Five Steps to Discovering Your Personal Core Focus

Every business Running on EOS™ adds its company Core Focus to its V/TO®. It can take some time to identify an organization’s Core Focus. But what about each team member’s Personal Core Focus? I’m here to help by offering you five steps to discovering your Personal Core Focus.

What’s Your Personal Core Focus? 

Your Personal Core Focus highlights the unique combination of talents, passions, and strengths that drive your personal and professional success. Think of this as something you love, and you do better than anyone else in the world.

Once you identify your unique talents, abilities, and “superpowers,” the key is to find roles in your business that capitalize on all your amazingness. Now you’re living in the sweet spot.

Ready to get started?

Step One: Complete Your Laundry List

Write down everything you’ve done in the last few weeks. Yes, I said write (not type). There’s science behind this. If you have trouble remembering what you had for breakfast, let alone what you did last week, it may help to review your calendar and to-doTo-Do lists. 

By the way, you don’t get extra points for including sleeping, showering, or brushing your teeth. Just like certain aspects of your company are the price of doing business in your industry, those are the price of being human.

Step Two: Categorize Your Laundry List in the Delegate and Elevate® Tool

As a leader, you may have already used the Delegate and Elevate Tool for your professional tasks. This exercise takes a more holistic view of everything you do both in and out of the company. 

Put tasks into these four categories based on how much you like to do them and how well you do them: 

• Love Doing / Great at Doing (aka your sweet spot)
• Like Doing / Good at Doing (aka meh, but doesn’t fill you up)
• Don’t Like Doing / Good at Doing (aka personal hell)
• Don’t Like Doing / Not Good at Doing (aka the suck zone)

Step Three: Discover Your Passions and Strengths

It’s time to get out a fresh piece of paper. We’re writing again! Draw a line down the center of the paper. On one side, write Passions, and on the other side, write Strengths. 

Passions

Now check out that Delegate and Elevate quadrant, specifically the love/great category. What do they all have in common? Think of those things as your passions. You probably did these things as a kid. Somewhere along the line, most of us stop doing some of them. 

Strengths

You’re great at doing these activities, and other people rely on you to do them. Strengths aren’t always easy for us to see ourselves so you may need a little help here. Strengths-based assessments abound. A few we like are the Kolbe A™ Index, Gallup StrengthsFinder, and Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius. 

Step Four: Create Your Personal Core Focus

Just like a company’s Core Focus, your Personal Core Focus has two parts or hemispheres: your purpose/cause/passion and your niche. Use your passions and strengths lists to help craft your purpose/cause/passion. Make your niche reflect your strengths.  

Does your Personal Core Focus align with your roles on The Accountability Chart®? If not, you’re probably in the wrong seat and need to make a change.

Step Five: Delegate, Automate, and Eliminate

Anything outside of your Personal Core Focus likely drains your energy and reduces your overall happiness and well-being. So now comes the fun part! 

How can we reassign or otherwise remove as many of those lower-quadrant tasks from your plate to keep you in your sweet spot? That could mean delegating a task to someone who does have the activity in their Personal Core Focus. It could also mean automating a task or stopping doing it altogether if it doesn’t add value. Aim to remove at least one thing from your list each quarter.

Summary

This isn’t a one-and-done activity. Just like your company reviews your V/TO regularly, you should do the same for your Personal Core Focus. We all learn and grow. 

Your Personal Core Focus is something you love to do and something you do better than anyone else in the world. Operating in your Personal Core Focus directly impacts your effectiveness and personal satisfaction at your business.

So, don’t think of this as a selfish endeavor. By striving to stay within your Personal Core Focus, you’ll unlock your full potential and create a lasting impact on the world around you. Learn more about using your Personal Core Focus and Team Culture in our new book, People: Dare to Build an Intentional Culture.