How to find THE ZONE in your business

Welcome to this episode of the podcast. So this week, we're talking about finding the zone in your business, what the very best version of your business looks like whether it's a dream, or it's already up and running is the place where like you are doing the things you're doing best. And that's what we're going to talk about today. This all came from a conversation I had with a client recently. And what she said to me, like in the tone of like, Oh, this has been so good. And she said to me, Sarah, I have been in the zone. It's been so much fun. It has felt so good. I'm getting so much done. It's amazing. And so the question I asked her about it, because like, That's amazing. That's great. Like, we had a little mini party, because that's what we do. And then I said to her, okay, great. You're in this zone. How did you get here? How did you create it? And how can you take responsibility for it? Because that's the trick, right? Like, when you find the zone, it feels like you stumbled upon it, like you tripped your way into it. And then you looked around, you're like, Oh, this is a nice place to be. But if we can figure out how you got there, and look at the map and look around, and like find the road signs and all the things and know that you were responsible, you were the one that got you to the zone, because you were she was, then it enables you to get back there whenever you want. And that's, that's pretty good. Like, that's some good stuff. Because if you know that you can always be working in the zone, if you want to be then hey, like that is the thing that basically helps you to like print money. I mean, that's what we're in it for. We're in it for that time, when it's like, oh, this is going so well look at me go. So the trick is getting to figure out how you got to the zone in the first place. And so when I asked my client this, like, she thought for a little while, and it was like, Well, I don't really know. And, you know, the joy of coaching is that I, I don't actually believe that we don't know anything. I think we always have an answer. For questions like these, we just have to let it sit for a little while. We might not always know it in the moment. But if we give ourselves a little bit of space, we have the answers. She had an answer. And actually, she had some really good answers. So the first thing she said to me was that she was doing less things and getting more done. She had, she runs a company where she has some contractors and some people that like take, she can shift work to. And what she was doing was delegated, you know, really effectively for maybe, you know, one of the first times she was giving away the things that weren't the things she loves. But she was doing less things in accomplishing more. The other thing she said that was really interesting was that she had lots of things going on. Like it was a super busy month, she had lots of billable hours, she was getting paid on a lot of different projects, but they all fit. And you know, we all have lots of thoughts about time. And just the week before she and I had been talking about how like all these new projects were coming on, and how is it all going to fit and where are they going to go? And she was a little panicked about trying to sort of Jenga, her time and her day and what I encouraged her to do, instead of playing Jenga was just to play sort of thought Jenga in her mind with the way she was thinking about time. I'm a big believer, I'm proof actually. And that those thoughts are in our control. So you don't have to feel pressed, you're feeling pressed because you're thinking it. And so she spent some time and we'd been talking about time for you know, a while. She had been spending time thinking about how she wanted to reimagine time for herself. And all of a sudden it was clicking into place like she had plenty of time she said to me, I'm not pressed. I'm busy. But I'm not pressed. And honestly like that's a win in business in and of itself. Because what if you had all the time, right in the zone you have all the time you need and that's kind of amazing. The other thing she noticed was that in the zone in this zone that she was like loving she was really enjoying all the work she was doing. And it was leading to better overall output. And then she kind of stopped and she was like, wow, this all feels so contradictory. She was doing less, getting more done. She was spending less time and doing better work. And that's like, wait, what, how is that even possible? But it is. There's a book, you might have read that I finished not too long ago called the big leap. It's by gay Hendricks. And in that book, he talks a lot about what he calls your zone of genius. And it's actually what she and I talked about this during this meeting. Because working in your zone of genius, the zone of genius being defined as like the things, you're really good at that thing that you are amazing at the thing you're best at, when you're doing those things, they actually require less time. Because when you do what you are best at what you're best at comes easily to you. And our brain tells us that like that's not how should we should work, right? If we're doing more work, it should take us longer. But actually, if you're doing more of what you love, more of what you're best at, you don't need to spend as much time. And that's what my client had been experiencing this, this seemingly contradiction between, you know, spent being able to spend less time to accomplish more to have less pressure, but at the same time doing better work. It's because she was focusing on the tasks and the kinds of things that she really enjoys and are good at is good at, like the things she's best at. And so this conversation about taking responsibility, ended up with us talking about Venn diagrams, because you know, my background is a math teacher. And as I had a friend once say, to me, the only graphic organizer I know is a Venn diagram. And she's probably right. It's the only one I use religiously. But what we talked about for her was in her Venn diagram, she has two overlapping circles. One circle is what she's best at. It's like all the good stuff that she brings to the table in her company in her business. And the other circle is the stuff that needs to be done. Her zone of genius is in that overlap in the two circles in that center position between the stuff that needs to be done, and the stuff that she adores doing and is best at. Is there other stuff that needs to be done? Yes. But that's where this idea for her of delegating has come in. Because Can she do all the stuff? Absolutely. But does she need to know she's at a point in her business and not everybody's there? Yeah, like I'm not at a point where I want to give up some of these things. So I get it, you might not be either, you can still be doing all the things and spend more time in your zone. We're going to talk about that in a