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- [00:00]
A
Before you choose a New Year's resolution, take the time to get to know yourself and know how you're wired so that you can abandon that shame and guilt and judgment that you need to let go of to move forward. I think everybody should say, how do I spend more time in my area of genius this year? Just focus on what you're good at, and by leaning into your strengths, you actually find it not that unpleasant to get better at something you don't love. If I spent more time this year in my area of genius, that would be good all the way around. Welcome to the Working Genius podcast, where we discuss anything and everything having to do with the six types of working genius and how it impacts your work and your life. I'm Pat Linceoni, your host, joined by Cody Thompson, my co host. Happy New Year, Cody. We're a couple weeks into the New Year. What are we going to talk about today?
- [00:50]
B
We're talking about the New Year's evolution.
- [00:53]
A
That's right. Not the New Year's resolution. And as I said, we're a couple years into the New Year. Maybe we've already come up with a resolution and abandoned it by now, I don't know. But oftentimes that's the case. And we want to talk about evolving a New Year's resolution to making it better, using the six types of working genius, and thinking about things differently this year. How do we usually go about doing this, Cody, and why doesn't it work?
- [01:17]
B
This is kind of a fun topic for us to explore, Pat, because I think, you know, this is the time of year where everybody decides, hey, I've got a blank slate. I can put behind me all of my failures of the last year. I have a new opportunity to move into a new season. And so I think what a lot of us do, I know I'm guilty of this. And so many people is like, I think of the thing that I was worst at for the last year, and I often think, if I could just get better at that thing, that should be my New Year's resolution. You know, like, if I somehow I failed, and we all have a track record or receipts of all the ways that we failed this last year. And we think, let's just go ahead and take care of the thing I'm worse at and make that the thing that I judge myself against for the first few weeks of this year and maybe the whole year, if I can make it through.
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A
And it's so funny because we each have those things, like, this is the year I'm Going to get more organized or be more disciplined about everything. And, and it's like, you're right. It usually goes to the thing that we feel kind of ashamed of.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And leaning into our shame is probably not a great way to start the year or is it a great way to increase the likelihood that we're going to actually be successful at that.
- [02:26]
B
And I think it's shame producing. You know, it's sort of like. So I was thinking about this as you sort of teed up this topic of like, what would it look like to think about resolutions in a different way? Maybe in the context of working genius? And I actually looked this up. Apparently we attribute this to Einstein, but it's maybe not him. But if a fish judges itself by its ability to climb a tree, it'll spend its whole life thinking it's stupid. Right, Right. Or that it's inadequate or, and, and could be shameful in that sense. And so. But all too often we do the exact same thing, especially as it relates to New Year's resolutions, because here's my frustrations, enablement and tenacity. I can't tell you how many journal entries or New Year's resolutions. I said, I'm going to be more helpful or I'm going to be more disciplined and organized in my life. And that, quite frankly, up until working genius was a recipe for disaster for me. And then on top of failing at the New Year's resolution, very likely early in the year, I then start to think, oh, man, I guess I'm not good at this. I guess I should feel shame and guilt that I'm not good at those things.
- [03:33]
A
Yeah. And a person who has no I or D might say, this is a year I'm going to be more creative and I'm going to do a bunch of creative things. It's like it's going to be miserable.
- [03:42]
B
Exactly.
- [03:43]
A
So the other way to look at that, and I think the best example, one of the best examples I think of about this is Michael Jordan when he came into the NBA, and I've talked about this a zillion times, he was great at just about every part of basketball but shooting. He wasn't a great shooter. And everybody thought, okay, does he. Do his coaches tell him, you got to get better at shooting than the off season? And they were like, no, just focus on what you're good at. If you, if you get better at shooting, that's great. But there's no pressure on that. And by leaning into your strengths, you actually find it not that unpleasant to get better at something you don't love. But when you say if you don't get better at the thing you don't like or that you're not naturally good at, you're going to feel bad about yourself, that's like you said, that's the year of shame.
