Essentialism has been my favorite book for a long time, but I’ve now found another that I’m obsessed with. I read it and then immediately started rereading it:
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks.
I’ve been quoting Gay Hendricks for a while after I heard him say on a podcast “Fear is excitement without the breath.” This makes me think of people I’m coaching in presentation skills. I encourage them to breathe and enjoy their presentations to help overcome nerves. It really works well (as Toru Nishikawa tells us in this video).
So, why do I love The Big Leap and what does it say about communication?
In my view, the book is very much about how we communicate with ourselves. And how we communicate with ourselves has a big impact on how we communicate with others.
Let me focus on three concepts that Gay introduces.
Upper Limiting
You know when things start going really well, in your career or in a relationship for example? And then it all goes pear-shaped for some reason – you get sick, you have an accident, you get into an argument. That’s Upper Limiting. We’re somehow stopping ourselves from enjoying the success and happiness.
Gay says we have “millions of nerve connections devoted to registering pain” and “a huge expanse of territory in the center of our bodies dedicated to feeling fear,” but we have “no mechanism for ongoing natural good feeling.”
So when we start to feel good, we unconsciously freak out and hold ourselves back.
Zone of Genius
You may have heard the advice to find what you love to do, what you’re good at, and what people will pay you for?
Gay takes this a step further by distinguishing between the Zone of Excellence and the Zone of Genius.
The Zone of Excellence is where you do things extremely well and can make a good living, but it’s not your area of unique ability and you don’t thrive there. For me that could be translating, which I did for many years.
The Zone of Genius is what you are uniquely suited to do. It draws on your special gifts and strengths. For me that’s communication skills coaching – especially seeing a person’s potential (as a communicator or presenter), feeling where they are now, and encouraging, guiding, and supporting them to do and be more than they thought possible. Oh, I love it!
Now what’s important is for us to spend as much time as possible in our Zone of Genius. Speaking of time…
Einstein Time
If you’re working in a global business environment, there’s a good chance that you feel like you have a never-ending list of to-do’s and no time to think, let alone relax.
I spent many years in that state and it’s only recently that I’ve started to make a change.
So I’m fascinated with this concept of Einstein Time. Gay explains how to be in control of time instead of being a victim to it. Wow!
I think I’ve just created some Einstein Time for myself by writing this post in record time. By gum, it works!
If any of this sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend that you read the The Big Leap. Not only will you gain a deeper understanding of these concepts and more to help you make a profound difference in your life, but you can also enjoy the engaging way that Gay writes. It’s like having a fireside chat with a good friend 🙂
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I’ve created an easy-to-understand PDF guide for you called 12 Essential Phrases For Clear, Confident English Presentations – In Person and Online.
Not only do I give you the 12 essential phrases, I also explain why they’re important and include extra tips and techniques to make your presentations clear and convincing.
Oh, and this guide is free, by the way 🙂
