Insights from Dana
Stop Drowning in the Details and Get Back to Your Zone of Genius

As a business owner, you wear many hats – leader, entrepreneur, creator, manager, administrator. You make things happen–and you have a viable business to show for it. 

But, somewhere along the way, you got caught up in thinking that if anything is going to be done right, you have to be the one to do it all. 

And you’re spending less and less time doing the work you love as a result.

There’s no flow. 

You feel uninspired and drained all the time.

You’re stretched too thin and bordering on burn-out.

The ease and freedom you imagined when you set out on this entrepreneurial journey are nowhere to be found. 

The answer is simple: you need to get back in your lane. 

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should be the one doing it. There is essential business-building work that only you can do. But when you’re determined to juggle every detail of the daily minutiae, you undermine your capacity to own your role as the CEO of your company.

If your goal is long-term success and sustainability, you need to stop trying to be a jack-of-all-trades and start living in your zone of genius. 

Dial in to your Zone of Genius

As a business owner, dialing into your zone of genius is about identifying the things that only you can do in your business. 

And once you know what your zone of genius is? 

Then you can stop doing all the things somebody else should be doing, so you can focus on making that magic happen.

What comes naturally when you’re aligned and in the zone? 

What are you working on when you’re in the groove and time falls away?

Digging yourself out of the daily minutiae can be overwhelming–and old habits die hard. That’s why identifying your zone of genius is part of the work I do with all my Catapult clients. This essential step helps clarify our focus and strategically guide our work in empowering you to up level your business and own your role as CEO. 

What Magic Do You Bring to the Table?

When you’re accustomed to doing it all by yourself, it can be hard to get a clear perspective on what only you can do for your company and what you need to relinquish so you can focus on bringing that special sauce to the table. 

So, I’m going to walk you through one of the very first exercises I do with my Catapult clients because this deceivingly simple exercise has the profound potential to empower change in your business.

STEP ONE: Grab a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle so that you have two columns. 

STEP TWO: In the first column, list all the things that only you can do for your business. 

STEP THREE: On the other side of the line, itemize every single thing that you do that somebody else could do. 

Write down everything. Get it all out of your head and onto the paper so you can see the work that needs to be done.

The first time you do this exercise, you’ll wind up with a long list of all the unnecessary work you’re doing: admin tasks, project manager-type work, the low-hanging fruit, the tasks you know somebody else could do–and often do better because it’s part of their zone of genius. 

Not yours.

STEP FOUR: Gather the tools or resources needed so that you can confidently delegate everything on your “somebody else could do this” list. This is where your SOPs come in handy.

STEP FIVE: Delegate everything on your “somebody else could do this” list.

Just like that, you’ve already begun to create more time and space to focus on making that magic sauce.

What You Really Bring to the Table

Now, when I’m working with my clients, this is where we press “pause” and use these initial insights to inform our strategic action plan and Catapult your business to new heights of success. And then we get to work implementing the plan. 

Down the road, we circle back to revisit your lists and start by looking at the things that were initially showing up under “Things that Only I Can Do.” 

And my clients shake their heads. 

After letting go of the work that someone else could be doing, building more trust in their team, and having more time for their magic sauce, they realize that list isn’t about what they bring to the table.

Instead, they see a long list of where they’ve been holding onto control and wasting precious time. They recognize that it’s actually a list of things they were afraid to let go of–and that somebody else really could and really should be doing most of them.

Because when we come back to make their new lists, at the top of the column of “Things That Only I Can Do” is this:

Only I can be the Creative Visionary of my company. 

You get to decide:

Where can we go from here? 

Where do we want to go from here?

How do we measure success?

What else is possible? 

This is the pivotal work that you need to be doing as the leader of your business

When you let go of juggling and controlling the minutiae and identify your zone of genius, you get to do more of what only you can do, and you empower your team to do what they do best. 

This is where you stop being a busy, burnt-out business owner and start owning your role as a badass CEO. 

Get back to your zone of genius and start making more of that magic sauce. 


And if you feel like you’re drowning in the details?Send me a message and tell me where you’re spinning your wheels. Let’s talk about your vision and your magic sauce and find out if we would make a good team to Catapult you and your company to sustainable success.

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