The Big Leap

by Gay Hendricks

  Here’s how to use the Ultimate Success Mantra informally, as an addition to your daily life. Occasionally throughout the day, float the USM through your mind or speak it out loud. Just slip it into your ordinary thought stream as you move through your day. I also recommend writing it out on three-by-five cards or sticky notes and posting it in various places where you’ll see it during the day. I put it in places where I look often, such as the dashboard of my car or a corner of my desk. This will serve to remind you of it during the busy whirl of your day.

  A KEY SHORTCUT: THE ENLIGHTENED NO

  As you learn to navigate the updrafts of the Genius Spiral, your flight will be smoother if you get nimble at what I call “the Enlightened No.” You produce an Enlightened No when you turn down something that doesn’t fit into your Zone of Genius. I call it the Enlightened No because you’re saying no in the service of your genius. You’re not saying no for all the usual reasons, such as money, dislike, lack of time, and so forth. You’re saying no because you’ve chosen to focus on activities that are clearly in your Zone of Genius. Saying no for that reason even has an inspirational effect on the people you’re turning down. I’ve frequently had people get in touch to thank me for the way I said no to them, because it inspired them to do the same thing in service of their own genius.

  I encourage you to look carefully at the number of times you say yes to things that do not fit in your Zone of Genius. Even if they seem beneficial for other reasons, those requests can eat up a great deal of energy that could be better invested in expressing your genius.

  Let me give you an example. A while back I had a flurry of requests from a company that had invented several electronic devices it wanted me to endorse. I checked out the devices (they fit broadly into the category of biofeedback machines), and they did indeed appear to be useful. The company offered me fifty thousand dollars and some stock if I would give my endorsement. While on the surface it looked like easy money for endorsing something that could help people, I took some time to think it over. In discussing the matter with Kathlyn, I got a great reminder of why for the last twenty-eight years since I met her I’ve awakened every day feeling like the luckiest man on earth. She listened to my description of the gadgets and the company and the deal they were offering, and without blinking an eye she asked, “Does it fit in your Zone of Genius?” The question took me so by surprise that I burst out laughing. “No,” I said, “except maybe the fifty thousand dollars part!”

  Here’s where the magic of saying an Enlightened No comes into play. I sent them an e-mail that explained why I was turning them down. In part it said, “I’ve been really benefiting in recent years from focusing on activities that are in what I call my Zone of Genius. These are things that I’m uniquely suited to do, and which serve my highest purposes for my life. While I like the people I’ve met from your company, and while I think the devices are useful, I’m going to turn down your generous offer because it doesn’t fit in the sweet spot of my Zone of Genius.” About an hour after I sent the e-mail, I got a call from the head of the company. He said something like “You would not believe the discussion that came out of getting your e-mail.” He said that the executive team had already planned an off-site to focus on this topic for themselves. Would I be willing to hire myself out for the day to work with them on it? I told him I didn’t have time to do that, because I was firmly ensconced in my Zone of Genius every day, writing a book (the one you’re holding) that explained everything I knew about the subject. If he could be patient for six or eight months, I’d be happy to send him a copy and we could talk about a seminar for his organization.

  Most opportunities to say an Enlightened No do not come attached to compelling amounts of cash. It doesn’t matter, though, because it’s not about the cash value of the thing you’re saying no to. It’s about strengthening your commitment to living in your Zone of Genius. Each time you say an Enlightened No to something that does not serve your genius, you build a stronger foundation for yourself in the zone.

  ANOTHER SHORTCUT: RENEWING AND REFINING COMMITMENT

  Commitment works as a springboard to your Zone of Genius. The moment you make a sincere commitment to living in your Zone of Genius, you propel yourself in that direction. Once you’re in the zone, commitment also works magnificently well as a steering mechanism and calibration device to keep you centered there.

  Kathlyn and I often say that the art of commitment should really be called the art of recommitment. Commitment gets you started and propels you through the early stages of any game, but it’s recommitment that ignites your reserves when you feel like you’re going to give up. Those moments of low energy are inevitable (in my experience, at least) when you’re on a quest for any worthy goal. The saving move in that moment is to renew your commitment. For example, during the course of your quest you may come up against a deeply buried belief that you are fundamentally unlovable. Those beliefs tend to emerge in the hearts and minds of people as they progress toward permanent occupancy of their Zone of Genius. After all, what ultimate test could we set for ourselves but to mount a search for something we have already decided isn’t available anywhere? It’s nearly inevitable, then, that you will someday encounter a boulder in the living room of your Zone of Genius. That boulder is the belief that you are unlovable. This false belief fuels a frantic search for something external to yourself that confirms that you are indeed lovable. It’s the ultimate trick by that ultimate trickster, your ego, to hold on to its job. It’s an issue of job security, and your ego is incredibly dedicated to keeping its job.

