Author: Cristi Cooke
As an academic, it’s common to face varied and constant pressures on your time, resources, and “mental space”. Working long hours where you are trying to be everything to everyone can be an effective strategy, but it’s not a sustainable one over the length of your academic career.
For many of my academic clients, the strategy of working longer and harder leads to exhaustion, frustration and resentment. These negative outcomes occur when it feels like you’re doing a lot of work, but much of it seems like it doesn’t serve your ultimate purpose. Many of my clients find themselves asking: “How can I better align my teaching, service and research with my gifts, my values, and where I want to spend my time?” And “How can I articulate my unique value to everyone who keeps making requests on my time?”
Does this sound familiar? Have you been struggling because you don’t have the clarity to answer those questions? Or wondering what it really means to live your purpose. Or are you wondering how to clearly decide which — of the many requests for your expertise you receive on campus, in your community, and by organizations in your field — are a perfect fit for you?
As a coach, I frequently work with academics with these issues. I believe that all of these struggles are caused by one thing: lack of clarity about your unique genius.
When you are clear on your unique genius, several important things occur: 1) you know exactly which research and service projects to say “yes” and “no” to, 2) your projects and relationships flow easily because they are aligned with who you are, 3) you are able to bring “all of you” into your work on-campus and off-campus, and 4) you can clearly articulate your unique value to others in a way that they “get it” quickly and easily.
You might be wondering: if discovering your unique genius causes such positive outcomes, why do the majority of academics struggle to get clear about it?
Over years, I have observed 5 myths that stop people from discovering their own unique genius. By sharing them with you, I hope you can remove them from your thinking, get clear on your genius, identify the work you love, and choose the projects and people that you are uniquely designed to impact.
MYTH #1. Only special people have “unique genius”
In my workshops, I often ask participants: “Do you have unique genius?” Without fail, most people — especially highly-educated people — are uncomfortable with this question. Participants say things like: “Who am I to say I have a unique form of genius?” “I’m not _______ (smart, capable, published) enough to claim I have unique genius.” “It seems _________ (arrogant, boastful, deluded, self-aggrandizing) to say that I have unique genius!” Let me assure you, if you are operating under any of these beliefs, you are walking right past your unique genius.
Unique genius is not a measure of your intelligence, publications, awards, or degrees. Nor is it chosen from a list of categories in a personality assessment. Instead, unique genius refers to that which sets you apart, impacts others, and allows you to choose work that aligns with your purpose. In short, everyone has unique genius.
I conceptualize unique genius as the patterns of who you are at your core that have played over the course of your life. Because I’ve observed that most people have 3-4 core patterns, I call them your “Pillars of Genius”. Those pillars can become a highly accurate filter to use when choosing projects, collaborators, and opportunities. So if you’ve ever thought “I don’t have unique genius”, I invite you to consider that everyone — including you — has unique genius.
MYTH #2. Your skills, talents, and strengths reveal your unique genius
Most people walk right past their unique genius because they are looking in the wrong place: they are looking at their skills, talents, strengths, and education.
Don’t get me wrong – your skills, talents, strengths and education MATTER. But they will never reveal the full picture of your unique genius. But consider that you will find clues to your unique genius in your quirks, your so-called flaws, what drives you nuts, what you stand for, and what you cannot stand. In fact, the patterns of who you are at your core (if discovered accurately) will show up everywhere in your life.
For example, one of my clients discovered that one of her patterns was that everything in her life revolved around her stand for building community. Her research, her campus service, her teaching, her volunteer experiences, the type of people she surrounded herself with, and her family life. Every aspect of her life pointed to her unwavering stand as a community builder.
When she got crystal clear this was one of her “Pillars of Genius”, she was able to use it to evaluate projects and opportunities, articulate her unique genius to others, and as powerful filter for her when deciding what to say “yes” and “no” to. So in addition to your skills, talents, strengths and education, consider seeking clues and patterns all over your life that are pointing to your unique genius.
MYTH #3. Your genius will look like genius
Most people think their unique genius should look impressive, brilliant, and award-winning. But the truth is, most people miss their unique genius because at first glance, it doesn’t look like genius. In other words, your unique genius might not look terribly impressive to you, you may think you are “too much” that way so you discount, disregard, or suppress possibilities as flaws, or you just take it for granted as “the way you are.”
For example, one of my Pillars of Genius is “I have no filter”. If you took a loot at my life, what you would find is that in every area (work, relationships, leisure, and what gets under my skin) “I have no filter”. That is just who I am at my core.
Does “I have no filter” sound like genius to you? Probably not. At first glance, it looks more like a flaw. However, this core pattern is both what differentiates my work and is one of the most powerful shifts I teach my clients. Why? Because my clients want and need to lower their filters. They want to dig down and get to the truth of who they are. This is what makes my method of finding unique genius so effective and complete.
I invite you to open up to the possibility that your unique genius may not look like what you currently define as “genius”. And that’s okay. Just don’t walk past it. Instead, try pausing to consider how your unique patterns can benefit your students, colleagues, collaborators and research projects.
Myth #4. Your genius only shows up in your work
When most people want to find their unique genius, they naturally think about their work: “What am I doing on campus that is unique?” “What am I doing in my research that sets me apart?”
The truth is, the patterns of your unique genius are not exclusive to your work. They are much deeper than that. You could change your campus, your colleagues, or even your research agenda and your unique genius will be the same. It will just manifest as a benefit differently, depending on where you work and how your genius is being utilized.
Your unique genius lives in you, and goes with you wherever you go. It is fundamental, but not exclusive, to your current work.
Myth #5. You should be able to find your own unique genius
This last myth is actually the most damaging, causes the most frustration, and is the most important myth to bust.
People often come to work with me after months or years of trying to figure out their unique genius on their own. They’ve been journaling about it, thinking about it, asking others about it, having endless conversations about it, but are still unclear.
You might think you should be able to figure it out, after all it’s the one topic you should be an expert on: YOU!. However, most people struggle to see the picture when they’re inside the frame. By that I mean your genius is so deeply rooted in who you are, you can’t see it. You aren’t even aware you’re doing it. Or — if you are aware — you disregard it’s importance by assuming “everyone does that”.
Finding your unique genius is less about inner work, and more about a methodical, rigorous pattern recognition process, so you can bring all of who you are to your work.