You're Not Alone in the Zone of Genius Struggle. Here's How to Start. (Part 1)
AI is automating your Zone of Excellence. Here are three frameworks to discover and protect your Zone of Genius this week
Three emails in my inbox this week started with the same four words: “Did you write this for me?”
When I hit publish on my Zone of Genius post last week, I didn’t expect what happened next. The vulnerability poured in. One reader shared they’d just left a prestigious role to pursue their calling. Another admitted they’re struggling with these exact questions right now, paralyzed between safety and truth. A third confessed they’ve been playing in their Zone of Excellence for years, knowing deep down it’s not enough anymore.
And then Gay Hendricks—the author of The Big Leap, who created the Zone of Genius framework I wrote about—personally reached out. He thanked me for amplifying his ideas with my community. That response confirmed what I suspected: this isn’t just another wave of change. This is the moment when finding your Zone of Genius shifts from aspiration to survival.
By the end of this post, you’ll have three frameworks you can start using this week to shift from excellence to genius—and you’ll understand why most people never make this shift, even when they know they should.
Here’s what I know: if my post resonated with you, you’re not stuck because you don’t understand the problem. You’re stuck because you do.
And three years ago this week, I was stuck in the exact same place.
The Rock Bottom I Needed
November 2022. My CIO role was ending. Tech layoffs were everywhere. The market was a disaster. Every logical voice in my head screamed: Find another executive role. Fast. Any port in a storm.
I started applying to jobs. Dozens of them. It was exhausting and humiliating. I wasn’t getting anywhere. The stress was crushing.
Then I did something that felt reckless at the time: I stopped.
I chose to go inward instead of outward.
For 20+ years before that moment, I’d been on a treadmill. Demanding tech jobs. A toxic marriage and divorce that shattered my confidence and turned me into someone I didn’t recognize. Constant motion but no progress toward anything that actually mattered. I was successful by every external measure and dying inside by every internal one.
Losing my job felt like rock bottom. But it was actually the gift I’d been too busy to unwrap.
I realized this might be my last real chance—maybe my only chance—to find and pursue work I was uniquely built for. I’d never find that in another corporate job. Not because those jobs aren’t valuable. But because for me, they’d always be someone else’s definition of success, not mine. No corporate job description would capture the fusion of my expertise and interests.
So I went on an inner journey. Not a weekend retreat. A sustained, uncomfortable, deeply practical process of rediscovering who I was and who I wanted to be.
It was hard. Super hard.
But here’s what nobody tells you: the discomfort of that inner work is nothing compared to the slow death of spending decades in your Zone of Competence or Excellence when your Zone of Genius is calling.
Why This Post Grabbed You (And Why Most Won’t Act)
My theory: everyone who read that Zone of Genius post intellectually understood it. Many even felt the truth of it in their bodies.
But here’s the brutal reality: most people will put it off. Next quarter. Next year. When the kids are older. When the market is better. When conditions are perfect.
That “later” never comes.
And one day, you look back at your life and realize: I had the chance. I felt the call. And I chose comfort over courage.
Here’s why people struggle to act on Zone of Genius questions, even when they know they should:
You’re addicted to excellence. Your Zone of Excellence is comfortable. You’re respected, well-compensated, reliable. Walking away feels like stepping off a cliff. So you negotiate with yourself: “Maybe I can find my genius on nights and weekends.” You can’t. Genius requires your best energy, not your leftovers.
You’re trapped in identity. You’ve spent years building a reputation in your Zone of Excellence. Leaving it feels like abandoning everyone who depended on that version of you. But the biggest betrayal isn’t leaving that role—it’s cheating the world out of your best work by staying.
You’re scared of the unknown. Your Zone of Excellence has a clear path: do this work, get these results, earn this much. Your Zone of Genius is uncharted territory. No guarantees. No playbook. Just trust and experimentation. That ambiguity is paralyzing.
You’re waiting for permission. You keep hoping someone will see your unique gifts and pull you into your Zone of Genius. They won’t. This is work only you can do.
You’re waiting for AI to solve it. You think if you just learn the right tools, get better at prompting, implement the latest models—somehow that will free up time for genius work. It won’t. AI doesn’t create space for genius. It exposes how much time you’ve been wasting on excellence.
You’ve convinced yourself it’s too late. Your best days are behind you. You’re too old to reinvent. Too established to start over. The “I could never do work in my Zone of Genius” story plays on repeat. But here’s the truth: the only thing that makes it too late is believing it’s too late. I started my Zone of Genius journey at 57. You have more time than you think—but less than you want to waste.
