The Big Leap Chapter One Preparing for Your Big Leap The One Problem and How to Solve It How to begin If you would like to make your journey to the Zone of Genius smooth and rapid, please take a moment now to answer four questions. Start with this fundamental one: Am I willing to increase the amount of time every day that I feel good inside? When I use the phrase "feel good," I'm talking about a natural, inner sense of well-being that's not dependent on outside factors such as what you've eaten or what you might be doing. It's important to begin with a willingness to feel good inside, because there's no sense enhancing other parts of your life at the expense of your inner well-being. I'd like you to spend more and more time every day enjoying an organic, deep feeling of body/mind wellness. That's what I'd like you to say yes to, if you're so inclined. If you said yes to increasing the amount of time you feel good inside, let's extend the question to the outer aspects of your life: Am I willing to increase the amount of time that my whole life goes well? When I use the phrase "whole life," I'm talking about your work, your relationships, your creative pursuits, and any other aspects that are central to your life. What I'd like for you, if you're willing, is for all of your life to flow more positively and easefully, for longer and longer periods of time. If you said yes to those questions, consider going one step further than merely increasing that amount of time: Am I willing to feel good and have my life go well all the time? At first glance, you might ask who wouldn't say yes to all of these questions. Well, for many of us, the idea of all of this positive emotion seems far-fetched to begin with. It is easy for us to just assume that with the positive comes the negative. To that I say, "Why not get willing, and see what happens?" We humans have a long and wonderful history of transcending our beliefs about what's possible. In the early days of the steam-powered train, learned scientists urged capping the speed at thirty miles per hour because they believed that the human body exploded at speeds greater than that. Finally some brave people risked going beyond that limiting belief and found that they did not explode. I think we're approximately at that same stage of development with regard to our ability to feel good and have our lives go well. In my life I've discovered that if I cling to the notion that something's not possible, I'm arguing in favor of limitation. And if I argue for my limitations, I get to keep them. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves, "What's the payoff for arguing forcefully for our limitations?" In the case of the steam engine, scientists were trying to protect people from harm. The limiting belief was well-intentioned even though it was erroneous. From my experience with a lot of people, as well as myself, over the past few decades, I think we can put our minds at ease: being willing to feel naturally good and have our lives go well is not a safety hazard. In my view, saying yes to that question is one of the most courageous actions a human being can take. In the face of so much evidence that life hurts and is fraught with adversity on all fronts, having a willingness to feel good and have life go well all the time is a genuinely radical act. Going into space is no longer radical; you can buy a ticket online. However, going into your inner depths, where your most deeply held beliefs about what's possible reside, counts in my book as a radical act. If we think it's even remotely possible to feel good all the time and have life go well all the time, we owe it to ourselves to find out how many of us can do it. Feeling good and having your life go well are wonderful outcomes, and I hope you say yes to both of them. However, I think they are just stepping-stones and launchpads to something really spectacular! If you are willing to feel good and have things go well all the time, consider the ultimate step: Are you willing to take the Big Leap to your ultimate level of success in love, money, and creative contribution? Maynard's big leap Maynard Webb said yes, and his example inspires me to this day. When I first met Maynard, he was the chief operating officer of eBay, serving during the same time period in which Meg Whitman was CEO. Almost everyone knows about eBay and its phenomenal impact, but fewer people know that Maynard Webb was one of the main architects of its meteoric success. By the time I met Maynard, he had already earned the respect not only of the employees and shareholders of eBay, but also of the larger community of high-tech executives across the world. Yet in my view he was operating in his Zone of Excellence, not his Zone of Genius. He had already amassed a sizeable fortune and could easily have rested on the laurels of his accomplishments at eBay. That's not the way Maynard Webb operates, though. He chose to confront his Upper Limit Problem and make the Big Leap into his Zone of Genius. He saw how staying within the world of eBay would be staying within his comfort zone. The comfort zone is no place for a person like Maynard Webb, and I hope not for you, either. Your true home, and Maynard's, is in the Zone of Genius. It's the only place where we can fully celebrate and express the gifts we've been given. Maynard's Big Leap took him out of the comfortable niche that had made him wealthy and into the unknown of a new start-up company, Live Ops, which is revolutionizing the field of customer service. As CEO of Live Ops, Maynard has the pleasure of knowing that when he opens his office door every day, he is opening new territory in himself and in the world. He's using himself fully, using everything he's learned to make a bigger difference in the world. The Big Leap . Copyright © by Gay Hendricks. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
