Dario Ristic

"What do I most love to do? (I love it so much I can do it for long stretches of time without getting tired or bored.)" – Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap.

When I first stumbled upon this question from Gay Hendricks, it stopped me in my tracks. I had been working hard, achieving results, but something was missing. Have you ever felt that way—successful on paper, but emotionally disconnected from your work?

Let me share what I've learned about finding your Zone of Genius, because honestly, it changed how I think about work and life.

What Is the Zone of Genius Concept?

The Zone of Genius, coined by Gay Hendricks in The Big Leap, is where your natural talents meet your deepest passions. It's not just about being good at something—plenty of people are good at things they hate. This is different.

This concept connects with organizational structures that enable people to work in their strengths—check out cross-functional teams and Teal organizations for more on enabling people to operate in their Zone of Genius.

Think back to a moment when you got so absorbed in something that hours passed like minutes. Maybe you were coding, writing, designing, or solving a problem. You weren't just working—you were in flow. And here's the kicker: afterward, instead of feeling drained, you felt energized. That's your Zone of Genius right there.

This isn't about developing skills through practice (though that helps). Your Zone of Genius is what comes naturally to you but feels profound when you do it. It's that rare intersection where you're not just competent—you're creating something that matters to you.

Here's how I think about it: Your Zone of Genius is where your instinct meets your joy. It's the work that doesn't feel like work because it aligns with who you are at your core.

Try this now. Ask yourself:

  1. What activities come naturally to me—things I could do all day?
  2. What makes me feel fully alive, like I'm contributing something meaningful?

The goal isn't just to feel good (though that's a nice side effect). It's to unlock your true potential by doing work that doesn't require you to be anyone else. When you're operating in your Zone of Genius, you're not performing—you're expressing yourself fully.

What Are the Four Zones of Genius?

Understanding these four zones helped me make sense of why certain work felt draining while other work felt effortless. Let me walk you through them:

Zone of Incompetence

We've all been here—that moment when you're clearly out of your depth but you keep banging your head against the wall anyway. The Zone of Incompetence is where you're doing things you genuinely can't do well, no matter how hard you try.

You know the feeling: You spend hours on something that should take minutes, you feel frustrated, and at the end of it, you're exhausted and still haven't accomplished much. For me, this was accounting and finance—I'd rather do almost anything else than balance books or analyze financial statements.

The problem is we often accept these tasks because we think we "should" be able to do them, or we're too proud to delegate. But here's what I learned: You can't be good at everything, and trying to be is a fast track to burnout.

My advice: Delegate these tasks whenever possible. Your time is better spent in areas where you actually create value.

Zone of Competence

This is where most of us spend way too much time. The Zone of Competence is filled with tasks you can do competently—maybe even well—but so can anyone else. There's nothing special about your contribution here.

Think about it: Can you organize spreadsheets? Sure. Answer emails? Absolutely. Attend meetings? Of course. But these aren't the activities that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning. You're coasting on competence, which feels comfortable because it's safe.

Here's the thing though: Safety is the enemy of growth. When you spend all your time in competence, you're basically hitting the pause button on your potential. You're not bad at these tasks, but you're not great either. You're just... good enough.

The Zone of Competence is seductive because it requires little effort and comes with minimal risk. But staying here means trading mediocrity for the possibility of excellence.

Zone of Excellence

This one's tricky because it feels so good. The Zone of Excellence is where you're genuinely talented, people recognize your skills, and you deliver results consistently. You've worked hard to get here, and the rewards are real: praise, recognition, maybe even financial success.

Let me give you an example from my own experience. I was excellent at running marketing campaigns. Great results, happy clients, steady income. Everyone told me how good I was. I should have been ecstatic, right?

But something was missing. I could do the work in my sleep (and sometimes it felt like I was). It wasn't challenging anymore, and more importantly, it didn't spark anything in me. I was performing, but I wasn't fulfilled.

Here's why this zone is a trap: Excellence is seductive because it looks like success. People praise you, you make money, you avoid failure. But staying here means you're living someone else's version of your life. You're good at it, but are you passionate about it? Are you creating something that matters to YOU?

The gap between excellence and genius isn't skill—it's alignment. In the Zone of Excellence, you're doing work you're good at. In the Zone of Genius, you're doing work you were meant to do.

Zone of Genius

And then there's this. Your Zone of Genius isn't just about being good or even excellent. It's where your natural talents merge with your deepest passions. You're not just working—you're creating. You're not just performing—you're expressing who you are.

When you're in your Zone of Genius:

Let me tell you how I knew I'd found mine. I stopped thinking about marketing campaigns and started writing about product strategy and technology. Hours would pass without me noticing. I'd look up and realize I'd forgotten to eat. Not because I was stressed—because I was in flow.

But here's what matters even more: The Zone of Genius isn't about perfection. It's about alignment. You're doing work that doesn't require you to be anyone else. You're operating from a place of authenticity, and that's when the magic happens.

The real difference? In Competence, you're doing what you can. In Excellence, you're doing what you're skilled at. But in Genius, you're doing what you were meant to do. That's not just work—that's your calling.

Finding Your Zone of Genius

Here's the thing—finding your Zone of Genius isn't going to happen through a single personality test or one afternoon of reflection. It's a journey, and like any journey worth taking, it starts with paying attention to yourself in ways you might not have before.

Let me walk you through what worked for me and countless others:

Reflect on Flow Moments

At the end of each day, sit and think about the times when you've felt absorbed completely in a task. The task should remind you of two things: time flying by and feeling engaged without feeling drained.

Question: What activities make you lose track of time?

