3 Ingredients To Accessing Creative Genius

This is your core genius. It is your original brand of brilliance.

For instance, some people are excellent at interpersonal relating. As a result, they attract top-talent into their organization and gain buy-in for projects extremely quickly.

Others have acquired an amazing level of self-discipline through years of high-performance athletic training supporting them to rapidly achieve their goals.

Humility may push you to think “I’m not the best in the world at anything.”

But you’re certainly the best in the world at a unique combination of things.

And at the intersection of this set of innate and learned skills, you’re able to create a disproportionate return for each ounce of energy you invest.

Your core genius is the realm of exponential rewards.

The problem for the entrepreneur is that it can easily get crowded out as new layers of complexity enter into the business. As things grows, your attention is pulled to a variety of other things, not always within the sweet spot of your genius.

But for a business to truly thrive and for you to feel fully alive, leveraging your core genius has to be a priority.

Here are 3 ingredients to make that happen…

1. Creative Oxygen

Creative Oxygen is giving your genius air to breathe.

It’s about experiencing unoccupied time where your mind is free to roam and explore without restriction. It’s not about getting anywhere in particular or achieving some outcome. It’s time for you to be free to engage your attention in whatever direction you feel most called.

If your life and schedule is so crowded that you don’t have space for this kind of purposeful purposelessness then you may be experiencing a degree of creative suffocation. This can often keep you handcuffed to problems you’re not even noticing because you’ve haven’t had the space to get an aerial view.

There will always be more to do but each ounce of more comes at a higher and higher cost if there is never any room for less.

So are you willing to create an infusion of creative oxygen today? Go for a long walk or spend some unplugged time in nature. You just might walk away with some profound realizations and game-changing ideas that you wouldn’t find hiding in your to-do list.

2. Tribal Belonging

If your business consumes all of your time and energy and you aren’t forming and nurturing deep bonds with your community, family, and/or romantic partner, you’re essentially chopping down the trees that are producing the oxygen. It’s creative deforestation.

We cannot neglect our relationships if we want to make the most of this life experience.

They are the foundation of our lives. When these bonds are strong we can enter into a zone of tribal belonging filled with mutually supportive, interdependent connections. In this zone we’re able to lay down our burdens while being called forward into higher and higher levels of brilliance.

This is because tribal belonging creates a level of trust and safety that cannot be accessed as a lone wolf. We need these deep-rooted connections with people who genuinely believe in us to feel our genius in their reflection. From that place we feel more convicted to own gifts, gaining permission to reach further and fly higher than we ever could on our own.

3. Emotional Jiu-Jitsu

Even with ample amounts of creative oxygen paired with a deep sense of tribal belonging, the expression of our genius can be completely undermined without a sufficient degree of emotional intelligence.

Our sense of self and feelings of purpose can easily be sabotaged by self-doubt and anxiety if we don’t know how to navigate the emotional torrents that come with being alive. To begin understanding this territory we can borrow wisdom from Jiu Jitsu.

Jiu Jitsu is a martial art created in Japan and further popularized in Brazil that involves redirecting the energy of an opponent towards your own end. It’s about learning to use their strength and momentum to work to your advantage.

We can learn to do the same thing with our emotions. Rather than getting barreled over in an emotional storm, we can surf the wave to new creative shores.

Where our sadness anchors deep reverence for our work in the world.

Where our anger becomes an avenue for passionate innovation.

Where our joy is contagious to the people we are closest to

These surges of emotion can be distract us or instruct us. The choice is ours.

Are we open to receiving the signal? Are willing to go into the emotion and see what’s there?

The emergent insights and unlocked energy can open us up to new dimensions of ourselves and new possibilities for our businesses and lives.

What You Can Do Today

We need more of your genius in the world. Here’s a shortlist of what you can do today…

1. Creative Oxygen: Go for a walk or spend time in nature

2. Tribal Belonging: Call a loved one for some some surprise appreciation

3. Emotional Jiu Jitsu: Be honest with what you’re feeling and harness the energy.