second. But she is in a position where there are things you know, just this the other day, when I talked to her, we found something she's been doing, like dragging herself to it's boring, she's done it a million times. And now she's ready to delegate it so she can spend more time doing the stuff that's awesome. What we talked about was sort of imagining yourself in the center of that Venn diagram. And then we got silly, like she said, Oh, it's like camping, I said, we have to camp in that center. And she said, Oh, it's like, I bring my tent in my backpack. And we imagine walking up and like sitting down in the center of the Venn diagram and like putting your tent up and busting out your chair and making your campfire and like moving in and taking up residence there in the center. And so we talked about what this would look like, if she actually like took up residency in the center of her Venn diagram, how would it feel and how her days would work? Because that would be her spending more time of her day of her work of her life in the in the best parts. And that's really the point, right? Like, this shouldn't be fun. You're not building a business to be miserable. You're building a business to enjoy it. That's the thing. And so, it first she sort of went like, No, I don't know, and pull back. But for me, the one thing I keep in mind is when we even just imagining it, it doesn't have to be how it works. imagining things is the first step to possible. If we can't imagine it, it's truly impossible. But if you can imagine something, it's the first step along the path, right to making something possible. For her this version of the Venn diagram with two circles, worked really well because she already knows really what she's best at. She spent years refining her skill set and knowing like what she does well, what she delegates what she could delegate that kind of stuff. And we've worked on that for a while together, like finding the spot where she loves versus she's just good at. And if you're thinking like, Hmm, that's not me, I, I'd like to propose a slightly different diagram for that. The version I actually use most myself, and that is what helped me start both my businesses. It's actually a version that I've actually used with quite a few clients to particularly ones at the beginning of their business journey, where they're just getting up and running is a diagram with three overlapping circles. So in the first circle, imagine like the top left is all your skills, all the stuff you're good at. That's, that's one list to make. And the second circle, if you think top right, is all the stuff you love to do. And this is the acknowledgement that the things you're good at aren't necessarily all things you like to do. Like, I'm, I'm good at making spreadsheets, but I don't want to do it all day. I'm good at you know, there's lots of things we're all good at. My client that I talked to this week is really good at doing the kind of work she had been the project she was doing at the moment, but like, she doesn't love doing it, it's boring to her. So that doesn't go on the love list, the stuff that lights you asked us. And then the third circle, at the bottom, in the center, is what you need. Because there are things you need out of a business. For me, the one that I come back to time and time again is flexibility. I'm live a life with kids and husband and businesses and teaching and all these things where I need flexibility. Like that's the thing that it needs to be in that center circle for me. It can be in amount of money, it can be weekends off or weekends on it can be what you actually need most for your life to function. And then the place you want to aim at where you want to like backpack and get your tent and walk on down is the place in the center of that Venn diagram, the zone for you, the place your business is going to thrive the thing you're gonna love doing every day and wake up and like holy cow, I can't believe I get to do this. And people pay me just how I feel, how I client feels how so many of my clients feel is in the place where those three overlap the the meeting point between what you love, what you're good at, and what you need. So if you're not feeling in the zone, put pen to paper, make this diagram, make three different lists all your skills, what you love to do, which might be different is a lot of cases and what you need, and put them in the graph. And let's see where it ends up. The center spot is the place for you it is the place that is uniquely yours in your graph in my graph, and my clients graph are not going to all be the same. And here's the thing, listen, I get that sorting through all this is hard. Even just with two circles, you know, this was a challenging conversation, right, I had to challenge my client to think a little more deeply and doing that on our own can be difficult. I get it. So the thing to think of here is, you know, an outside voice like mine, like a coach, like a trusted friend. For me, in particular, I've done this before for myself, I've done this for countless clients who have been created successful businesses, who are building their dreams and growing their businesses. Having this outside perspective is a vital tool. Even if your business is established. You want to spend as much time as you possibly can in your zone at the center. And learning how to effectively camp there takes work. Because we always as humans feel compelled to do the things we're good at, even when we don't love them in letting that go is sort of an effort in itself. So that's what I do with clients. As a coach. This is how I serve partly, I help my clients continue to find the center and find the center and find the center and spend more and more time there. It's like I get to like scout the campsite with them and help them set up their tent. And you know, collect the wood for the campfire and do all the things that they need to do together to keep them camping for as long as they want to be there as long as they like. So this sounds like you and you're thinking like a hawk. I need a campsite. And I need to spend more time in my zone, I would love to be there. This is what I do, please, let's set up a time to talk, you can go to my website, which is Torpey coaching comm and set up a time on my calendar to have an initial conversation about how coaching can help you find your zone and spend the maximum amount of time there because really, that's what you want for your life in business, the most love the most growth, the most happiness. And this is something we talk a lot on this podcast about please feel free to subscribe and follow and keep listening. But also come join my group. It's also called teachers in business. It's on Facebook, and I would love to see you there. We're all working towards our zone. And I'm happy to be a part of helping you find yours, if that's what you need. I think we can all use that help. So on to the next and have a great week.