  Your ego has every right to be scared. It’s on notice. In the Zone of Genius, you have no need for your ego. In the Zone of Genius, you don’t care about getting approval, getting control, getting even, or any of the other get-oriented goals of the ego. You’re a free agent there, ready to respond to the infinite possibilities of the present moment. But when the war erupts between your conviction that love lies outside yourself and the deep knowledge that it’s a matter of your own creation, you can feel a kind of cellular exhaustion that seems part of the very cosmos itself. That’s when recommitment comes in handy. It’s time then to take a deep breath and renew your commitment to living full-time in your Zone of Genius.

  Almost on a daily basis I revisit the key commitments of my life in the Zone of Genius. I often speak and think my Ultimate Success Mantra:

  I expand in abundance, success, and love every day, as I inspire those around me to do the same.

  I move and breathe and hum with the mantra whenever I think of it, and I think of it often. It’s become part of the fabric of my being now, as close to me as the feeling of my pulse or the sweet sensation of fresh air in my nostrils. Living in the Zone of Genius is like riding a bicycle. It’s not that hard once you get the hang of it. In fact, it’s deliciously easy and a source of the onrushing exhilaration that gives human life its best intensity. It exacts a stern requirement, though, that’s best not to argue with: you’ve got to pay exquisite attention. I have a few scars on my hide from not honoring that requirement.

  When I hit a wobbly spot on the journey, I seize the moment to make a recommitment. From time to time you will probably lose focus and your attention will wander. It comes with the territory. When it happens, though, it doesn’t need to be a big deal. It simply means that you need to recommit to what you’ve chosen to be here for: expressing your genius in the world in ways that help you and others thrive.

  Paying close attention will keep you centered and on track in the Zone of Genius. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice when you’ve slipped out of your commitment to living in your zone. You’ll feel off center, perhaps, or nothing will seem to be going right. Then it’s time to recommit and keep on moving. There are two high motivations for paying such close attention. First off, it’s highly motivating to feel the kind of exhilaration every moment brings you when you’re expanding in love, abundance, and success. You’re motivated to keep living in the Zone of Genius b
ecause it feels so exhilarating. Beyond that, though, there is a special elixir brewed by mixing exhilaration with serenity. The serenity comes from the second part of your Ultimate Success Mantra—to inspire those around you to live in their Zone of Genius.

  Inspiring others is often touted as a moral imperative, a “should” and a duty, but very few ever speak to the sensual delights of inspiration. One of the most delicious feelings in the world comes from seeing people actually becoming inspired by your commitment to living in your Zone of Genius. Not only is inspiring others good for the others; it feels wonderful to you, too.

  SIX

  Living in Einstein Time

  Creating Time for the Full Expression of Your Genius

  For your life to work harmoniously, you need to develop a harmonious relationship with time. Most people have a difficult time balancing all of their priorities. And there is no greater priority than transforming your relationship with time. If you get a handle on how time actually operates, your work flows gracefully and at high performance. If you don’t, it doesn’t. Before I figured out how time actually works, I put in twice as many hours and got half as much done. Everything changed when I figured out the secret of Einstein Time. Now I work half as much and get at least twice as much done. Even though I understand the science behind that shift, it still seems like a miracle to me.

  One immediate payoff of getting the correct understanding of time is that you feel less stressed as you go through your day. That’s good, but there’s an even bigger reward: you free up time for creative thinking. When I give speeches to executive groups such as the Young Presidents Organization, I hear one complaint more than any other: “We don’t have time to do the creative thinking that makes the biggest difference in our business.” In business as well as life itself, it’s easy to get so bogged down in handling details that you don’t have time to make new creative breakthroughs. If you put the ideas in this chapter to work for you, you won’t have that problem anymore.

  When you make the shift to Einstein Time, you experience a major surge in your productivity, creativity, and enjoyment. The shift takes place the moment you embrace one profoundly simple truth:

  You’re where time comes from.

  Embrace and embody this truth, and you can experience a quantum jump in productivity and free time. It works so well it may seem like magic, but it’s based on solid science inspired by Einstein’s physics.

  Once you understand that you’re where time comes from, you have the power to make as much of it as you want. You’re the boss. I know that might sound strange, but I promise you that this is the way time actually works. Before I started teaching this concept to others, I learned it myself…the hard way.

  About twenty years ago, in a period of great frustration and stress, I discovered that most of my stress and frustration occurred because I had time all wrong. My conception of time was so skewed that I felt either rushed (not enough time) or bored (too much of it). Most of the time I felt rushed, as if there was never enough time and it was constantly slipping away from me. I never got all the things done that I needed to do, even though I felt like I was working overtime. To escape the distress I was feeling, I took a three-day walkabout in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. I thought that perhaps a few days of dealing with fundamentals such as thunderstorms, pumas, and such would clear my mind.

  On the last day of my trip, as I perched on a boulder overlooking a flowing mountain brook, I had a realization that changed my life and gave me my serenity back. I saw that my understanding of time was based on an outmoded, Newtonian paradigm. In that flash of insight I realized that Einstein’s paradigm was the way time actually worked. I felt a shift of consciousness inside me. My cells seemed to rearrange themselves around the new understanding. Everything changed in that moment, and from that day until now I’ve gotten everything done in half the time and have had a great time doing it. As a result, I haven’t felt rushed in twenty years. Looked at from the outside, my life is much busier now than when I had my big insight. In spite of that, I never feel hurried.