I lived every one of these patterns. I understand the gravitational pull of excellence. I know how terrifying it is to step into genius.
And I’m telling you: the fear of regret is worse than the fear of failure.
Why AI Makes This More Urgent, Not Less
Here’s the strategic reality that makes your Zone of Genius question impossible to defer anymore:
AI is systematically compressing everything in your Zone of Competence into prompts. Those tasks you’re “pretty good at” that fill your calendar? Gone in 12-18 months.
Your Zone of Excellence—where you’ve built your reputation and made your living? AI is coming for that too. Not today, but soon. I’ve watched AI capabilities double every six months. The work that differentiated you five years ago is becoming table stakes. The work that makes you valuable today will be commoditized tomorrow.
The only sustainable place to build your career is your Zone of Genius: the work only you can do, in the way only you can do it.
But here’s what most AI discussions miss: finding and operating in your Zone of Genius isn’t just a strategic career move. It’s a personal transformation that requires deep inner work.
You don’t just intellectually identify your genius and start doing it. You have to evolve your identity, rebuild your habits, develop the emotional resilience to trust yourself in uncharted territory, and cultivate the discipline to protect your genius work from the gravitational pull of excellence.
That’s the dual mastery you need: technical clarity on what AI is automating + self-mastery to become someone who can operate in their genius despite every social and psychological pressure to stay comfortable.
Most people will focus on the AI part and miss the transformation part. They’ll understand the strategic urgency and still not act because they haven’t done the inner work.
Don’t be most people.
How I Learned to Sense the Signal
Three years into my Zone of Genius journey, here’s what I’ve learned to trust:
My body knows first. When I’m doing work in my Zone of Excellence, I feel uncomfortable stress and finish the day exhausted, not from effort but from misalignment. When I’m in my Zone of Genius, I feel expansive. Time moves differently. I generate energy instead of depleting it.
The work feels effortless, even when it’s hard. Genius work isn’t easy. But it’s energizing. I can work for hours without depletion because I’m pulling from a deep well rather than forcing from surface energy. At the point in my life, I work seven days a week with a fairly consistent schedule. That’s not for everyone, but for me it’s an opportunity to create, learn, and grow. My days are limited, and my curiosity will guide me to realizing my potential.
Others see it before I do. When you’re operating in your genius, people around you feel the difference. They say things like “you’re so good at this” or “this is so uniquely you.” Students in my Berkeley Exec Ed cohorts tell me I have a knack for translating complexity into clarity. Over time, I would learn that this was a uniqueness I would cultivate and lean into. Listen to that feedback. It’s signal, not noise.
I know instantly when I’ve drifted. After years of practice, I can sense within minutes when I’m doing work outside my Zone of Genius. That awareness is the gift of the inner journey. You develop an internal compass that guides every decision.
For many years, I’ve written articles like my Zone of Genius post that go deep and grab people. It’s part of my calling because I’ve learned the hard way how to escape the mediocrity we confine ourselves to. My posts on tech often go unnoticed—I write them to learn and practice synthesizing things people can apply quickly. But it’s posts like this that people relate to and need more of.
That’s my Zone of Genius: helping leaders navigate the intersection of technical transformation and personal evolution. Teaching what I’ve lived and learned, not what I’ve read.
What’s yours?
Your Starting Point: The Four Zones Audit
You can’t shift into your Zone of Genius if you don’t know where you’re currently operating. So here’s your first framework:
For one week, track every significant activity in your work (30+ minutes). At the end of each activity, categorize it:
Zone of Incompetence: Activities you’re not good at. Others can do them far better. These drain energy and produce poor results. Action: Stop doing these immediately. Delegate, automate, or eliminate.
Zone of Competence: You’re competent here, but so are many others. These don’t differentiate you. Action: Batch these activities and look for ways to automate with AI.
Zone of Excellence: You do these exceptionally well. You’re respected and compensated for this work. You’ve built your reputation here. This is the comfortable trap. Action: Be honest about which of these AI will automate in 12-24 months. Start planning your exit.
Zone of Genius: Activities you’re uniquely suited to do. They draw on your special gifts. You generate energy instead of depleting it. Action: Protect and expand these. This is your future.
At week’s end, calculate your percentages:
Incompetence: ____%
Competence: ____%
Excellence: ____%
Genius: ____%
If your Genius percentage is under 20%, you’re in danger. If it’s under 10%, you’re in crisis.
