Inform Yourself

My good friend Jay Niblick, founder of Innermetrix International, recently completed a study called The Genius Project. His study became the basis for his latest book, What’s Your Genius?

C3 - Lose the role altogether:
One of the most common reason for chronic failure is chronic inauthenticity, and as I said earlier, the first step in creating your authentic self is acknowledging your inauthenticity. Kierkegaard said it best when he said, “Face the facts of being what you are for that is what changes what you are.” Many times people feel that their roles are just too inauthentic, too far from your quiet path. They would have to delegate or modify the majority of their responsibilities in order to make it authentic enough. If this is the case for you, the best thing to do may indeed be to find another role altogether. If your role is so inauthentic, if you are forced to be more of what you are not than what you are – all day long, then getting out is probably your best solution. The problem with quitting, though, is that it is scary. We’ve all heard the same old saying, “Winners never quit!” As scary as it may be, though, shouldn’t living a life where you feel you are always making mistakes, and never feeling fulfilled or satisfied be even scarier?

Quitting is difficult. Quitting requires you to acknowledge that you’re never going to be #1 in the world, at least not at this. So it’s easier just to put it off, not admit it, and settle for being mediocre. To quote Seth Godin, the problem is that, “you grew up believing that quitting is a moral failure. Quitting feels like a go-down moment, a moment where you look yourself in the eye and blink. Of course you were trying your best, but you just can’t do it. It’s the whole Vince Lombardi thing. If you were just better person, you wouldn’t quit. “ In reality, Geniuses quit all the time. They know what they are good at and what they are not good at, and they quit focusing on that which they are not good at all the time, and instead pour that energy into getting even better at what they are very good at.

We can take a lesson from the pages of wisdom that Jack Welch, former Chairman of General Electric, has left for us. His philosophy was that if GE couldn’t be number one or two in any category or market, either figure out how to be number one or two, or get out of that category. He knew that, at least as a company, when you were number one you controlled your own destiny. So forget the humiliation of failure associated with quitting. Realize that quitting the stuff that you don’t do well frees up your resources to obsess about that which you are naturally good at. Many will tell you that “Quitting is for losers,” but as Seth goes on to say, “quit or be exceptional…average is for losers!”

We promise you this. Once you shine that light on your inauthenticity, once you embrace the truth of your own quiet path and once you decide to take back control of your own success and stop accepting what you get (even if this means quitting your job), the relief and excitement you will feel will be incredible. The positive emotions associated with such a life-changing decision will far outweigh any trepidation you have for the risks that quitting or changing may create. Can you sense just the smallest amount of excitement deep inside you right now at just the thought of being in a whole different place one year from now? Is there a little voice whispering inside right now saying, “Man wouldn’t it be so great to be…?” The question you have to ask yourself is, “Why not?” Why should you continue to settle? Why should you continue to accept less than what you deserve?

Why should you be just above average in one role when another role out there holds the promise to unleash your real genius? Sure you can come up with lots of rational lies, but in the end…why? Get real. Get authentic. Get satisfied. Quit trying to do that which is not you, and…just do you!

To become aware of what your Roal should be I’ve created a simple Roal Building workshop that you can complete through an online account at http://www.whatsyourgenius.com . Click on resources and select Workbook from the menu. Your task will be to take your existing goals (ones which may not take into consideration your natural talents), and adjust them so that they are authentic for you. Once you merge your authentic role with your goals, you will have your new Roal.

~ Quit trying to do that which is not you, and…just do you! ~