Loving Your Idiot Zone

Loving Your Idiot(ˈidēət) Zone

By Steve Pavlina

The genius zone idea is popular among many friends of mine. The idea is that we should spend more time doing what we do amazingly well, and delegate or eliminate(iˈliməˌnāt) everything else that we can.

Imagine being a surgeon(ˈsərjən) with a surgical(ˈsərjikəl) team who handles everything else for you. They do all of the prep(prep) work. Then you come in and do the surgical procedure(prəˈsējər) that only you can do. With respect to your genius zone, you’re the hub(həb), and other people are the spokes(spōk). Your team supports(səˈpôrt) you in doing what you do best.

This sounds like a pretty(ˈpritē) good idea in principle, and it apparently(əˈparəntlē,əˈpe(ə)r-) works well for some people. I find it rather limiting though, so it’s not a model I use for myself. I dislike the lifestyle consequences(-ˌkwens,ˈkänsikwəns), namely boredom(ˈbôrdəm).

The issue(ˈiSHo͞o) I have with focusing on my genius zone is that I don’t grow as much when I’m working from my most highly developed skills. I tend to get more value from life when I step outside of my comfort zone repeatedly(riˈpētidlē), such as I’m doing with the current(ˈkə-rənt,ˈkərənt) delegation challenge, and this takes me far from my genius zone.

If I opted to stick(stik) with my genius zone, I’d never get into delegating because delegating isn’t my strength(streNG(k)TH,strenTH) right now. Delegation is among my weakest skill sets. My intention(inˈtenCHən) is to turn this area into a strength. I expect(ikˈspekt) this will take years. If I work on this enough, I can expect that my future self will be pretty good at delegation, perhaps even great. This is how I built many other skills that I’ve been able to leverage(ˈlev(ə)rij,ˈlēv(ə)rij), such as programming, writing, and speaking.

I had to pass through my own idiot zone to level(ˈlevəl) up in these areas(ˈe(ə)rēə). If I’d stuck with my original(əˈrijənl) genius zone, I’d still be a programmer today, but I don’t think that would have been as valuable a path for my life, especially(iˈspeSHəlē) in terms of creating positive ripples(ˈripəl) for others.

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2018/05/loving-your-idiot-zone/