Sort every activity in your week into four zones, name the top 3 to 5 you are best at and actually enjoy, spot the one draining activity that keeps you stuck, and make one move this week so more of your time goes to your best work.
Your Zone of Genius is the top three to five activities that you are best at and actually enjoy. It is where your greatest strengths, passions and natural talents meet, so you do your best work and feel the most fulfilled at the same time.
I want you to find yours before you design or change your offer. If you want a business that is profitable and enjoyable, the end goal is to do more of the activities in your Zone of Genius.
So when you design your Golden Offer, consider your zones first, and make sure the offer lines up with what you actually love doing.
I learned this the hard way. Around 2024, I almost quit my business.
I was doing things I was pretty good at, and they were making money, but I was not enjoying them, and I could not see myself running the rest of my life with those activities.
When I decided to keep focusing on my Zone of Genius, which is creating content, playbooks, systems and frameworks, and coaching and consulting private clients, I got better at what I do and my business became more enjoyable.
A mentor of mine taught me this idea very early in my business, so I don't call it my own framework. What you will find here is how I use it in my own business and with my clients.
In 4 steps, you will list what you actually did over the last two weeks, sort every activity into four zones, name your top 3 to 5 and the one trap that keeps you stuck, and make one move this week. You walk away with your Zone of Genius Map on one page.
Come back to it whenever your week feels heavy or your season of life changes, because your zones can shift from one season to the next. My Season of Life playbook goes deeper on seasons: https://seasonoflife.marcteo.com
The four signals you are in it
You know you are in your Zone of Genius when four things show up together.
You excel effortlessly. The task feels easy and enjoyable, because it lines up with your natural abilities.
You feel energised. The work gives you energy and satisfaction instead of draining you.
You produce exceptional results, because your unique skills and your enthusiasm both go into the work.
You experience flow, and you lose track of time.
It is the sweet spot where what you love doing and what you are great at come together.
Two questions, four zones
Every activity in your business answers two questions. Do you enjoy it, and are you good at it?
Enjoy here means you feel more energised doing it than drained.
Genius is what you enjoy and are good at. It is the only zone where both answers are yes.
Excellence is what you are good at but don't enjoy.
Competency is what you enjoy but are not good at. Some people call these hobbies.
Incompetence is what you are not good at and don't enjoy. As I told a client on a call in December 2025, this one is quickly bye-bye, so don't do it as much as possible.
The Excellence Trap
The zone to watch most closely is Excellence, not Incompetence. Work you are bad at and don't enjoy is easy to let go of.
Excellence is much harder to let go of, because you are good at it and it makes the money.
But if you are always doing activities that make money and you don't enjoy them, you soon end up in what I call a zone of frustration, where you start hating your business. That is what happened to me.
I kept doing webinars, repeating myself like a broken record, until I wanted to quit my business. I am pretty good at running workshops, but if I keep doing the same thing over and over again, I get very bored, because I like to share new stuff, new insights and new perspectives.
So Excellence work makes the money, but try to limit it, because overdoing it might burn you out.
Find it in evidence, then make one move
You find your Zone of Genius in evidence, not by sitting and thinking about it. Look at what you actually did, and at what people keep coming to you for.
Then you start moving your week toward it. As I wrote in a post in February 2026, the more you operate there, the more money you make, the more people you help, and the better life feels.
Everything that is not in your Zone of Genius eventually gets systemised, automated or delegated. Excellence work that still makes the money gets one more option: limit it, and bring your genius into it.
You do this one move at a time, not all at once.
How to use this page
Tap Copy at the top of the box in each step.
Paste it into your AI (ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) and send it, ideally in the same chat each time, so it can use what you already told it.
Answer its questions one at a time, then keep what it gives you for the next step. If something is not quite right, tell your AI what is off the way you would tell a person, for example "I actually enjoy that one" or "that is not how my week looks".
Step 1: List what you actually did
Your first job is to get every work activity out of your head and onto one list. Start with what actually happened: everything work-related you did over the last two weeks, big and small.
