Unique Genius Assessment
Unique Genius: Your Purpose, Translated Into A
Successful Business
About This Worksheet & Discovering Your Purpose
This worksheet includes some sample questions, some first baby
steps, to see where you are in discovering your purpose turning it into
a successful business. This business could be a new one you’ll start,
or it could be one you have now that will evolve.
I want you to begin mentally leaving behind the “life you were
supposed to live” (being so responsible and practical that you’ve put all
your dreams on hold), to begin living the life you are meant to live.
You can read and go through this assessment in just10-15 minutes.
Don’t worry about getting perfect answers here - this isn’t about getting a single end-all-be-all perfect insight – it is
a process of getting regular insights and breakthroughs that build on each other over time. It’s like a long hike, in
which you steadily make progress until you finally get to the top of a peak and have a whole new amazingly clear
view…AND with that view you can see that there are more peaks to climb!
Also make sure you watch Unique Genius Video #2 when it is live, as that will have more training to help you
understand the meaning of some of these answers.
In fact, for the rest of your life, you’ll never stop having these new insights – which is a good thing, else life would
get boring So you should practice enjoying the process of discovering them and learning about yourself and
your purpose.
Clues & Puzzle Pieces
Remember, Unique Genius is “your purpose, translated into a successful business”. So let’s begin with your
purpose. Your purpose is to be happy and to make a difference in the world and others…but that’s not specific
enough yet to turn into a successful business. We need something much more specific!
Discovering your purpose is like hunting for clues & puzzle pieces, and as you gather more of them, and
experiment with how they fit together, the picture becomes more and more clear.
A Recommendation
This worksheet is even more powerful if you can do it with someone with whom you can talk about the questions
and answers.
First – An Assessment Of Where You Are
It’s important to be honest with yourself about where you are today, including what you want and what’s holding
you back.
1. If you could wave a magic wand and change three things in your business or life right now, what would
they be? What do you WANT most?
2. What three things are most frustrating to you about what you are doing (or not doing) for work today?
3. What three things are stopping you from starting or growing your own business? (Make sure you watch
Unique Genius Video #2: “Myths Of Starting A Successful Business”, when it goes live.)
Second – Some Unique Genius Questions
Here are six sample questions from the Unique Genius Process (which itself is made up of dozens more
questions, exercises, tools and ways to activate your Unique Genius).
1. When you were eight years old, what did you want to be when you grew up? (I explain the importance of
this question and how to interpret the answers at the end of Unique Genius Video #2)
2. Everyone has had a variety of “successes and messes” in their life. List 10-20 life experiences, including
both achievements and traumas, that have shaped who you are today. While you don’t need to understand
how they fit together yet, know that when you are clear on your purpose, you’ll understand how it integrates
all of these past experiences and why you had to go through them.
3. Your personal purpose (as opposed to an organizational purpose) involves making a difference in the lives
of individuals. If you could help anyone, what kind of person/people would you help? (Hint: it is most likely a
version of your “past self”, a past version of you when you were going through something challenging or
frustrating.)
4. What problem would you help them with? Or help them overcome what challenge? Or achieve…?
It’s ok if you didn’t have answers to any of the above questions. Even
seriously considering them will plant seeds in your mind that might bloom
tomorrow or in three months in the shower!
Third - A Unique Genius Exercise To Pull It Together
So let’s see where you are! Your purpose involves making a difference in the world and helping others. An
authentic business does the same thing, it just receives money in exchange for the help it provides to people and
other organizations. So (1) let’s take who you want to help or how you want to make a difference and frame it in a
problem-solving way, and then (2) see if an ‘ideal work’ vision comes to you:
1. Now, imagine someone asks you “What do you do?”, but instead of answering that question, answer it as
if they had asked “How do you help people, and what do you help them with?”
2. Assuming you didn’t need to make money, what kind of work would you do for 10 years – for free – just
because you believed in it and enjoyed it? The work does not have to be practical, realistic or profitable -
remember, you can turn any purpose or business desire into a successful business. Yes, this can be
tougher, but just give it a shot, there’s no wrong answer and you can always change it later This is the
kind of question the Unique Genius Process helps you answer.
