not just so I can share it with everybody else, but so I know for myself and I can take advantage of cutting edge 105.

[Audio] CLARITY information. You have to be a continuous learner in order to become a continuous earner. The more you learn and the more you can apply your new information to helping other people, the more youre going to be compensated. 3. Maintain unstoppable momentum: When youre operating in your genius, youll be totally immersed in what you're doing and lose yourself in the moment. You'll lose track of time. World class athletes sometimes refer to this as being “in the zone.” Researchers have also called this phe nomenon “flow.” It’s when you're totally absorbed in the present moment and able to shut out everything else. When do you feel “in the zone?” For me, it’s when I’m in front of groups of people (or for that matter just one person) sharing what I’ve learned to help get them unstuck. I get so passionate that it creates unstoppable momentum toward success. 4. Follow your gut: In your genius, you'll naturally tap into your intuition and be inclined to go for it. Let me add: You'll be right most of the time. You will experience a strong, instinctual knowledge that helps you make quick, positive decisions that move you towards your goal. I remember one specific decision I made when we were involved in a lawsuit with another company over a trademark violation. We had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this lawsuit, and almost 50 percent of my time was focused on this issue, rather than being creative and helping my business grow. I was sitting with our attorneys one day and I asked, “Well, what does the next four or five months look like?” “We're going to have to spend several hundred thousand more dollars and there are going to be 40 to 50 depositions,” said one. “And what is the outcome going to be? We're going to win this case?” I asked. 106.

[Audio] find YouR GENIUS Even though we were correct legally, morally and ethically, the lawyers said we had only a 70 percent chance of winning the case. In other words, we were totally in the right and there was a 30 percent chance that we were going to lose. My instincts said, “This is not right. I've got to stop spending the money and wasting my time.” I announced to the room that I was going to phone the C-E-O of the other company. “You cant do that!” they all said at once. I disregarded their advice and went with my instincts. I called the C-E-O on the other side and said, “I’m spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and expending a massive amount of time and effort and energy, and you must be doing the same. If you'll agree to a cease and desist order, I will drop the lawsuit.” In five minutes, we had a deal. Because I was working in my genius, my instincts were correct and I regained a vast amount of time and money to use for better purposes. Your instincts will work for you when you're working in your zone and in your genius. 5. Say goodbye to burnout: By operating in your genius, you will insulate yourself from burning out since you'll be working at what you love to do. You will get more done in less time and be happier, healthier and much more balanced. Burnout is the mental, emotional and physical consequence of overwork in an area of weakness, or non genius. In other words when you identify your strength, the more you work in it, the more energy, health and vitality you have. When you work in your non genius areas, it sucks the energy out of you. Burnout is the breaking point result of accumulated resistance to non genius activity. If you're not working in your genius and you yearn to be working in another area, take this as a sign that you have yet to discover your genius. Here’s an incredible statistic—Gallup surveyed more than two million people at companies around the world and asked them this 107.

[Audio] Ca TAR RG lat ey question: “Do you get to use your greatest strength every day at work?” Amazingly, 8 out of 10—80 percent!—said they do not get to use their greatest strength every day at work. That means that 80 percent of us are yearning to work in our genius, but the environment we work in doesn’t allow it. Companies are losing billions of dollars collectively because people aren't working at what they do best. I realize that at times we all need to do certain things. When you have a boss and youre working for a company, it is very difficult to launch out on your own and do your own thing. But the more you can gravitate towards understanding what you do best, the more positive contributions you'll make to the company. If you run your own business, it will help create more revenue and more downtime for you to spend with your family. 6. Wing it: For a good portion of my life, I would do little prep before I got up and spoke to people. I would just get up and wing it because I really didn’t know any better, and I was amazed that I received great feedback. If there’s something in your life you do well and get great results from without much preparation, pay attention to that. It might be a sign that you are working in your genius. The above are all clues to discovering your genius. What follows are the roadblocks to finding your genius. When you notice these road blocks, go around them or over them or through them. You owe it to your team and to yourself. The foreign concept roadblock: Most people are unaware of the concept of genius and thus are uncomfortable associating themselves with it. It’s simply inconsistent with their self concept. To most of the world, work is something done for the sole purpose of paying bills, and enjoying evenings, weekends and, ultimately, retirement. In that same Gallup poll mentioned above, 86 percent of the people reported that they would 108.