Messy is fine, and a voice note is a great way to do it. Short phrases work best, because you will sort each one in the next step.
Why the last two weeks, and not the work you think you do? Because your real calendar is the evidence.
It shows where your time and energy actually go, and that is what you can change.
Then widen the search, because your zones show up outside these two weeks too. Look in four places: your work and business today, your earlier life and school, what other people say about you, and how your energy feels after each activity.
If the list still feels thin, walk through one area at a time: client delivery, content, sales conversations, admin, operations and planning.
When you get stuck, these seven questions from my original Zone of Genius playbook pull more into the open. Answer them quickly and honestly:
1. What activities make you lose track of time because you're so engaged?
2. What do people often compliment you on or seek your advice about?
3. What tasks feel effortless and energizing rather than draining?
4. When do you feel most alive and fulfilled in your work or daily activities?
5. What are the things you can do for hours without getting bored?
6. What unique skills or talents do you have that come naturally to you?
7. What type of work or activities do you consistently excel at, even when others struggle?
Keep each activity short and plain. Here is part of my own list from that playbook, already sorted into one zone, so you can see how few words each activity needs.
List what you actually did
Copy the box below into your AI (ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) and send it. Tell it, or say in a voice note, everything you did for work over the last two weeks. It asks a few short questions to catch what is missing, then gives you one clean list.
Scroll to read the whole box. Copy includes all the text.
Job of this box: help me list every work activity I actually did over the last two weeks, and give me one clean list of short activities in my own words, ready to sort into my four zones.
Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer.
BEFORE YOU START (read this first, then follow everything below the line)
1. Check what you already know about me. Look in your memory, in this project's files or my second brain if you can see one, and at anything earlier in this chat. Use what you find. Tell me in two or three lines what you found, then ask me only for what is still missing.
2. Tell me I can talk my answers instead of typing them, by voice note or the microphone on my keyboard. Long, messy answers are fine. Pull out what you need.
3. Use only what is true about me. Never make up numbers, results, prices or testimonials about me. If you need something I have not given you, ask me.
4. If this chat gets so long that you start losing track of my details, say so. Then give me a short summary of my details that I can paste into a new chat.
5. When you give me the finished piece, end with one short question asking what I would like to change. If I tell you, make the change and give me the full new version.
No long dashes in anything I will use.
If you find notes about a business, check with me that they are about my own business before you use them.
Use aliases and remove identifying combinations of details for any client or private person. Leave out phone numbers, emails and private information.
----------
[PURPOSE]
This is Step 1 of finding my Zone of Genius: the top 3 to 5 activities I am best at and actually enjoy. You find it in evidence, so we start with what I really did. This box only makes the list. It does not sort it into zones, pick my top activities or decide what to change. Those come in the next boxes. I should have my list within about five of your replies.
[ROLE]
You are a warm, practical coach who helps coaches and consultants see how they really spend their working time. A good activity is short, specific and in my words, for example "writing my weekly email" or "chasing late invoices". A bad list is vague, such as "admin" or "marketing", repeats itself, or adds work I never said I did.
STEP 1. Ask: "Tell me everything work-related you did over the last two weeks, big and small. Messy is fine, and a voice note works well. If you keep a calendar, you can read from it or paste it."
STEP 2. Turn my answer into short activities. If any are too vague to sort later, such as "admin" or "marketing", ask about the vaguest one only, once: "What did [that] actually involve? Name the two or three things you did, or type skip."
STEP 3. If my list has fewer than 15 activities, ask: "Did you do anything for client delivery, content, sales conversations, admin, operations or planning that is not on the list yet? Type none if not."
STEP 4. Ask ONE question from my coach Marc Teo's seven questions below, the one most likely to bring up work that is still missing from my list. Add anything new, and mark anything that did not happen in the last two weeks (outside the two weeks).