Action: Buy a journal, jot down tasks that ignite the spark in you, contrasting it with tasks that drain the energy out of you.

Recognize Your Unique Strengths

Zone of Genius represents the tasks where your natural gifts shine the most. Many people struggle and avoid these areas altogether, whereas you excel without breaking a sweat.

Question: What do people often praise you for / seek your help with?

Action: Note down your talents and skills that feel very easy but create a huge impact. Take feedback from your friends and colleagues too to make sure you cover everything.

Pay Attention to What You Avoid

While focusing on tasks that make you feel like a genius, it's also important to take note of tasks that feel frustrating to you. Knowing them can help you delegate and re-center your focus again.

Question: Which activities feel like a chore, even if you're good at them?

Action: You know what the different zones are; assign your daily tasks into incompetence, competence, excellence and genius. Doing this helps you shift your efforts to the right zone!

Feedback from Trusted Mentors

Sometimes others are better at identifying your genius than yourself. You can gain valuable guidance through insights from trusted colleagues and people around you.

Question: What do people consistently say I am brilliant at?

Action: Recognize and get to know your strengths by asking your mentor or colleagues about the skills that set you apart.

Embrace the 'Zone of Genius'

Pinpointing your zone of genius is much simpler than you think. If you have an end number of resources and no constraints, what would you choose to spend your time on?

Question: What would I be doing if I could design my ideal workday?

Action: Draw a comparison between your ideal workday vision and your current responsibilities to pick out areas for change.

How to Stay in Your Zone of Genius and Thrive

Finding your Zone of Genius is not enough, staying inside the zone is the main problem. It's not always easy. Life has its own ways to keep you away from excelling. Understanding these challenges and overcoming them is important.

The Upper Limit Problem

Gay Hendricks defines the Upper Limit Problem as the biggest issue dragging you out of the Zone of Genius. The Upper Limit problem makes success feel very uncomfortable. After your big win, you may self-sabotage or deviate from big risks that could multiply the impact.

Let's take an example; imagine you're a PM excelling at creating top-notch strategies. But you're hanging back from taking the credit. You easily shadow your successes and feel like you don't deserve the recognition and praise. Restricting yourself from getting out of the comfort zone keeps you from pursuing higher goals.

What's the solution to this? It's simple. Be conscious of negative feelings i.e. once you feel uncomfortable after achieving success – ask yourself "Am I holding myself back?" Cancel out self-doubt, replace it with affirmations!

Day-to-Day Obligations and Firefighting

Routine tasks (tasks that you're not meant to do but you have to) blocks out genius-level work. For example, a product manager meant to work on product vision and innovation getting stuck with administrative duties out of their realm.

What's the solution to this? Begin with delegating or automating these non-genius tasks. Push tasks to trusted colleagues and free up your time for strategic thinking – the task that actually requires your unique strengths and skillset.

Perfectionism

When you try to push every detail to perfect, you automatically take a step down into the Zone of Excellence. Instead of collaborating on product innovation for the bigger picture you end up spending a LOT of time refining basic presentations.

What's the solution to this? Ask yourself "Is this task good enough to move forward?". Progress matters, not perfection. Be more focused on setting clear standards and realistic deadlines to avoid wasting time.

Shifting Your Mindset

I do what I'm best at is always better than I do it all – intentionality is key here. Take time to reflect and identify what your genius tasks are. These tasks should energise you and excite you, so focus on prioritising them. Stop seeking validation on what you do – you can please others but not yourself.

What happens if you do that? You get into a cycle of sticking to tasks that do not make you feel energised, you mistake them for genius work instead. So take some time out to realise what your genius tasks are and block some time off daily to work on those.

Long-term Payoff

Learning to face these challenges are important, it helps you protect time, increase impact, and feel satisfied. Zone of Genius is long-term luxury, it's a road that leads you to success in personal as well as professional life.

The Zone of Genius in Product Management

The Zone of genius is not just a concept, it's a hack for product managers. Product managers, in their Zone of Genius do the following:

Let's look into why this zone matters so much in Product Management and how you can reach success!

Why the Zone of Genius Matters in Product Management?

Product Management is a lot of things, including but not limited to – strategy balance, user experience, technicality & dynamic business outcomes. Product Managers are always under pressure for shifting prioritisation and hefty decision making. They're able to bring a distinctive push to every challenge only in their Zone of Genius.

Creativity, energy, and focus keeps overflowing when a product manager enters their zone of genius. It becomes easier for them to predict user needs, communicate vision, and carry high-impact decisions affecting business goals. This is how a Product Manager usually decreases burnout, improves motivation and pushes their team to excel eventually.

Examples of Genius in Action

Let's take an example of a product manager whose Zone of Genius lies in collaborating customer feedback into insights. Gathering data is of no use here because they can instinctively connect the dots between potential features to be incorporated and the user behavior that aligns with it. Engagement shoots up successfully without any delay due to the quick observance and action taken here.

Similarly, a PM whose innate strength lies in building cross-functional trust would easily develop smooth communication between marketing, engineering and leadership teams. How does this help? Workflows are streamlined easily and a culture of smoother product launches are automatically created.

Now, compare this with efforts put into tasks outside the Zone of Genius. This includes rummaging through endless data cleaning when that's not your area of expertise. Delegating such tasks is the most ideal thing to do!

Conclusion

Once you learn about your Zone of Genius and begin operating within it, your work is no longer your job anymore. It becomes your source of enjoyment and flow. You become more energized, impactful and innovative in general. So, take some time off to explore your genius because the rewards are worth it.

Begin your journey toward doing what you love!