Imagine a life where your greatest potential goes untapped. Are you living a life less extraordinary than you were meant to? Today, April Shprintz dives into three key indicators that you’re potentially wasting your genius, offering real-life examples of individuals who embraced their unique brilliance. She also explores how to identify your own area of genius and unlock its power to propel you towards an extraordinary life. Tune in and get ready to uncover the hidden gem within yourself and unleash the unstoppable force that lies within.
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3 Signs You’re Wasting Your Genius
You Undercharge
I am so glad you’re here. Today’s topic is an important one because more people than we realize are wasting their genius, ignoring their genius, unaware of it. I have three surefire ways to know if you are doing that. Number one, you undercharge. If you’re an entrepreneur, you undercharge by not setting a price that’s commensurate with the value that you offer, or perhaps you just charge far less than other people in your industry because you don’t recognize how great you are at what you do. If you’re an employee, this tends to show up as not being willing to ask for a raise, not negotiating a salary for a new job, just not understanding that the unique skills and abilities that you have, have tremendous value.
More people don't realize they are wasting their genius or ignoring their genius. They are unaware of it. Click To TweetYou’re Surprised When People Are Impressed
The second one, you are surprised when people are impressed with you. You’re surprised when they are impressed with something. You’ve done something, you’ve said something, you’ve pointed out something you’re able to contribute. You are genuinely shocked that they think it’s impressive. The reason for this is because we tend to take our own genius for granted. We don’t realize it’s not easy for other people. When someone is impressed that it’s easy for us, we’re like, “Really? That didn’t seem like that big of a deal.” Totally a sign that you are ignoring and probably wasting your genius.
Wasting Your Genius: Some people charge far less than or equal to others in their industry because they don’t recognize how great they are at what they do.
You’re Always Trying To Prove Yourself
Number three, you’re always trying to prove. You might be trying to prove to others. You might even be trying to prove to yourself but you are always looking to collect gold stars, awards, accolades, certifications, degrees, you name it. You want it to prove that you are good enough because you’re not recognizing that you have incredible genius that doesn’t need to be measured, validated, and approved by others.
Wasting Your Genius: We tend to take our own genius for granted. We don’t realize it’s not easy for other people.
I’ll give you some examples of some folks that didn’t feel like they needed it. Let’s think about when Facebook was first started and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college. He did not worry about whether or not he had that particular credential because he did recognize that he had genius in what he was creating.
Wasting Your Genius: Some people are always looking to collect gold stars, awards, accolades, certifications, or degrees because they want to prove their worth. They don’t recognize that they have incredible genius that doesn’t need to be measured and validated by others.
Another example is Coco Chanel. She was never formally trained to do anything in the design world. She was a seamstress. She had an area of genius where she could create things that were beautiful and classic and wonderful. She leaned into that instead of worrying about whether or not she was qualified to do what it was she was going to do. Listen, a lot of things play into this, your overall mindset, whether or not you are challenged with Imposter syndrome, or whether or not folks really supported you and the things that you were great at in your life.
Even if you’ve gotten to this point, and you feel like you have wasted or completely ignored your genius, you can start today, right now, discovering what it is and really leaning into it. Almost the reverse of what I was just saying. Start paying attention to the things that people are really surprised that are easy for you, because that is your number one best indicator of what your area of genius is.
Ask someone that you’re close to that you trust, “What is something that you think I do better than anyone else?” Because a friend will be able to tell you much more easily what impressive thing you have, what skill, what superpower that other people don’t have. The thing about your genius is no matter what you do, no matter what your job is, no matter what dream you’re pursuing, your genius will absolutely support you in it. Once you discover what it is, you can apply it to what you’re looking to become, and you will become unstoppable. Here’s to your success.
