SELF-IMPROVEMENT/BOOK REVIEW

The Big Leap

Finding & living your zone-of-genius

After having a great week, I fell into a critical mindset all of a sudden and started questioning a few relationships in my life.

I am no stranger to this phenomenon. This has happened many times before. But now I know that I am better equipped to grow through this situation.

What just happened to me was an “Upper Limiting Behavior” I learned from the book The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. So to refresh my knowledge and grow out of the situation, I pulled out this book from my shelf and started reading it for the second time.

Yes, this book has been extremely helpful in understanding why and how we do not live up to our potentials. A life-changing book indeed.

In this article, I was to expand on the three important concepts I learned from this book to be fascinating and revolutionary: Upper Limit Problem, Zone of Genius, and Einstien Time.

Upper Limit Problem

“Each of us has an inner thermostat setting that determines how much love, success, and creativity we allow ourselves to enjoy. When we exceed our inner thermostat setting, we will often do something to sabotage ourselves, causing us to drop back into the old, familiar zone where we feel secure.” — Gay Hendricks

This is the one problem that holds us back. Everyone has it, at least one. That we use to sabotage ourselves.

The way I see it, Upper Limit Problem is what keeps us from enjoying our life to the fullest. It is a subconscious program we have whose purpose is to keep us from progressing.

For instance, we might just be getting out of a motivational seminar and we are so ready to change our lives. Then all of a sudden our attention focus on something small that we dislike about your partner, family member, or friend. And we start complaining.

What just happened? Our “Upper Limiting Behavior” kicked in. When we are ready to make big progress, this behavior shows up out of nowhere. Therefore it is important to identify and dissolve it.

The book goes talks about the types of Upper Limiting Problems and how to dissolve them.

Our Upper Limit Problems tend to show up more frequently as we become more successful.

We can see this as the opportunity to progress further, thus allowing ourselves to experience the joy and success from which we have been subconsciously limiting ourselves.

And this is where the “Big Leap” happens. It is the “leap of consciousness” that is required to solve the Upper Limit Problem which is unsolvable in our ordinary state of consciousness.

The Upper Limit Problem keeps us from identifying and living in our Zone of Genius.

Zone of Genius

“Once you have broken free of our Upper Limit Problem, your job is to learn in the Zone of Genius.” — Gay Hendricks

Thanks to this book, for the first time in my life, I am committed to identifying and expanding my own Zone of Genius. At this point, I have found my Zone of Genius to be in the intersection of writing, humanitarian work, and counseling.

So what is the Zone of Genius?

It is our unique power. The things that we do better than almost anyone else in terms of. Often times this is at the intersection of our innate talents/passions.

It is often difficult to distinguish as unique or special because it comes so naturally.

While we might share common skills, interests, or work styles with others, our Zone of Genius cannot be replicated by anyone else.

On a weekly basis, I am working to spend more than 70 percent sure of my time towards my Zone of Genius. While I understand the long-term benefits will take some time, the immediate benefit is the feeling of alignment with my purpose.

The Zone of Genius stands above the Zone of Excellence and the Zone of Competence, in that order.

This book shows how to establish ourselves in our Zone of Genius — starting with a modest investment of ten minutes a day and culminating in spending upwards of 70 percent of our time expressing our true genius in the world.

Einstein Time

“You’re where time comes from.” — Gay Hendricks

While I haven’t fully grasped this concept, I am beginning to experience the malleability of time as I practice this revolutionary concept of “Einstein Time.” I now feel that my time behaves in the way I perceive it.

This is really cool!

Time is a perception we have, just like our persona. We can change it. Our Newtonian concept of both time and money is built on scarcity — that’s why we tend to rush and worry about many things.

Once we take full ownership of time, we begin to experience time differently.

Time is like a car, that we can use to get anywhere we want to and at any speed. Except that we are driving without a car.

When I am living in my Zone of Genius, I don’t rush. I try to live and enjoy every second of it — whether it be typing words, reflecting, reading, or communicating with others. This practice makes to feel the meaning of what I am doing presently. And it doesn’t feel like work!

In writing the article, I didn’t put myself under the pressure of finishing it ‘on time’. I just let it flow as I thought and wrote imagining myself living in my Zone of Genius while discarding any Upper Limiting thoughts that were critical of my writing skills.

I experienced time differently — I fully took ownership of my actions and my time with the strong belief that I am doing my purpose-work.

In Closing…

Simply keeping the concepts of Upper Limiting Problem, Zone of Genius, and Einstein Time in my awareness at all times has yielded amazing results for me.

This has allowed me to live my life with purpose and joy on a daily basis. It has made me ask myself: what challenges can I take to apply these concepts more so I may grow faster?

A meaningful goal I have set for myself is to identify and dissolve my Upper Limiting Problems that will allow me to live in my Zone of Genius by taking full ownership of my time (Einstein Time).

And I am extremely grateful for this book, as the lessons I have been applying are radically transforming my life.

Upen Singh writes about people and progress. He is interested in making lives better.

Having traveled over to 25 countries he is always seeking new adventures to learn from and share. He has an M.A. in Developmental Economics from West Virginia University.

He lives in Thailand, Nepal, and the United States, constantly traveling. He is currently involved in a village development project in far-west Nepal.