‘The Big Leap’ by Gay Hendricks is one of those rare books that I read – from cover to cover – and applied in my personal life in less than 3 days.
I have to admit that this book came into my life in a perfect synchronicity. Like some of you, I am constantly asking myself questions such as how can I be a better person, play big, help more people along the way and make a lasting difference? I truly believe that as human beings, we are constantly thriving to evolve, grow and bring betterment to ourselves, our community and our planet. I also think that everything we do should be done with ease and joy.
‘The Big Leap – Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to The Next Level’ by Gay Hendricks is one of those books that shows us how to do that. Happiness is the word Gay Hendricks uses a lot throughout his book.
Hendricks theory evolves around two basic concepts: the ULP and the Zone of Genius.
According to him, when we have reached a personal limit of feeling good (an inner thermostat we set for happiness), we activate our Upper Limit Problem (ULP) which automatically replaces our good feeling with a bad one and keeps us in emotional dependency.
Hmmm- sounds weird right? Who would want to limit happiness?
Actually, consider the last time you felt as happy as a lark. Did your mind drift, even for a short moment, to some issue that needed resolving, a worry or a negative thought? Most likely it did.
In his book, Hendricks provides easy-to-follow exercises to recognize and confront our ULP (upper limit problem). According to Hendricks it is the only problem we need to solve.
The rest is easy. Once we solve the ULP, we are ready to take the ‘Big Leap’ into our ‘Zone of Genius’.
The Zone of Genius is Hendrick’s term for that particular skill, talent or quality that we have which brings us joy. And that’s the other amazing part of this book: explaining so clearly that we all have within us, this capacity to go beyond ordinary success to a new and extraordinary level of abundance, love and creativity in our lives, when we tap into our ‘Zone of Genius’.
He says that most of us do not occupy our Zone of Genius. Instead we hang out mostly in our Zone of Excellence, or in our Zone of Competence L.
Discovering our Zone of Genius is what Hendrick’s calls making the Big Leap. When we are in this zone we are energized, time is irrelevant, we offer our gifts to others, and life is joyful.
In ‘The Big Leap’ Hendricks offers several exercises to discover our Zone of Genius and those negative beliefs that make up our ULP.
I have to make a confession: I love this book because it undeniably helped me clearly identify my ULP and more essentially, allowed me to clearly recognize and ‘own’ my Zone of Genius. From that point on, I am constantly finding ways to work from my Zone of Genius with ease and joy.
I hope I have created in you a desire and a curiosity to pick-up and read this short and easy-to-read book and share it with the wonderful people in your life!
Imagine a world where each and every one of us could sustain an unlimited amount of happiness and could constantly work, produce and develop from our zone of genius. This is the world I envision for my children and their children!
Myriam Najjar, Certified Coach
Helping women in transition navigate big changes gracefully so they can balance feeling in control with going with the flow.
Take advantage of my free report ‘5 Easy Steps to Turn Dreams Into Reality’ and sign up at www.soar2successnow.com.
p.s.: I would love to hear your thoughts about the book, once you read it, so don’t hesitate to comment below.
Are you ready to make massive changes in your life and start operating from YOUR zone of genius? Contact me to find out how I can help you reach that state.