- [04:28]
B
Yeah, well, and let's anticipate a few objections moving into this topic, Pat, because there are certain things that we're bad at that are not wiring. Like, if you're eating ice cream every night, there's no working genius wiring internal to you that says, hey, you know what? I should stop. There are certain things that have done poorly throughout the year that's absolutely worth paying attention to and trying to get better in, you know, But I think what's so interesting is when it comes to your wiring, we don't differentiate these habits or activities that we are prone to with regard to our health or the way we approach our work or our family. Those are all great things to try to say, hey, I'm going to get better in this area that I didn't nail last year. But I think the danger of doing it and not understanding yourself first is that you could move into a resolution that is so antithetical to the way that you're wired, your own nature, and that's what produces the shame and the guilt.
- [05:26]
A
Exactly. So the first thing we need to resolve in this New Year's evolution is that we are going to know ourselves. Now, the people that are listening to this podcast know what they're working geniuses and, you know, other ways of looking at yourself. But that's the first thing that we have do. And if you know somebody else that you can talk to about this, say, hey, before you. You choose a New Year's resolution, or pick another one after you've already abandoned your first. Take the time to get to know yourself and know how you're wired so that you can abandon that shame and guilt and judgment that you need to let go of to move forward. Okay, so that's the first thing. The second one, once you know that around working genius is, I think everybody should say, how do I spend more time in my area of genius this year? There's very few people that are like, oh, no, I'm maxed out on my genius. I think if most people listening to this and most people in the world could say, if I spent more time this year in my area of genius, that would be good all the way around. I think that's what we want. That's the New Year's evolution is this year you're going to do that.
- [06:32]
B
Yeah. And what's so interesting is I think at the core of everybody making a proclamation about what their word is this year, what their new year's resolution is, is we all want to experience greater degrees of thriving in our own lives. Right. Like that's the whole point is, hey, I think I could elevate myself to a different level of my own existence and my own life and the way I thrive in living out my life. And so much of what we talk about in working genius is this is like recharging your battery. If you spend more of your time, it's not draining to you, it's actually life giving to you to spend more time in your working genius. And so I love the context of this to say, and I think even I'll say one other thing is I think often we talk about this in the context of work and we say, hey, you should organize your work life to match your geniuses. Well, this is an opportunity to say, even if my job doesn't allow me to use it as much, in what ways can I do this personally? Where can I find opportunities in my real life to say, to spend more time in my area of genius?
- [07:37]
A
Yeah. And that's even if you can't do it at work. What we find is most people can do it at work if as long as they sit down with their manager and their colleagues and say, hey, I would really like, and I'd like all of us to see if we can't spend more time doing the things we're best at and to give us joy and energy. But to do that, we have to take a look at ourselves and say, how is it right now? In other words, we have to look, do an audit and say, how much of my time am I spending in my genius? And even me who lives this stuff, I have to spend a few minutes going, how much of my day to day living am I spending in my working genius? In other words, taking that audit gives me a, a starting point.
- [08:15]
B
Yeah.
- [08:16]
A
And so everybody needs to say, and people like to ask, how much time should you spend in your genius? And we like to say in a good job, you should spend half your time in your genius, at least maybe a 30% in your competency and probably no more than 20% in your frustration. If you're in a job or in your life and you're spending more than a quarter of your time in your frustration, that's probably something to set out to change.
- [08:48]
B
Yeah. And I love that you teed up this whole conversation with step one is know thyself. Is that Socrates? Who is that?
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A
Yeah.