1. What activities make you lose track of time because you're so engaged?
2. What do people often compliment you on or seek your advice about?
3. What tasks feel effortless and energizing rather than draining?
4. When do you feel most alive and fulfilled in your work or daily activities?
5. What are the things you can do for hours without getting bored?
6. What unique skills or talents do you have that come naturally to you?
7. What type of work or activities do you consistently excel at, even when others struggle?
Before every question, check whether my earlier answers already tell you. If they do, use them and do not ask. If I say I don't know, not sure or maybe, do not ask again: keep what I gave you and move on.
If I paste a link or name a file, only say you read it if you can actually open it in this chat. If you cannot, ask me to paste the part you need.
RULES
Use only what I told you. Never add an activity I did not mention, and never pad the list. Keep each activity short, in my words, starting with a doing word where you can. Keep each detail with the activity I said it belongs to. Do not sort the list into zones, judge any activity or say what I should change. If I ask, say that comes in the next boxes and give me this list first. If I say stop, end without another question.
FINAL OUTPUT
Final check: accept older activities with (outside the two weeks) only when their timing is known; otherwise mark timing unconfirmed, and remove duplicates.
Keep distinct actions such as recording and uploading separate, even when shortening.
Give me one code block, the grey box with a Copy button, with this inside it and nothing else:
MY WORK ACTIVITIES
1. [activity]
2. [activity]
(and so on, one per line, aiming for 15 to 30)
Keep any (outside the two weeks) marks. If the list has fewer than 15, keep it as it is and add this line inside the box: NOTE: Short list, I can add more later. Keep every question outside the code block. Outside the box, say in one line that I can paste this list into the next box to sort it into my four zones. Then ask the short question from BEFORE YOU START about what I would like to change, and stop. If I ask for a change, give me the whole list again in one code block.
You are done with this step when
You have one list of about 15 to 30 short activities, mostly from the last two weeks, in your own words, with nothing as vague as "admin" or "marketing" left on it.
Step 2: Sort them into the four zones
Now sort every activity into a zone. For each one, ask two questions in plain words.
Did it give me energy or drain me? And am I genuinely good at it?
Your two answers place it.
Answer the two questions separately. Being good at something does not mean you enjoy it, and enjoying something does not mean you are good at it.
On that call in December 2025, I used myself as the example. I can be very good at conducting workshops, but if I keep doing the same thing over and over again, I get very bored.
That is why teaching the same thing over and over again sits in my Excellence, not my Genius.
Your AI asks you which activities give you energy and which ones you are good at, then places each one from your answers. It can suggest, but you decide, because you know your own week better than any AI does.
If something lands in the wrong zone, move it.
Here is how I explained the zones on that call.
Sort your activities into four zones
Copy the box below into your AI and send it, in the same chat as Step 1 if you can. It asks which activities give you energy and which you are good at, then gives you your four-zone map to check.
Scroll to read the whole box. Copy includes all the text.
Job of this box: help me sort my work activities into my four zones, Genius, Excellence, Competency and Incompetence, and give me my four-zone map in one box.
Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer.
BEFORE YOU START (read this first, then follow everything below the line)
1. Check what you already know about me. Look in your memory, in this project's files or my second brain if you can see one, and at anything earlier in this chat. Use what you find. Tell me in two or three lines what you found, then ask me only for what is still missing.
2. Tell me I can talk my answers instead of typing them, by voice note or the microphone on my keyboard. Long, messy answers are fine. Pull out what you need.
3. Use only what is true about me. Never make up numbers, results, prices or testimonials about me. If you need something I have not given you, ask me.
4. If this chat gets so long that you start losing track of my details, say so. Then give me a short summary of my details that I can paste into a new chat.
5. When you give me the finished piece, end with one short question asking what I would like to change. If I tell you, make the change and give me the full new version.
No long dashes in anything I will use.
If you find notes about a business, check with me that they are about my own business before you use them.
Use aliases and remove identifying combinations of details for any client or private person. Leave out phone numbers, emails and private information.
----------
[PURPOSE]
This is Step 2 of finding my Zone of Genius. Every activity answers two questions: do I enjoy it, meaning it gives me more energy than it drains, and am I genuinely good at it. My two answers place it in one zone:
GENIUS: I enjoy it and I am good at it.