.
Wrapping Up
What did you learn here? Did you get an insight from this? Or perhaps frustration because there was a question you
couldn’t answer, or you were dissatisfied with a lack of clarity in some answers? It is important to accept that where you are
is where you are, and that with further steps you WILL get more clarity. The only way you can fail is by giving up – so don’t!
To Your Enjoyment,
ing edge work philosophies - Making impractical ideas practical - Coming up with inspiring visions (TGLD, Project 2057) - Designing self-sustaining systems - Writing / expressing myself through writing (especially in notebooks, blogs) - Working on multiple projects / businesses - Connecting people with common passions who can help each other - Adventure (getting out of my comfort zone, helping others to do the same) - Figuring out how to accomplish things with minimum energy/effort and maximum productivity (elegant problem solving) - Photography - Adding funny captions to pictures - Haiku - Alliteration (always antsy about adding alliteration) - Smiley faces - Sketching, especially with bright colors
The “Find your life purpose in an hour exercise” Here‟s one way to jumpstart your Unique Genius thinking, which I found on Steve Pavlina‟s site here. 1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open word, notepad or text-edit. Whatever works best for you. 2. Now write at the top “What is my true purpose in life?” 3. Write everything that comes to mind. Don‟t think about it too much, just write. 4. Keep writing until you write something that makes you cry. That is your purpose. When you come up with your final answer, you will know it. It won‟t be something you‟ve decided logically, you will simply know it in your heart. You can also change the question to “How would I want to be remembered when I die?” Now, although the essence of your purpose won‟t change much over time, it might evolve in how you describe it. Feel free to come back to this, or the other unique genius exercises, to keep playing with it.
PebbleStorm
CLUES & PUZZLE PIECES
Unique Genius
Think of the process as a hunt for clues, which lead you to the path of finding your unique genius(es) or a set of puzzle pieces that become clearer as you gather more of them. Because your talents come so naturally to you, they might actually be harder to detect. Even tiny clues can be very useful. Getting started is as easy as taking a blank sheet of paper to brain dump all of your ideas of what you love to do, are great at, and add meaning to your life. Here are some questions to get you started: * Assuming you had plenty of money, what would you do for free that would add meaning to your life? (This is usually something that helps others or that makes a difference in the world) _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * Complete this: “If I could help anyone / any kind of person, I would help…” Or, “If I could have any kind of customer, I would have…” _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * Complete this: “If I could work with anyone / any kind of person, I would work with…” (e.g. selfstarter, willing, easy going, abundant, forward thinking, attractive as in attracts good things to them people) _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * If you could start a business that wouldn‟t fail, that is assured of success, what would it do? Who would it help or benefit? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What did you want to do when you were 8 years old, and what does that tell you about what you want out of work? (Example, if you wanted to be a pilot, you might value for freedom in work.) _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * Who are you jealous of, and why? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________
PebbleStorm
Unique Genius
* What frustrates you that you would like to personally help fix in the world? Especially something that you deal with personally or daily. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What parts of work do you enjoy most? What daily activities do you like to do? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What ideas or cause(s) or vision are you passionate about? A cause doesn't have to be nonprofit -- it could be anything you truly believe in. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What do people keep coming to you for help with, to ask your advice on? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What are your hobbies? What were your hobbies when you were young, before your career suppressed them or you forgot about them? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ What do you secretly love to do, or love about yourself? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What section do you go to first in a bookstore? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What kind of 'meaning' would it have? (A unique genius involves making a difference, and usually involves helping others in some way) _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________
PebbleStorm
Unique Genius
* In whatever business you‟re doing now, or see yourself doing, would you do it for free (assuming you didn‟t need money)? If not, what would you change in order to make it so enjoyable you would do it for free? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What is/are your superpower(s)? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ * What do your friends think are your strengths/ passions? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________