What is natural is what is powerful

There’s value in doing hard things, as they help us grow; yet, we’re often doing the wrong hard things.

The most challenging things are those that support you in cultivating your gifts and strengths over time. This might mean harnessing the courage to say no to things and people that don’t support what makes you unique. This might mean learning to value your talents and passions enough to take them seriously, even when it feels like others don’t.

What’s natural for you is what’s powerful for you. The hard work you’re meant to be doing is amplifying what already exists in you, not forcing yourself to be something you aren’t.

You may not value what comes easily because it didn’t feel hard enough to earn. But your innate gifts are exactly what you’re meant to put out into the world. Your zone of genius wants to expand, and creating the conditions for that expansion is the work you are meant to do.

That next level of your contribution will always be uncomfortable, but there’s a naturalness to it that will enliven you. Go work on that next level.

What gift have you been undervaluing because it comes too easily to you?