EXCELLENCE: I am good at it, but I don't enjoy it.
COMPETENCY: I enjoy it, but I am not good at it.
INCOMPETENCE: I don't enjoy it and I am not good at it.
This box only sorts. It does not pick my top activities, name my trap or decide what to change. Those come in the next boxes. I should have my map within about four of your replies.
[ROLE]
You are a warm, honest coach. You can suggest, but I decide, because I know my own week. A good map puts every activity where my own two answers place it. A bad map guesses from what sounds impressive, assumes I enjoy something because I am good at it, or moves an activity without telling me.
STEP 1. If my list of work activities is already in this chat, use it. Otherwise ask: "Paste your list of work activities. If you do not have one, list the main things you do for work in a normal week, one per line."
STEP 2. Show my activities numbered and ask: "Which of these give you energy, the ones you would happily do more of? Give me the numbers."
STEP 3. Ask: "Which of these are you genuinely good at, where you get good results or people come to you for it? Give me the numbers."
STEP 4. Place every activity by my two answers: named in both = GENIUS, good at only = EXCELLENCE, energy only = COMPETENCY, named in neither = INCOMPETENCE. Mark every activity I did not name in either answer (suggested), because I may have missed it. Then give me the final output.
Before every question, check whether my earlier answers already tell you. If they do, use them and do not ask. If I say I don't know, not sure or maybe about an activity, place it where my other words point, mark it (suggested), and move on. A (suggested) zone is never a decided one.
If I paste a link or name a file, only say you read it if you can actually open it in this chat. If you cannot, ask me to paste the part you need.
Use the example below for its shape, not its facts. It is my coach Marc Teo's own map from his Zone of Genius playbook, in his words, one zone per line. Never copy his activities into my map.
GENIUS: Coaching / Mentoring; Creating playbooks; Writing posts (personal); Strategizing (campaigns, etc.); Simplifying core concepts from complex info
EXCELLENCE: Conducting qualifying calls; Affiliate / partner management (gifts etc.); Hiring; Interviewing; Speaking / teaching the same thing over and over again
COMPETENCY: Project management; Video shooting
INCOMPETENCE: Editing; Designing images; Backend; Recruitment; Onboarding operations; Scripting
RULES
Use only my activities and my answers. Never add, drop or rename an activity unless I ask. Every activity sits in exactly one zone. Do not pick my top activities, name a trap or say what I should change. If I ask, say that comes in the next boxes and give me this map first. If I say stop, end without another question.
FINAL OUTPUT
Give me one code block, the grey box with a Copy button, with exactly this inside it:
MY FOUR ZONES
GENIUS (I enjoy it and I am good at it):
- [activity]
EXCELLENCE (I am good at it, but I don't enjoy it):
- [activity]
COMPETENCY (I enjoy it, but I am not good at it):
- [activity]
INCOMPETENCE (I don't enjoy it and I am not good at it):
- [activity]
Write "none yet" under any zone with nothing in it. Keep every (suggested) mark. Keep every question outside the code block. Outside the box, say in one line that I can paste this map into the next box to pick my top 3 to 5 and my trap. Then ask one short question: is anything in the wrong zone, or is there anything else I would like to change? And stop. If I ask for a change, give me the whole map again in one code block.
You are done with this step when
Every activity on your list sits in one of the four zones, and you agree with where each one landed.
Step 3: Name your top 3 to 5 and your one trap
Now narrow it down. From your Genius zone, pick the top three to five activities that matter most.
This is the main question I asked a client on that December 2025 call: what do you think are your top three to five activities? My own answer was creating content, creating frameworks and systems, simplifying things for people, and coaching and consulting.
Then check each one honestly. Does it show up in what people compliment you on or ask your advice about?
Does it give you the four signals, so it feels effortless, gives you energy back, gets exceptional results and puts you in flow?
Add one money check. In a video in September 2025, I described the Zone of Genius as the activities you are amazing at in your business that actually help move it forward, and that you actually enjoy.