- [08:57]
B
If you don't know that, that's why, actually, I personally love the end of year, start of new year is because it's part reflection, it's part, like, self examination. And then it's a clean slate to try to change the future trajectory. And so I love that, like, if you're not auditing what went poorly and went well in your job and in your life the last, you know, 12 months, then it's really hard to find the right direction in the next 12 months. And so you're right. Just figure out what, what are ways that I was either, you know, wasting time not in my genius, or not prioritizing time in my genius, because I think that you can, you can find opportunities to do that. We were doing it just before this podcast started. We were like, hey, what? We were doing some discernment, like, hey, have you listened to any podcasts or, or read books or watch movies that were really good? And it was like keying in on the discernment genius.
- [09:50]
A
You know, it wasn't like my ID and your dg.
- [09:53]
B
Right. And so there's opportunities that are not just, hey, here's what I do at work from 9 to 5. There's ways to tap into this in your personal life.
- [10:00]
A
You know, Cody, as we're talking about this, one of the things I'm thinking about is that people often with shame, feel guilt about asking to spend more time doing their things. And it's crazy because people think, well, I'm not going to go to my boss and say, hey, boss, you know what I'd like to do this year? I'd like to see if I can't spend more time doing things in my genius. They're like, oh, they don't care. The truth is, it's good for them. It's good for the organization, it's good for us. It's good for our family to sit down and do that. And probably the worst thing that can happen, the very worst thing is your boss can go, hey, that's not up to me. I don't, I don't really care. Most bosses are going to go, hey, let's take a look at your job and see what you're great at and how we can facilitate that. And if you manage a team, I think it would be great to say, hey, one of the resolutions we have this year is I'd like to see everybody who works here spending a little bit more Time, if not a lot more time in the things that gives them joy and energy, we'll probably get a lot more done and it'll be a better year as a result of that. We have to get over that guilt, like, we're not allowed to ask. And so many people I've talked to, Cody, have talked about going to their manager and showing them their working genius. And the manager going, I would love to help you do more of this. That would be great. But we have to have the courage and the confidence to ask.
- [11:19]
B
I think it goes back to something you talk about that your dad said all the time is like, if it were fun, they wouldn't call it work. And we still have that mentality.
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A
Yeah.
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B
People think like, well, I can't ask to do something I enjoy. But the thing is, that thing helps you thrive, gives you more energy, probably even helps the company and your team better. And so that little fear that you have around, like entering the conversation and saying, hey, would you mind, you know, if I, if I spent more time inventing or more time enabling people around the office? You know, there's so many organizations out there that say, hey, they've done this new policy where they can say like, hey, you know, two hours or four hours a week, you can go volunteer time at a charity of your choice. And maybe we should just do that with working genius. Like, hey, regardless of your responsibilities, spend a couple hours of your week and organize it in a way that's just giving you life and helping you thrive. That would be incredible.
- [12:15]
A
And you know, we kind of do that here sometimes. It's like, hey, if you have an idea, the best idea is often like for people with invention, it's like you can come to a meeting and help us invent or if you have galvanizing, I mean, this is how this all started. It's like, why don't you lean more into that? It doesn't mean you have to change their job title or give them permission to slack off and everything else. In fact, by giving them more ability to do that, they're going to be able to sustain their energy around the things they don't like to do.
- [12:46]
B
Yeah, I'm going to put us on the spot. I did not prep you for this. But if you are thinking of a working genius related New Year's resolution for you, something that taps into your skills, the way you're wired as an inventor, discerner, and I'll do the same. But what's something we can do in our lives that will help us thrive that will tap into our working genius. So let's give them an example.
- [13:10]
A
I thought of one as just as you were asking that question. And that is. And I feel guilty for doing this. That's. That's so interesting. I want to spend more time looking through, like, business, media and stories and just reading about what's going on in the world, which often for me, feels like a waste of time. But it's not, because it provokes me to think about our material and how it applies and how we can do it. And I pretty much only do it when I'm not working. And I want to sit down and I want to talk to Tara, my assistant, and say, let's carve out time so that I can actually just kind of peruse the world and see what's going on and maybe what we can bring to our podcasts and our media and every. And the writing that we do. And again, I wouldn't normally ask that because I feel like, oh, I need to have lots of meetings and schedule things, and this is the year I need to probably carve out time not to play spider solitaire, but to kind of just indulge my curiosity around the world of organizations and personal development. How about you?
