#1191 Genius Work vs. Mediocre Work

In our last +1, we talked about the INFINITE power of Consistency.

Recall that our (always evolving) equation for Awesome now goes something like this:

Awesome = Time x (Energy x Focus x What’s Important) Consistency

(Note: That equation applies to both our Work and our Love.)

So…

As I was preparing for the Work session of our Carpe Diem module for our Mastery Series, I was thinking about the #1 theme I wanted to bring home.

(Note: For the Energy session, it was making the distinction between Energized Tranquility vs. Enervated Anxiety.)

Initially, I thought I’d go with Deep Work vs. Shallow Work. But I wanted something a little more powerful than that so I played around with Profound Work vs. Shallow Work. But that wasn’t quite it either.

Then, as I was reviewing our Notes on several of Steven Pressfield’s BRILLIANT books on doing great work, a choir of daimon-angels sang.

(Note: If you haven’t checked out our Notes on The War of Art, Do the Work, Turning Pro and The Artist’s Journey, I HIGHLY recommend all those books.)

Here’s the passage from The Artist’s Journey that got the daimon-angels singing:

“Have you read The Soul’s Code by James Hillman? I highly recommend it.

In The Soul’s Code, Mr. Hillman introduces the concept of the daimon. Daimon is a Greek word. The equivalent term in Latin is genius.

Both words refer to an inhering spirit. We are born, each of us (says James Hillman) with our own individual daimon. The daimon is our guardian. It knows our destiny. It kens our calling. James Hillman makes an analogy to an acorn. The totality of the full-grown oak is contained— every leaf and every branch—already within the acorn.”

“AHA!!!” I said to myself as I remembered that the Romans used the word genius for the Greek word daimon.

GENIUS WORK. ← That’s the target.

And the distinction was clear: Genius Work vs. Mediocre Work.

When we do GENIUS Work, we’re high-fiving our inner daimons and giving the world all we’ve got. When we get stuck in the middle of that rugged mountain of excellence and there’s a gap between what we’re capable of doing and what we’re actually doing? We do mediocre work.

HOW do we do GENIUS Work?

Simple.

We focus on the key variables of our Genius Work equation: (Energy x Focus x What’s Important) Consistency

That’s Today’s +1.

How’s your Energy?
How’s your Focus?
You working on What’s Truly Most Important?
And, most importantly, are you doing all that Consistently?

Here’s to doing some Genius Work.

TODAY.