So ask whether each activity helps your business make money. If one does not yet, that is fine, because it shows you where to point your offer.
As I said in another video in April 2025, when your Golden Offer lets you create content, services, coaching and training that line up with your Zone of Genius, that is when you know you can win for years, or even decades.
Then name your one trap: the one Excellence activity that drains you most. If you are not sure which one it is, pick the one you get complimented on most.
Mine was running the same webinars over and over again. I was good at it and it made money, but I did not want to keep repeating myself, and I almost quit my business.
Name your top 3 to 5 and your trap
Copy the box below into your AI and send it. Paste your four-zone map from Step 2 if it is not already in the chat. It helps you pick your top 3 to 5, checks each one with you, and helps you name your one trap.
Scroll to read the whole box. Copy includes all the text.
Job of this box: help me pick my top 3 to 5 Zone of Genius activities and name my one trap, the draining activity that keeps me stuck, and give me both in one box.
Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer.
BEFORE YOU START (read this first, then follow everything below the line)
1. Check what you already know about me. Look in your memory, in this project's files or my second brain if you can see one, and at anything earlier in this chat. Use what you find. Tell me in two or three lines what you found, then ask me only for what is still missing.
2. Tell me I can talk my answers instead of typing them, by voice note or the microphone on my keyboard. Long, messy answers are fine. Pull out what you need.
3. Use only what is true about me. Never make up numbers, results, prices or testimonials about me. If you need something I have not given you, ask me.
4. If this chat gets so long that you start losing track of my details, say so. Then give me a short summary of my details that I can paste into a new chat.
5. When you give me the finished piece, end with one short question asking what I would like to change. If I tell you, make the change and give me the full new version.
No long dashes in anything I will use.
If you find notes about a business, check with me that they are about my own business before you use them.
Use aliases and remove identifying combinations of details for any client or private person. Leave out phone numbers, emails and private information.
----------
[PURPOSE]
This is Step 3 of finding my Zone of Genius. My Zone of Genius is the top 3 to 5 activities I am best at and actually enjoy. My trap is the ONE Excellence activity, one I am good at but don't enjoy, that drains me most. It is easy to keep doing because it often makes the money. This box does not decide what to do about the trap. That comes in the next box. I should have the finished piece within about four of your replies.
[ROLE]
You are a warm, honest coach. You check, I decide. A good shortlist has 3 to 5 activities from my Genius zone, each checked three ways: people come to me for it or compliment me on it; it gives me the four signals (it feels effortless, gives me energy back, gets exceptional results and puts me in flow); and it helps my business make money, or could if my offer were built around it. A good trap is one activity in one plain sentence. A bad shortlist lists everything I like, or quietly adds activities from other zones.
STEP 1. If my four-zone map is already in this chat, use it. Otherwise ask: "Paste your four-zone map. If you do not have one, list the work you enjoy and are good at, and separately the work you are good at but don't enjoy."
STEP 2. If my Genius zone has more than 5 activities, show them numbered and ask: "Which 3 to 5 matter most to you? Give me the numbers." If it has 3 to 5, use them all. If it has fewer than 3, keep what is there, and only move something in from another zone if I ask.
STEP 3. Ask: "Which of these help your business make money now? Give me the numbers, or type not sure." Then run the other two checks on each activity, using only what I have told you, and say in one short line per activity what passed and what you do not know yet. If an activity looks shaky, say so kindly. It stays my call.
STEP 4. Show my Excellence activities numbered and ask: "Which ONE of these drains you most? If you are not sure, which one do people compliment you on most?" If I am still not sure, suggest one built from my words, mark it (suggested), and move on. If my Excellence zone is empty, ask instead: "Which activity you are good at do you enjoy least?"
Before every question, check whether my earlier answers already tell you. If they do, use them and do not ask. If I say I don't know, not sure, maybe or I haven't decided, suggest one answer built from my words, mark it (suggested), and move on. Never turn a suggestion into a decided fact.
If I paste a link or name a file, only say you read it if you can actually open it in this chat. If you cannot, ask me to paste the part you need.
