How to tap into your zone of genius for better time management

The best-case scenario, and what we hope you are experiencing, is when your career is built from your zone of genius. That place of natural ability. Something that feels exciting to grow and learn into. Maybe an area of your life in which you have a certain level of proficiency. 

Understanding your zone of genius from the lens of business is important. You may be a natural at designing, but running a business asks you more skills than your design talent. Certain areas of your business may feel extremely challenging. And the more challenging, the more time (and energy) it takes to complete certain things. 

Here are some ways to begin to save time and energy by truly understanding your zones of genius within your business.

What is my zone of genius?

Your zone of genius is your unique power. And you can have more than one! It is a one-of-a-kind quality that you bring to your life and to your work and lets you do certain things better than almost anyone else. Often times your genius is found at the meeting point of your talents and passions and can often feel hard to distinguish in yourself as unique or special because it comes so naturally (it just feels normal, so surely everyone can do it like me? (The short answer is: No!). While we might share common skills, interests, or styles of working with others, your personal zone cannot be replicated by anyone else.

How do I know when I’m within my zone?

A tell-tale sign you’re in your zone of genius when it comes to working and business is when you feel energized and excited by what you’re doing. You experience a sense of flow within certain tasks. When you operate within your zone of genius you are working efficiently, which means you are not wasting time keeping busy with tasks that aren’t for you.

Begin to consider your business as a whole. The service you provide, administration, operations, marketing, finances, client communication, etc. Which parts feel energizing to you, and which less so? Of course, you want to ensure that the majority of your energy goes into actually being an interior designer, that’s why you started this in the first place! 

Imagine if all of the other elements of your business were taken care of and all you had to do was show up and showcase your excellence as a designer? Wouldn’t that feel amazing! You’d probably have more time to take on new projects too. 

When you are fully committed to mostly playing within the role of your genius, your business begins to shift rapidly. 

It’s time to delegate

Let’s be honest, you cannot run a business on your own. We need help and support. As a business owner, delegating is important because you can’t—and shouldn’t—do everything yourself. Delegating empowers the people who work for you, builds trust in your business community, and assists with professional development. 

Identify who is best suited to tackle tasks or projects within your team, and ensure you aren’t taking on too much.  

When you clearly know what you are good at (and want to do) within your business you can then begin to delegate certain tasks to other people. For example social media content creation - many people sit within this zone of genius ready to help you! Plus they will get it done a lot quicker. You don’t need to spend all your time creating content, you can hire someone to do it for you!

Delegating back-end tasks frees up your time so you can truly focus on serving your clients. This works for any part of your business from marketing, to emails, to media creation, to finances. 

Often we need to start delegating and hiring help sooner than we think! It can feel hard relinquishing control of certain areas of your business but trust us - it will give you such an abundance of both time and energy. If you want to grow and expand your genius - delegation is crucial.

How to reduce anxiety when posting on social media. Click here.

Time management tips

Maybe you have a team supporting you, you’re solely focusing on your zone of genius and you still feel crushed for time? Or you don’t really know where to start to delegate. 

Here are some of our tips to help you:

1. Figure out how you’re really spending your time

If you’re going to optimize your personal time management, you first need to figure out where the time is going. Try logging your time for a week by tracking your daily activities. This will help you to determine how much you can truly accomplish in a day/week and to identify any ‘timesucks’ - meaning activities that you don’t really need to be doing, or that could be done differently. Try the free website: Tracking Time

2. Create a daily schedule and stick to it

Often we plan and schedule things but life gets in the way, or we try to squeeze in more and end up exhausted. The more energy you have the more productive you are. Create a new schedule for yourself and stick to it diligently for a minimum of a month, from here you can tweak it if need be. From here you can begin to notice what's working and what isn't. 

3. Categorize your ‘to-do’ list

Split your to-do’s into relevant levels of ‘urgency’, by following the Eisenhower Matrix: 

• Important and urgent: These tasks have important deadlines with high urgency—complete them first.

• Important but not urgent: These items are important but don’t require immediate action. Strive to spend most of your time in this quadrant as this is where you will grow your business from.

• Urgent but not important: These tasks are urgent but not important. This is where you can delegate! 

• Not urgent and not important: These activities hold little if any value and should be eliminated as much as possible. 

Source: Asana - another great tool to keep track of your tasks and organize your week & month!

Ultimately, working within your zone of genius is all about identifying what comes most naturally to you, and then capitalizing on that. The more you focus on what you do well, the more time you will have and the more your business will thrive!

Want to find out 10 tips for successful business owners? Click here!

If you need support or you’re ready to expand your brand and delegate important tasks that will make you grow, click here to schedule a Complimentary Brand Consultation.

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