And Finally a "P"

Review
Wow, I just realized that I never gave you the "P" in MAP. My apologies.  As a reminder, M is about discovering your MOTIVATION.  Think of it like this, why are you willing to go above and beyond to attain something or become something when others are not? What do you care about passionately? A is for ABILITY.  What abilities do you have? What comes naturally? What skills have you learned? What abilities have you gained through the school of hard knocks? Which ones fit well with your motivation?

Context
OK, now let's finish our MAP.  P is for Personality. You can look at personality from 2 perspectives. One is descriptive of who you are and the other is learning how to use personality to connect with others so they can help you take your Motivation and Abilities to the next level. Today we'll focus on who you are.

There are numerous personality systems that are used by large corporations, the military, jury consultants and even dating services to identify how someone would fit in certain roles pertaining to how they would act in that role. These systems can be very complex and confusing to quickly understand. However, for this post, I just want you to understand a very simple concept of personality... who you are and what it may mean to how you live out your MAP.

The Four Quadrants
At its core, personality can be broken into 2 axes.  The first has task oriented people at one end of the spectrum and people oriented people live at the other end.  The second has more assertive people at one end and less assertive people at the other.  When overlaid these two axes create 4 quadrants: Task/More Assertive, Task/Less Assertive, People/Less Assertive and People/More Assertive. Let's assign a color to each.  Task/More Assertive - Red, Task/Less Assertive - Blue, People/Less Assertive - Green and People/More Assertive - Yellow. Can you identify yourself in one of these? No, well let's talk about what each wants. The Task/More Assertive person wants Results, Task/Less Assertive - Process, People/Less Assertive - Loyalty and People/More Assertive - Inspiration.  Does that help?  Still not quite there? Well let's look at their favorite word.  Task/More Assertve - Now!, Task/Less Assertive - How?, People/Less Assertive - We and People/More Assertive - Me.  Do I hear some of you grumbling I'm more than one of these?  That's exactly right. We all have some of each in us.  But one is almost always stronger than the others.

What Fits and What Doesn't
So by understanding the strongest part of your personality you can get a good idea of the P in your MAP. You'll understand both what roles may create an environment to release your genius and which ones most likely won't. On the positive side, if you're Red, you'll find you gravitate to situations where you can make quick decisions about the big picture; Blues will find roles that take time to analyze the data and follow a process.  Greens will create an environment that allows everyone to get along and work together. And Yellows will often find themselves as the center of attention inspiring those around them.

On the negative side, if your strongest is Red, then your genius probably isn't in a role which requires patience and warm fuzzies. If it's Blue, you may not be suited for the inspirational leader role . Greens often have difficulties being in a let's get things done now role that demands quick decision making regarding big picture strategic direction.  And Yellows are truly uncomfortable in situations that necessitates detailed analysis or that are purely an individual intellectual endeavor.

WARNING!
However, don't mistake the role or situation with the industry.  I've known each of the colors to have great success in a variety of industries.  For example, Blues tend to make up the large percentage of Creative Directors in Advertising Agencies. Hmmm, that doesn't seem quite right you say.  Well as Creative Directors they direct the creative "process" at the agency.  Now do you see?  I also know several Yellows who are superstar accountants.  I can hear you saying that can't be, but let me explain. Personality does not indicate ability or intellectual capacity.  These Yellows entered the industry as all accountants do but then found the role that fit their personality.  Almost all of the Yellows I know now have their name on the door and are typically the face of the firm. Making sense now?

Breaking It Down
So at its core figuring out your personality comes down to two simple questions:

1. Are you more Task or People oriented?
2. Are you more or less Assertive (Do they Ask or Tell)?

Find your MAP and live your Genius.

Happy MAPping!

Give me an "A"

MAP
If you read my previous post entitled, "Are you a genius", you are now waiting for me to explain the A in the MAP process of discovering your genius.  Well to recap since it has been a few days since I've posted, the M is Motivation.  It's about taking the time to discover or re-discover what you have a true passion for.  What you care about. What motivates you to take action.  But being motivated and passionate don't necessarily translate to being good at something.

A is for Abilities
So let's jump to the A - Abilities.  What comes easy to you?  Reading, Basketball, Cooking, Encouraging?  Stop reading and take a few minutes to jot down some thoughts on your abilities.  It's not just about your natural abilities but also those learned abilities and the ones you've gained through experience.  They can be functional or relational. Everyone has them so don't cop out and say, "I'm not good at anything."  You may not be a world class athlete but you may be a world class encourager.  If evaluating yourself is just too difficult ask someone who knows you very, very well to give you some direction. Now I say direction because you are the only one who can definitively say, "Yes, that's one of my abilities." Don't feel pressured by what others say if it doesn't feel right. Okay?

Give me a M, Give me an A...
We're not done yet though.  Having an idea of your Motivation and your Abilities is great but there's one more piece of the puzzle that will clarify the context in which you should use your Motivation and Abilities.  We'll get to the P in my next post.  Stay tuned.

Are you a Genius?

There are some incredible people in the world.  Actually every person is incredible. Most of us are incredible in ways the media isn't interested in but we all have our own genius. What got me thinking about this is a quote from Albert Einstein,

"Everyone is a genius.  But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, 

it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

There are several parts of this quote that I find worth talking about.  How we judge people is a biggie but will have to be saved for another post. Today I'll tackle finding your genius.  It's obviously very important.  But is it simply identifying your strongest abilities?  Or does it go further?    

Discover Your M.A.P.

I've been on a personal journey to discover my own personal genius and how to best use it for the past 30 plus years. I've taken numerous tests to discover my strengths and weaknesses. Often, I've been excited by what I've learned but have come to a seething frustration when the discovery never seems to end in a clear path to putting my strengths to their best use.  From this journey I've developed the M.A.P process for not only discovering your strengths but the right context in which to use them.

Motivation

Instead of starting with strengths, I've found it better to start with motivation. When you understand clearly what you truly care about, you'll have some great clues about the best context in which to explore using your genius when you discover it.

So get your iPad (or a piece of paper) and start answering the following questions:

What do/would you love to do? When do you feel most fulfilled?

- If money, talent or time were not an issue and you could be assured of success what would you do?

What are you passionate about?

- What subjects/areas of interest get you energized? What issues concern you? What gets you fired up? 

Where are you volunteering your time now? What causes are you giving money to?

Who do you enjoy working with (who do you think you'd enjoy working with)? - both co-workers and/or those who will benefit from your work.

So what happens if you stop here?  Should you just follow your bliss?  Maybe, but maybe not.  There's still an A and a P to explore... and we will over the next few days.