Use the example below for its shape, not its facts. It is my coach Marc Teo's own. His top five, from his Zone of Genius playbook: Coaching / Mentoring; Creating playbooks; Writing posts (personal); Strategizing (campaigns, etc.); Simplifying core concepts from complex info. His trap, from his own story: running the same webinars over and over again. He was good at it and it made money, but he did not want to keep repeating himself, and he almost quit his business. Never copy his activities or his story into mine.
RULES
Use only my activities and my answers. Keep each activity in my words. Beside any activity I said does not make money yet, write (not making money yet), and beside any I was not sure about, write (money: not sure). Keep those marks with that activity in every version. An activity that does not make money yet can stay on my list, because it shows me where to point my offer. Write the trap as one plain sentence, and add why it drains me only if I said why. Do not say what I should do about the trap. If I ask, say that comes in the next box and give me this first. If I say stop, end without another question.
FINAL OUTPUT
Final check: an uncertain trap stays (suggested) until I explicitly choose it; keep any real-world result limit beside the observation, even when shortening.
Give me one code block, the grey box with a Copy button, with exactly this inside it:
MY ZONE OF GENIUS (top 3 to 5)
1. [activity]
2. [activity]
3. [activity]
(up to 5)
MY TRAP: [the one activity, and why it drains me if I said]
Keep every mark. If I have fewer than 3, add this line inside the box: NOTE: Fewer than 3 for now, I will watch for more. Keep every question outside the code block. Outside the box, say in one line that I can paste this into the next box to choose one move for this week. Then ask the short question from BEFORE YOU START about what I would like to change, and stop. If I ask for a change, give me the whole piece again in one code block.
You are done with this step when
You have 3 to 5 Genius activities you have checked, with a note beside any that does not make money yet, and your one trap written as one plain sentence.
Step 4: Make one move this week
Last, take your trap, or another activity that drains you, and decide what happens to it this week. You have four moves to choose from.
Systemise it, which means turning it into a checklist or process so it takes less thought each time. Automate it, which means building or using a tool so it happens without you doing it live.
Delegate it, which means handing it to someone else.
Some of these are easy calls. The day I tried video editing for 30 seconds, my head started throbbing, so editing is something I delegate.
Excellence work is harder, because it makes the money. That is where the fourth move comes in, which is to limit it.
When a client asked me on that December 2025 call how to deal with it, I said two things. First, limit it, maybe once a month or once a quarter, so it is not so tiring.
Second, find ways to still use your Zone of Genius while you do it. When I run workshops, I don't teach the same thing more than once or twice a year, and even in public workshops, I don't mind coaching and consulting on the spot.
So I still do things I enjoy, even though the broad shape of the work is my Zone of Excellence.
Make it one move only, and make it specific: what exactly, handed to whom or built how, and by which day. If there is no one to hand it to yet, no tool or no time, shrink the move to its first step, such as writing the checklist instead of building the whole system.
Naming one move this week is how you start the shift, and over time, more of your week moves into your Zone of Genius.
If what you find here is really an offer problem, for example your offer is built around work that drains you, my Golden Offer playbook is your next stop: https://goldenoffer.marcteo.com
Choose one move and get your map
Copy the box below into your AI and send it. It helps you choose one move for this week and the day you will do it, then gives you your whole Zone of Genius Map in one box to keep.
Scroll to read the whole box. Copy includes all the text.
Job of this box: help me choose ONE move to make this week with my trap or another draining activity, then give me my whole Zone of Genius Map, with that move and its date, in one box.
Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer.
BEFORE YOU START (read this first, then follow everything below the line)
1. Check what you already know about me. Look in your memory, in this project's files or my second brain if you can see one, and at anything earlier in this chat. Use what you find. Tell me in two or three lines what you found, then ask me only for what is still missing.
2. Tell me I can talk my answers instead of typing them, by voice note or the microphone on my keyboard. Long, messy answers are fine. Pull out what you need.
3. Use only what is true about me. Never make up numbers, results, prices or testimonials about me. If you need something I have not given you, ask me.
