Trending
What if you could spend the vast majority of your day doing exactly the work you adore? The kind where you lose track of time, while tapping into your special talents and passions: your magic zone.
Chances are, this is also your highest value work—where you can charge a premium price and work with your sweet-spot clients.
We’re talking about the kind of work where sometimes you just scratch your head, wondering how you got to be so lucky.
Look, I’m not saying you’ll get sunshine and roses 24/7—but why not spend as much time in your magic zone as you possibly can?
Life is short, baby.
One of my clients is a genius at making sure he focuses on what he’s good at and most wants to do. And what’s fun about working with him is he doesn’t think that applies ONLY to him.
Every member of his team—internal and external—has a magic zone that he’s very careful to understand and protect.
How does that make each of us feel? Appreciated. Valued. And happy to be doing work we love.
Why shouldn’t we all work this way?
If you’re not sure about your magic zone—or need to sort out the edges, try this. Identify the complete opposite—i.e. what you suck at.
The “suck” list ought to be the place you start when you think about outsourcing. For example, I pretty much hand off everything administrative I possibly can to my virtual assistant—who I consider a business goddess. Seriously, one of her magic talents is figuring out how to put everything in order and just get it done. I admire that more than I can say.
But let’s get back to magic. It’s not just about what you don’t suck at, but where you truly are gifted.
Take “Joe”, an author client with some serious creds—he’s sold over 3 million copies. So clearly writing is in his magic zone. And yet he regularly has someone else do his transactional business writing. Why? It’s just no fun for him. It’s short-term linear writing and he finds it much more pleasurable to hand it off to someone else.
“Oh but my clients expect me to __________(fill in the blank with whatever tasks you don’t really want to do)!”
I guarantee there is a way to get that off your plate. It may require some creativity (and/or a leap of faith), but if you don’t try, you’ll never get to play in your magic zone.
I know one consultant who dropped over 20 of her clients in one fell swoop to get to the work life she wanted. Scary? You bet. But the handful of clients she didn’t fire immediately stepped into the breach and gave her the work, focus and fees she is worth. Now she’s happily waving the flag from her magic zone.
So here’s the challenge. Pick one thing—just one—that you can let go of that will deliver you closer to your magic zone. What’s it gonna be?