You suddenly realise that while 80 per cent of your life is right, the 20 per cent that is missing is the most important part. Photo: File.
Bruce Kasanoff says success brings its own dangers, and comfortable complacency can strangle the internal genius that wants you to push on to even greater achievements.
You used to feel it: A quickening; that electric edge, pulling you to race beyond what you knew how to do into a glorious unknown.
It was scary and unsettling, but you dared to keep going. Why? Because it was when you felt most alive and inspired.
Maybe that’s when you completed your first complex project, or created a consulting methodology that became the standard operating procedure for your organisation.
It could have been when you wrote your first book, and then a second, all emerging from your creative energy.
Then, slowly – or maybe all at once – you stopped.
Personal deadlines came and went. Maybe you began to doubt your abilities, but more likely it was a subtle shift towards what gets easy applause instead of what feels true.
You became good at staying in your lane. Which is exactly how genius gets stuck.
I work with people who once dreamed big before they got blocked: entrepreneurs, authors, consultants, artists – people who know the thrill of creating something the world needs.
Here’s what I’ve seen: Blocked genius doesn’t always look like failure. Often, it looks like success. It becomes predictable, efficient, monetised. It can look like a holiday home on the coast, or a closet full of designer clothes.
The problem arises when your work is no longer infused with the essence of your soul.
That’s the real cost, not burnout or boredom, though those come too. The deeper cost is harder to spot because it lurks many levels inside you.
It’s waking up and realising that while you’ve built a life that’s 80 per cent right, the 20 per cent that is missing is the most important part.
Your genius is moribund, but it can be resuscitated. You can get back into the flow that takes you past one obstacle after another.
You have to stop pushing and start listening. You carve out time and space – not to think harder, but to feel more.
You ask bigger questions:
What idea scares me the most … because it matters the most?
Where have I traded aliveness for approval?
What if the blocks aren’t obstacles … but invitations?
Most importantly, you lean into your own resistance. The more resistant you are to any idea or possibility, the more important it is to dive right into the middle of it.
Most times, when the real answers start to rise, they won’t come with a business plan. They will start as a whisper; a knowing; a vibration in your chest.
You’ll remember: The work you’re here to do refuses to stay inside the lines. So why should you?
Bruce Kasanoff is the founder of The Journey, a newsletter for positive, uplifting and accomplished professionals. He is also an executive coach and social media ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. He can be contacted at kasanoff.com. This article first appeared at kasanoff.com.