Now here’s the self-mastery practice that makes this actionable:
Body awareness practice: After each activity this week, pause for 60 seconds. Close your eyes. Notice:
Where do you feel energy in your body? (Chest, shoulders, gut, head?)
Is that energy expansive or contracted?
Do you want to keep going, or are you depleted?
What’s your honest emotion right now? (Not the one you think you should feel—the real one)
Write it down. Over time, you’ll learn to recognize your genius work by how it feels in your body, not just how it looks on paper.
The Journaling Practice That Changed Everything
Here’s what saved me three years ago: books and reflection. Lots of both.
I’d wake up early, before the panic of job applications could start. I’d journal:
What energized me yesterday?
What drained me?
When did I feel most like myself?
What work doesn’t feel like work?
I read at least a book a week to expand my self-awareness and strategies for personal change.
I wasn’t looking for insights. I was tracking patterns.
After several weeks of this practice, something clicked. I saw clearly: my genius wasn’t building software systems or leading tech organizations. Those were my Zone of Excellence. My genius was translating technical complexity into strategic clarity, then equipping leaders to execute with confidence. Teaching. Coaching. Building AI learning experiences that create capability, not just knowledge. Working with companies to drive the adoption of AI by fusing technical depth with human connection.
That clarity changed everything.
Start your own journal practice this week. Three prompts to begin:
“When have I felt most alive in my work in the last month?” Write the scene. What were you doing? Who were you with? What problem were you solving? Don’t just list tasks—describe how it felt.
“What do people consistently ask me for help with that feels effortless to me?” Your genius often hides in plain sight. The things you do naturally that others find difficult—that’s signal.
“If I could only do one type of work for the next five years, what would I choose?” Don’t think about money, reputation, or practicality. What would make you feel fully alive?
The most important topic to study is yourself. This inner quest to study and bring your best is what you’re called to do in this short life.
Remember: Strategy Is About Uniqueness, Not Being the Best
You don’t need to be the best in the world at something to operate in your Zone of Genius.
You need to be the only person in the world who brings YOUR specific combination of gifts to a specific problem.
Competitive strategy isn’t about being better than everyone. It’s about being different in a way that matters.
That’s why self-discovery isn’t self-indulgence—it’s strategy. Your unique value comes from the fusion of what makes you different and how you apply that to a problem worth solving.
Most people are trying to be excellent versions of someone else. A few brave souls are discovering how to be singular versions of themselves.
Which are you becoming?
What’s Coming Next
The responses to my Zone of Genius post told me something important: this is the season to share more.
Over the next weeks and months, I’m going to share frameworks and practices from my 20+ years studying inner discovery and strategy. Not theory—tools you can use to accelerate your personal transformation in turbulent times like these.
Topics I’ll cover:
The identity shifts required to operate in your genius (and how to make them)
Building the emotional resilience to trust yourself in uncertainty
Decision-making frameworks for choosing genius over excellence
How to detect and overcome the four hidden barriers keeping you from your best work
Creating the habits and disciplines that protect genius work from the gravitational pull of excellence
How to use cutting-edge AI tools to accelerate your personal transformation journey
This isn’t motivational content. This is transformation methodology.
What’s coming in Part 2: Next week, I’ll show you how to use AI as your thought partner for Zone of Genius discovery. You’ll learn how to set up a ChatGPT or Claude Project that helps you see patterns you can’t see yourself, challenges the comfortable stories you’re telling, and accelerates your inner journey from months to weeks. The frameworks work. AI makes them faster.
Your Action This Week
Here’s your challenge:
Complete the Four Zones Audit. Track your activities for one week and categorize them honestly.
Start the journaling practice. Answer those three prompts. Set a timer for 15 minutes each morning. Don’t overthink it—just write.
Share one insight. Reply to this email or comment below: What did you discover about where you’re operating? What’s one small step you’re taking toward your Zone of Genius this week?
I’ll personally respond. Not someday—this week.
Because here’s what I learned three years ago when I was at rock bottom: the journey after losing a job can be lonely. We’re great at convincing ourselves we’re not worthy or deserving. You need people who’ve walked this path to remind you that finding your Zone of Genius isn’t just possible—it’s where real freedom lives.
Reach out if you need someone to bounce things off.
Share your most significant challenges, and I will share ideas and resources for your inner journey.
Finding your Zone of Genius is empowering and filled with opportunity. I’m living proof.
The clock is ticking. You had the chance. Don’t let it become the thing you regret.
Act now.
— James