When I teach Alignment – the process of designing a business that makes you happy and makes you money – one of the core things we talk about is Zone of Genius vs. Zone of Frustration.
Zone of Genius are the things in your business that you’re great at and that light you up. When your business is in Alignment, you’re spending a good chunk of your time in your Zone of Genius and you’re getting paid well for that time.
Zone of Frustration (or, as I also like to call it Zone of “F*ck This”) are the things that bring up your “I don’t wannas.” It’s those tasks that you just can’t stand doing, that feel hard, or that you struggle with.
When it comes to Alignment, you want to make every effort to move toward your Zone of Genius, but a big part of that is eliminating Zone of Frustration tasks. For a lot of artists and makers, this is a revelation. We’ve been taught that certain tasks are non-negotiable in our business and that if we want to be successful, we just have to grin and bear it.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. The challenge with this mindset is that willpower is a finite resource. This isn’t hyperbole. Psychological studies have proven that we only have so much willpower each day and the only way to reset our willpower is to sleep, get up, and try again the next day. That means that a business strategy built on willpower is one that is doomed to, if not fail, at least find you struggle massively.
So what should you do with all those Zone of Frustration tasks in your business that you just don’t want to do?
When it comes to your Zone of Frustration, there are four strategies to take things off your plate – change it, drop it, delegate it, or outsource it.
Strategy #1: Change It
When artists and makers share that a particular task puts them into their Zone of Frustration, the first thing I ask is if there’s a way they can change it to take it out of ZOF. If you read my book Try It & See, you’re probably familiar with this concept. In the book, I share the story of a woman who would spend so much time checking and double checking that the name was correct before sending an email to a prospective store. It was holding up the process and causing a ton of frustration. So I encouraged her to just leave off names. A simple shift to make the task easier.
But you can take this even further. Another woman I worked with shared that she struggled with sending outreach emails at all because writing is a Zone of Frustration for her. On the flip side, images, especially of her art in situ, are a big Zone of Genius. So rather than forcing herself to keep sending emails, I encouraged her to create a beautiful postcard that she could send to interior designers and art consultants.
When you’re struggling with Zone of Frustration tasks, it can be easy to get bogged down in doing the task the way it’s supposed to be done. But when you’re thinking about how you can change a task, the most important thing is to ask “what’s the desired outcome?” or “what’s the goal of this task?” In the case of the artist I mentioned above, the end goal was to get more designers and consultants to know about her work. And there are lots of different ways to achieve that outcome that don’t involve sending emails.
Strategy #2: Drop It
Of all the strategies I share here, this is perhaps the most mind-blowing. “You mean I can just stop doing things in my business?” Yup! When it comes to business, there are only two things I consider non-negotiable – taxes and email marketing. (And if either of those fall in your ZOF, I recommend strategies 3 and 4.) But everything else is optional.
Which means if there’s something you really don’t want to do, you can just stop doing it. Hate Facebook? Great, you don’t have to be there. Shows give you anxiety? Not a problem, there are other ways to promote your work. Do you find certain studio processes cumbersome? Design work that doesn’t require you to do those things.
Yes, it really can be that simple. This is one of those strategies that can take massive a mindset shift, but once you embrace it, it’s so freeing. One of the things I like to always remind people of is “your business, your rules.” If you don’t want to do it, just don’t!
Strategy #3: Delegate It
The final two strategies are similar, in that the idea is that you hand a task off to someone else. The difference is that in delegate it, you hand it off to someone who works for you, whereas in outsource it, you hire someone from the outside. I understand that if you are the sole employee in your biz, number 3 feels like it could never happen, but it also presents a useful exercise.
Before I hired a production employee, I started keeping what I called a “someone else could do this” list. Anytime I found myself doing a task in the studio that I didn’t want to do or felt like someone else could do equally well, I added it to the list. Eventually, that list becomes a fantastic starting point for putting together a job description. And it doesn’t have to be limited to production. Things like packing and shipping orders, interfacing with customers, or reaching out to stores could all fall on a “someone else could do this” list. And the beauty of hiring for tasks like that is that you can find someone that doesn’t need your specific craft skills.
And if you do already have employees, make sure you’re looking at the tasks on your list and, if they fall into ZOF, ask who in your company could do them better. Or at least be happier than you while doing them! (This is also an argument for not hiring people with the exact same personality and skill sets as you!)
Strategy #4: Outsource It
If hiring someone isn’t in the cards, or the tasks in your Zone of Frustration don’t constitute regular work, then hiring someone on the outside is a great option. This is what I do with my taxes. They are definitely a ZOF for me, so I have an accountant do them instead.
The most important thing with outsourcing tasks is making sure that the amount you’re spending is worth the return on investment you’re going to get. I’ve seen a lot of people hire expensive social media management companies only to get very little in return. Instead, focus on tasks that are essential (like taxes or bookkeeping) or that can have a big impact on your bottom line (like product photography) instead of just defaulting to the things you really don’t like doing.
With all of these strategies, it can take time to implement the changes to your business. But the most important thing to remember is that if there’s something in your business that sends you into your Zone of Frustration, you don’t have to keep pushing through. (In fact, you shouldn’t.) Pay attention to the “I don’t wannas” that come up throughout your day and ask yourself how you can apply one of the above strategies to take it off your plate.