  You don’t need a mountain walkabout to bring this awareness into play. After he heard me talk about Einstein Time at a seminar, a Manhattan stockbroker sent me an e-mail telling me about what had happened recently on his daily subway ride to Wall Street. He said that he was running late one morning and had sprinted to catch the train, trying to balance a cup of coffee, a bagel, and his briefcase. Jammed in with the other riders on the crowded train, he started to look at his watch but couldn’t raise his arm because he was wedged in so tightly between people. He felt a wave of panic building because he couldn’t see what time it was or assess how late he might be for his meeting. Suddenly he recalled our conversation about Einstein Time. Wait a minute, he thought, I am time, and I’ll make enough of it so I won’t be late for my meeting. He relaxed his body and tried to focus on enjoying the moment in spite of his wedged-in state. Since he didn’t have to worry about falling over, he closed his eyes and put his attention on being just where he was. Soon he reached his destination and walked out into the crisp morning air. Again he felt the urge to look at his watch, and again he let the urge pass. When he got to the meeting that he expected to be late for, nobody was in the room yet. He sat down alone and relished the at-ease feeling in his body. Soon people began streaming in, full of complaints about late trains and buses, slow-moving lines in coffee shops, and such. He just smiled.

  Now I invite you to make the bold move of changing to Einstein Time. If you’re using any time-management system, put it in a drawer and don’t look at it again. In reality, you probably haven’t been using it anyway. Einstein Time is a new kind of time management that reorganizes your conception of time at the very core. It doesn’t take any time to use it. In fact, it generates time while also producing abundant rewards in creativity, feelings of ease, and financial well-being.

  This new way of being with time delivers four main benefits:

  You get more done in less time.

  You enjoy plenty of time and abundant energy for your most important creative activities.

  You discover your unique abilities and how to express them.

  You feel good inside.

  THE PROBLEM

  Let’s take a close look at the problem that we all face. Along with millions of other busy people, you probably have thought about time quite a bit. You probably have purchased one or more of the time-management systems such as the FranklinCovey system or the one that my neighbor David Allen created. At first you probably had the highest intentions of using it faithfully. However, after the class ended and the consultant departed, you tried to use the system but struggled with its complexity. Eventually, if you used it at all, you kept a small part of it and quit using the rest. You may have even felt guilty that you didn’t use it to its full advantage. Then, some time later, you probably bought another one.

  I don’t want you to feel bad about any of this. You’re in good company (mine, for one). Before I figured out the secret of time, I probably studied or bought half a dozen different systems. Give yourself some appreciation for making the noble effort. Your original intention was to solve one of the most difficult problems in modern life: how to get everything done you need to do and still have time for creativity, family, and yourself. This noble intention causes millions of people every year to invest in time-management systems, only to find that they stop using them or that the systems consume more time than they save.

  THE SOLUTION

  Einstein Time gives you a way to expand the amount of time you have for creative expression and intimate connections. With Einstein Time, you not only save time; you’ll learn how to become the source of time so you can make as much of it as you want. With Einstein Time, you’ll also discover how to liberate the energy you need for accomplishing your most precious activities. You’ll understand exactly what drains your creative energy and how to stop the drain.

  The result: no more rushing, no more time pressure, no more f
eeling exhausted because you worked all day and didn’t get any of the important things done. Instead, you have plenty of time, an abundance of energy, and the skills that will keep both time and energy in a constant state of refreshing renewal.

  There is no evidence that the pace of life will become slower in the future. We need ways to organize our time and energy, but the existing systems of time management are useful only up to a point and with certain types of people. For most of us, and especially for creative people, Einstein Time delivers a unique set of benefits. It’s simple to understand, easy to implement, and so useful you’ll wonder how you ever did without it.

  Now it’s time to slip out of the time trap you’ve been caught in so you can soar into the open spaces of your Zone of Genius. While it’s possible to make improvements in your work and personal life by applying a Newtonian approach to time, you need to make an Einsteinian shift in order to experience a genuine liberation from time constraints. At best, a Newtonian approach gives us incremental improvements. What we really need, though, is radical transformation. That’s where Einstein’s paradigm comes into play.

  THE OLD PARADIGM

  The Newtonian paradigm of time is also its major limitation. The Newtonian view says there’s only a finite amount of time, and it must be carefully portioned out so there will be enough of it to do the things we need to do. The Newtonian paradigm assumes that there’s a scarcity of time, which leads to an uncomfortable feeling of time urgency inside us. It’s exactly the same problem we would have if we assumed there was a scarcity of food. We’d always be hungry, and we’d always be afraid there wasn’t enough food available. If you’ve ever thought that way about time, welcome to a very large club. There’s hope, however, because while the Newtonian view is where most of us start, it is not how time actually works. Newtonian time scarcity is just a stage we’re passing through, just as Newtonian physics was a stage we passed through on the way to Einstein’s breakthrough.