Zone Of Genius Q&A

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The Genius Habit: Questions & Answers

Please complete this form and submit at least 3 business days before your scheduled session. This pre-work should take 3-4 hours to complete, so feel free to save and continue later or block enough time to answer thoroughly.

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Part 1: Is Your Job A Good Fit For You?

When you get constructive feedback, does it often require you to work on a skill or ability that doesn’t feel intuitive to you?*

Do coworkers who are moving up the ladder quickly have a vastly different skill set from you?*

Do you often feel insecure because no matter how hard you work you still can’t seem to meet expectations?*

Does becoming a superstar employee at your company or job seem impossible?*

Does work mostly feel like drudgery, like the clock is ticking too slowly rather than the day speeding by?*

Does your manager struggle to “get” you?*

Is job security or benefits one of the main reasons you stay at your company?*

Do you feel that looking for a new job is scarier than dealing with the day-to-day tasks of your current role?*

Do you often wonder if feeling mediocre at work is as good as it gets?*

Part 2: Does Your Job Provide the Right Kind of Challenge?

Good Challenge

When you’re working, do you enjoy the thinking process that it involves?*

Even if the volume of work is more than you can handle, do you still enjoy doing the work?*

Bad Challenge

Are you overwhelmed by the amount of work you have and the effort it will take to do it?*

Are you bored and unmotivated, letting work pile up until you are left with an unmanageable load?*

Part 3: What’s Your Version of Success?

What is your definition of work?*

What is your definition of success?*

What is your current vision for your career?*

Part 4: Identifying Your Genius by Revisiting Your Life Story

Part 1: Childhood

What were your parents’ occupations, and how have they impacted what you do for a living, if at all?*

What were you known for as a kid (ages 0 to 8)? What were your interests or favorite games to play? Do any activities stand out to you as unique?*

What school subjects were you good at?*

What, if any, key messages about your performance or potential did you receive from your teachers?*

Reflection: Observe the previous answers as if you were reading someone else’s biography. What unique activities were you drawn to as a kid and why? These may be clues to your genius.*

Were you more confident about your abilities as you matured, or did you become less confident?*

Usually, confidence comes when your work is validated by getting good grades or getting the approval of your parents. Some children peak early with confidence and then find their confidence waning by their teen years, when schoolwork gets harder or their social life becomes more challenging.

Part 2: The College / Early Adulthood Years

Did you go to college? If not, why, and what did you do instead?*

If you went to college, how was your experience with choosing and getting accepted into college?*

What were the challenging and rewarding aspects of this process?

What was your focus of study, and why did you choose this?*

What were your dreams for your career after college? What about those dreams inspired you?*

What feedback, if any, did you get from professors, mentors, and friends who played a role in what you did after college?*

If you didn’t go to college, what were your first few jobs like, and why were you doing them? What was your vision for your adult life at this stage?*

Reflection: In our college years, we often feel a lot of pressure to decide how we want to start our careers, and even how we want the rest of our lives to play out. How did you feel about the fact that you were responsible for knowing where your life would go from this point forward?*

Part 3: Jobs

First Job

What was your first job? What did you do, and why did you take that job?*

What tasks were you responsible for? Which did you enjoy? Which did you dislike?*

How did you feel about your ability to be successful at this stage?*

Second Job

What was your second job, and why did you take that job?*

How was this different from or similar to the first job?*

What tasks were you responsible for? What did you enjoy? Which did you dislike?*

What thoughts or understanding did you have about your innate strengths and weaknesses at work at this point?*

Every Job Since (list both: what you enjoyed and what you did not enjoy about each)*

Current Job

What sequence of events led you to what you are doing now?*

What do you enjoy most about this job? What do you enjoy least?*

Reflection: What are the consistent themes with your past jobs and your current job that surround the tasks you most enjoy?*

What are the consistent ways of thinking or problem solving that are related to the tasks you most enjoy? Answer the same questions for aspects of your job you do not enjoy.

Were there any socially motivated reasons why you worked at any of these jobs?*

Was any sort of validation attached to your doing well? Did the company or group value a certain skill that you wanted to possess because people who demonstrated that skill earned the highest salaries or were valued the most?

Part 4: Final Analysis

What are the consistent themes from each section that reveal your genius (the kind of thinking that you most enjoy doing and that leads to your most effective work)?*

Based on your reflections in parts 1-3, what is the way of thinking that you most often used?*

Write a three-word description of that skill here:*

Use a thesaurus and find a few other ways to describe it. This language will become the basis for naming your genius. If you’re struggling to find the right language to label your Genius take the Zone of Genius Quiz. This quiz will take about 15-20 minutes. Before taking it, think of some moments you’ve been in the Zone recently. The quiz will help you more easily find the right language for both your Genius and Purpose. You can then use your Purpose language from the quiz to help you with the section below where you’ll be identifying your Purpose.

Name your genius/purpose

How do you feel about the language you used above to describe your genius?*

Do you see your genius as valuable? Could you explain its value and use to others?

Explain the value of your genius here*

Part 5: Identify Your Core Emotional Challenge

Part 1: Childhood Ages 5 to 18

What was the best part of your childhood from ages 5 to 18? What was the most challenging part? Why?*

What was the best part of your high school days? What was the most challenging part? Why?*

Were you popular? Did you have good friendships? How did these friendships affect your confidence or sense of self-worth?*

How would you describe your home life and your parents’ relationship? Was your home life stable?*

What was the specific impact of your family on you?*

How did your parents relate to you during this time of your life?*

Did they support your strengths? Did they have a preconceived idea of what you should do for a career or how you should live your life?

Reflection: Analyze your answers as if you were reading someone else’s biography.*

Write down the most obvious emotional challenges from this time period:

Are you currently facing any of the challenges you listed above?*

Part 2: College

Were there any career-defining moments during this time?*

Meaning, did you have significant insight or make a big decision that had a massive effect on your choice of your first job or career aspirations?

What were some of the emotional challenges you experienced during these years?*

Reflection Looking back at all the questions from this exercise, identify the core emotional challenge throughout your life that seems to have been the most significant to you.*

Look for the one challenge that was consistently present throughout.

Reflection: Looking back at all the questions from this exercise, identify the core emotional challenge throughout your life that seems to have been the most significant to you.*

Look for the one challenge that was consistently present throughout.

Once you’ve figured out your core emotional challenge, or even if you still haven’t, review when you are most fulfilled at work.*

List the moments in the past month when you have felt fulfilled by the impact you were having. Write down the specific impact you were having on other people through your work.

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