Crystal's Notes 9 Nov

Are you truly in the right job, or just coasting? And if it’s not right, do you have what it takes to make a bold shift? In my podcast this week, I chat with career strategist and fellow LinkedIn Top Voice, Angel Kilian, on what it takes to build a fulfilling career.

Self-Awareness & Curiosity Before Zone of Genius

Too many people are trying to figure out their zone of genius or ikigai before they have basic self-awareness of who they are, and before they have collected enough life experiences, data points and feedback from others.

Self-awareness means understanding your strengths and weaknesses, preferences, values and how you come across to others. If you are severely lacking in self-awareness, the risk is that you end up thinking you’re great at certain things when you’re actually just mediocre, and surrounded by people who just tell you nice things and don’t challenge you. If you're looking to deepen your self-understanding, our signature training programme, Deep Human Leadership, hones in on developing self-awareness, self-mastery, and building strong people skills.

Live Your Soul Purpose

If you really want to figure out your zone of genius, ikigai or unfair advantage, you have to be curious and do lots of interesting things. Having curiosity — the act of being open to exploring new roles, people, and paths — can increase our surface area for opportunities and luck, and shape our trajectories in unexpected ways. The more open and curious you are, the more opportunities you’ll attract. Whether it’s through joining a community, networking events, volunteering, or striking up conversations, curiosity about the world around you opens doors.

I have mentored countless people who do not know what they like or who they are, or what they value, because they’ve never taken time to think about this before. This is what will happen if you don’t tune in to your internal sensors of joy or vitality, or know that you are allowed to have preferences.

Sadly, many of us in an Asian collectivistic culture can end up deadening our inner connection with our intuition, inner wisdom and discernment in the effort to be harmonious, pleasant, and socially acceptable. But you were not put on this earth to make the lives of others 5% easier. You are here to live your soul purpose.

If these ideas resonate, join our community where we explore themes like these in depth. Connect with other driven individuals to share insights, set goals, and grow together.

Much love

Crystal