- [14:13]
B
I initially went to a personal one, and. And it's because it's something that my wife and I were talking about towards the end of the year is my wife homeschools, and she's got three little kids at home. And I spend a lot of my energy at work discerning and galvanizing, like, meetings and figuring out what we should do. And I feel some guilt about doing it at home sometimes, like with our. The. The. The strategic anchors around how we do homeschool. I've not like, dove in and said, hey, let me help with that. Like, let's do a whiteboard session and figure out what's going to work for us this year. And then there's another piece around, like, using galvanizing around the house a bit more. Like, we talk about having family meetings, and when we have them, we thrive. And when we are not having them, we're. We. We can tell it's disruptive and a little more. Less peace in our home. Here's the game. My wife and I, not game, but, like, what we've realized is I have sort of attributed family meetings to be tenacity work. Like, put it on the calendar, right? And then when they don't happen, she feels guilty because she has tenacity, right? And she's like, oh, I think it's Galvanizing. I think you need to get the family, you know, rallied around the idea of the importance of these meetings. And so I think we can just work better together, like leaning into our geniuses to say, I've got to do the rallying with my galvanizing. And she's got to do tenacity with making sure that we have an evening that's free to be able to do that from our schedule standpoint. So I think those are two things that my brain went to in the home environment.
- [15:45]
A
You know, what I love about using the home environment example is we tend to think, like, in your case, so Lindsay is in the home teaching and shaping your children all day long, and you're at work and you do all the things you do. But even then, it's like, no, we have working geniuses, and the idea of you getting to go galvanize them. I thought about this. Looking back on our lives, my wife galvanizing is in her working frustrations. It's a. My. It's a. It's a competency for me. But the times when I leaned into that at home and said, okay, let's come up with a game for how we're going to get excited about our chores. It was so fun. But too often I thought, well, I go to work, she's taking care of this at home. And. And just like at work, we shouldn't think, well, I'm in marketing, they're in hr, they're in finance. We should actually be working across functions based on our working genius. And I just thought about, my wife is a. Laura is a wi, and I'm an id. We need to spend more time just inventing and dreaming, and we don't do it enough. And so I'm going to try to come up with some fun ways that she and I can together lean into our genius. Lindsay's a DT and you're a dg. Wow. Evaluating new ideas around how to homeschool and all that would be really fun for you guys.
- [17:04]
B
Totally.
- [17:05]
A
But you need to go someplace and carve out time to do it. You can't do it while she's making dinner or you're doing the dishes. You gotta go, like, let's go have a meeting. Let's go to the office on the weekend and see if we can't sit there for three hours and do this. Well, sometimes we don't honor the importance of the things in our personal lives the way we do it at work. So I think those are great ideas.
- [17:26]
B
No, you're right. We had a day to do that, and then instead we went to the Niner game. So we'll have to protect that time. Yeah.
- [17:33]
A
Yeah. So this is great. I'm going to think about the idea. Is this in both your personal and your work life, how can you increase in some way the time you spend in your genius? By definition, that's also spending less time in your frustration, and that's good for everybody. And to do that, though, we have to take an audit and say, where do I stand right now? And not feel guilty about that. I think this is a great thing and this isn't a very long podcast, but I'd rather give people the time back to go actually do this than belabor the point anymore. What do you think?
- [18:08]
B
New Year's evolution? Let's evolve our resolutions, you know?
- [18:11]
A
I love it. I love it. That's great. Well, hey, everybody, thanks for joining us. I hope you're having a great new year and that you had a great Christmas and a break. And we're looking forward to this new year, to bringing more podcasts to you around working genius. And so we'll look forward to our next one in a couple weeks. God bless.