How to find, articulate and maximize your time within your Zone of Genius.

“Be so good they can’t ignore you” - Steve Martin

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Note from Matt Schnuck

Entrepreneurship, or any hard work, can be an express train to burnout.

If you’re working primarily outside of your Zone of Genius, it probably will be. But there’s another way.

Knowing your Zone of Genius means understanding the best and most energy-giving ways to spend your time — This makes your work sustainable.

The Zone of Genius, pioneered by Dr. Gay Hendricks and further developed by the Conscious Leadership Group, is my favorite framework to quickly identify where a leader’s time is well spent and poorly used.

A leader’s goal: work in your Zone of Genius at least 80% of the time.

Before you dive into my other guides, first ground yourself in understanding your Zone of Genius.

Step 0: Understand the four zones of work

<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-northwest_orange.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-northwest_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Zone of Incompetence These are activities:

• You are not good at it
• You don’t enjoy doing it

🚨Don’t work in this zone.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-northeast_orange.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-northeast_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Zone of Competence These are activities:

• You may enjoy doing
• You’re average at doing it

🗒️  Early founders often end up in this zone because their team isn’t big enough to do these tasks.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-southwest_orange.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-southwest_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Zone of Excellence These are activities where:

• You are excellent (better than most) but do not enjoy
• You become drained by doing them but others get value

⚠️ Leaders often get trapped in this zone.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-southeast_orange.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-southeast_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Zone of Genius These are activities where:

• You are uniquely good at them (best-in-class)
• You enjoy them so much that you lose track of time

🚀 You add the most value to an organization (and yourself!) here.

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Step 1: Conduct an Energy Audit

Take the last 2 months of your calendar and categorize EVERY activity by the following criteria (printed or do it with screenshots in a tool like Canva):

• Did this activity give me energy? (green zone)
• Did this activity drain my energy? (red zone)

If you are on the fence, consider it energy-draining (red).

Pro Tip: If you work better when collaborating, try having someone walk you through the exercise and ask you whether each activity gave you energy or not.

<aside> <img src="/icons/target_orange.svg" alt="/icons/target_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Your Goal: Spend 80% of your time in the energy-giving green zone.

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