Do you spend time wondering if you’re making the right decision, or if you’re in the right place, or if it’s the right time? I do.
Or, at least I did.
You see, I’ve become convinced that there is no right decision, right place or right time. Instead, there’s a ‘sweet spot’—your ‘middle‘.
Your ‘middle’ is not about the decision you make, the location or the timing. It’s all about alignment—aligning your activity with your strengths, skills and passions.
The significance of this hit me when I was chatting with my buddy, Steve.
Steve makes a ruckus wherever he goes. He’s pioneered a ton of stuff. He’s inspired others to make a ruckus and to pioneer new things. And he’s enjoyed real success. But now he’s starting a new venture. As he shared his ideas and how they lined up with his vision, I realised how Steve’s new venture aligned with his passions, strengths and skills in a way his previous endeavours hadn’t.
He was moving into his sweet spot—he was finding his ‘middle’.
I got very excited. And when Steve asked why I had suddenly become so enthusiastic about his new project, I explained.
As I saw it, everything up to that point had been like a pebble thrown towards the edge of a pond, rather than out into the middle. There was a splash and there were ripples, but those ripples hit the shoreline quickly and ran out of steam.
But Steve’s new venture was like a pebble thrown into the middle of the pond. That pebble makes the same kind of splash as the one thrown towards the side, but the ripples go much further. In fact, they keep going until they reach every part of the shore.
Maximum reach. Maximum impact.
You are committed to building the life you were made for and becoming the authentic version of you, so whatever you do now and in the future is going to make a splash and send out ripples. It’s an inevitability. But if you’re going to have maximum impact, you need to give those ripples a chance to reach as far as possible.
And that’s why you need to find your middle—the place of maximum impact.
But how do you do that?
First, remind yourself of your vision. Renew your focus on what’s broken – whether that’s in your industry, your community, or even the world at large – and remember why it needs fixing, and what the world looks like when your dream is a reality.
Next, sketch out how you’re going to get this thing done. You’ve had ideas—probably more than you can poke a stick at. What are they? What are you itching to put your hand to? What needs to start happening for your dream to begin becoming reality?
Sketch them out and ask yourself what skills they need. What type of people do you need on board?
Now, find your top threes. You’ve heard of SWOT analysis? Well, this is SWSP analysis. List out your top three for each of these:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Skills
- Passions
Finally, map it all out. Create the same alignment Steve found.
Of the ideas you sketched out, which ones map onto your top three strengths, skills and passions? Of those, which have fewest of your top three weaknesses?
What are you left with? These are where your energy needs to go, because that is where you will start to find your middle.
Take a few moments this week to go through these simple steps. Then make a plan to direct all your energies into the ideas that align with your strengths, skills and passions, because that is the sweet spot.
