Finding my sweet spot
My personal journey from lost in my blind spots to building a business in my ‘zone of genius’
Illustration by Diana Grigore
A classic life coach thing to do: review your own purpose, reflect on how well you are living it in your day-to-day, and remind yourself how your WHY makes total sense.
Every time I reflect on why I ended up focusing my coaching business helping multidisciplinary creatives I get confused at first.
Usually coaches and therapists tend to support people who are similar to themselves. There's added empathy and understanding that comes from helping people who are working on similar obstacles. But I don't personally identify as a multidisciplinary creative. So, why this focus. . . ?
Being multi-passionate can be painful sometimes
What I then remember is that even though I don't wield an identity around being a Creative or Artist, I do know the pain of wanting to do a LOT of different things at once. I know the pain of feeling pressured to be really good at ONE thing when I wasn't sure what that one thing should be.
It started young. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I told them “A gymnast as a teenager, then a teacher, a veterinarian on the weekends, and then a grocery bagger when I get older”.
While none of those careers had any staying power, what did stick around was the desire to not have to stick to one thing. I felt like I was cursed to be pretty good at a lot of things, but not excellent at any one thing.
I ended up making my own major in college. I didn't want to have to stick within a box. I didn’t like the cookie cutter options presented. I wanted to create something more custom. I wanted to maximize my ability to choose how I spent my time. A desire that I still hold today.
Even though I eventually needed to get a paying job after college, I always spun up side projects and new business ideas. I started to have so many ideas that I eventually created a Tumblr called “Take this Idea” as a way to get my ideas out but acknowledge to myself that I wasn’t going to be the one to execute them. Starting up new ideas was always exciting at first, but not moving them into the execution phase came with a narrative that I didn't know how to really stick with things — that I wasn’t good with commitment.
The longest I've ever been traditionally employed is 1.5 years. And I reached the end of my 20s feeling unsure if I was ever going to find a career that I could really commit to and build upon.
It’s not that I was totally lost in my 20s. I was trying to piece together my own interests and strengths. I knew I was drawn to connecting with people, and connecting them with others. I just didn’t know what role to play. I found myself in “Community” and Events roles. I kept contemplating going to get a therapy graduate degree or an MBA, but never felt compelled enough to apply. But there was something about wanting to help people make meaningful change in their life and something attracting me to running a business. I knew I had to keep searching for the right fit.
How I found my ‘zone of genius’
It was actually an insightful conversation with my partner (now husband) that helped me reconsider coaching as a possibility.
At the time I was working as a program designer whose job consisted of producing events in public spaces. Some events were small but many of them were quite big (including a full on circus!) My partner shared that it seemed like I got into the Events space because I really liked connecting with people but because the events I was planning were so big they weren’t as personal or meaningful as they could be. He encouraged me to consider coaching, something that I had toyed with many times but felt apprehensive that it wasn’t legitimate enough.
I did some research and realized that I could sign up for a coaching certification track that let you book and commit in phases. It felt more approachable and less intimidating to know I could try it out in stages. After the first training weekend, I left already feeling confident that coaching would be a good fit for me. I loved being in the coaching demos, having conversations about deeply personal things, and getting to immerse myself in questions about life purpose and personal alignment.
Five years later, I am still running my coaching business and I truly love it so much.
Why I pinch myself all the time
I get to do lots of different things within my business (writing, podcasting, events, program design, community building) but I've housed it under a unified umbrella that makes me feel like there is unity and coherence(!) to my work.
After a decade of feeling vexed about what my calling was, I have felt so unbelievably fortunate to get to coach people as my full time job and to be able to still experiment as much as I choose. I get to work in my “zone of genius”, the thing that I am really good at that makes time fly and gives me energy and fulfillment. I get to channel all the enthusiasm for new ideas by working with my creative clients who are constantly inspiring me with their creations and innovative work.
This is the kind of sweet spot that I want to help other people find. When you think about all the things you've done in the past, what did you really enjoy and also really excel at? How can your wealth (and breadth) of experiences be an asset? Is there anything you’ve been thinking about for a long time but feel nervous to try? How can you test the waters and take an iterative approach? And ultimately how can you design a clear set of services or offerings that revolve around what you do best?
Check out my coaching offering here if you want to explore working together. I trust that I can help you find your sweet spot so you can work in your zone of genius too.