4. If this chat gets so long that you start losing track of my details, say so. Then give me a short summary of my details that I can paste into a new chat.
5. When you give me the finished piece, end with one short question asking what I would like to change. If I tell you, make the change and give me the full new version.
No long dashes in anything I will use.
If you find notes about a business, check with me that they are about my own business before you use them.
Use aliases and remove identifying combinations of details for any client, team member or private person. Leave out phone numbers, emails and private information.
----------
[PURPOSE]
This is the last step of finding my Zone of Genius. Everything outside my Zone of Genius eventually gets systemised, automated or delegated, so more of my week goes to my genius work. This box picks ONE move only. It is not a full plan. The four moves:
SYSTEMISE: turn it into a checklist or process, so it takes less thought each time.
AUTOMATE: build or use a tool, so it happens without me doing it live.
DELEGATE: hand it to someone else.
LIMIT: for Excellence work that still makes the money, do it less often and bring my genius into it.
I should have my map within about five of your replies.
[ROLE]
You are a warm, practical coach. You suggest, I decide. A good move names one activity, one of the four moves, exactly what happens (handed to whom, built how, or how often), and a day this week that I chose. A bad move is vague, such as "delegate more", bundles several moves, or needs a person, tool or budget I said I do not have.
Use the example below for its shape, not its facts. It is my coach Marc Teo's own way of limiting his Excellence work, from a coaching call: he is good at running workshops but gets bored repeating himself, so he does not teach the same thing more than once or twice a year, and during his workshops he coaches people on the spot, which is his genius. Never copy his move into mine.
STEP 1. If my top 3 to 5 and my trap are already in this chat, use them, with my four-zone map if it is there. Otherwise ask: "Paste your top 3 to 5 and your trap from the last box, and your four-zone map if you have it. If you have none of these, tell me the one work activity that drains you most."
STEP 2. Ask: "Do you want to make your move with your trap, or with another activity that drains you? Type trap, or name the other one."
STEP 3. Suggest the one move that fits that activity best, with one line on why, marked (suggested), and ask: "Shall we go with this, or would you rather systemise, automate, delegate or limit it?"
STEP 4. Ask: "Make it specific: what exactly will you do, handed to whom or built how, and by which day this week?" If I have no one to hand it to, no tool or no time, suggest a smaller first step, such as writing the checklist instead of building the whole system, and let me choose.
Before every question, check whether my earlier answers already tell you. If they do, use them and do not ask. If I say I don't know, not sure, maybe or I haven't decided, suggest one answer built from my words, mark it (suggested), and move on. Never choose a day or a person for me: if I have not given one, write [day: not set yet] or [who: not decided yet].
If I paste a link or name a file, only say you read it if you can actually open it in this chat. If you cannot, ask me to paste the part you need.
RULES
Use only what I told you. One move only. Keep every activity in the zone I put it in, and keep any marks from earlier boxes, such as (suggested) or (not making money yet), exactly where they were. Never write that the move is done or that it worked. If what I say shows the real problem is my offer, for example my offer is built around work that drains me, say so in one line outside the box and tell me my coach's Golden Offer playbook is the next stop, at goldenoffer.marcteo.com. If I say stop, end without another question.
FINAL OUTPUT
Final check: shortening must preserve each activity's scope, such as coaching one next step rather than the whole project.
Give me one code block, the grey box with a Copy button, with exactly this inside it:
MY ZONE OF GENIUS MAP
GENIUS: [activities]
EXCELLENCE: [activities]
COMPETENCY: [activities]
INCOMPETENCE: [activities]
MY ZONE OF GENIUS (top 3 to 5):
1. [activity]
MY TRAP: [one plain sentence]
MY ONE MOVE THIS WEEK: [systemise, automate, delegate or limit] [the activity]: [exactly what happens, to whom or how] by [day]
If my four-zone map is not in this chat, write [not in this chat] beside each zone instead of guessing. Keep every question outside the code block. Outside the box, tell me in one line to put my move in my calendar on that day, and to come back to this map whenever my week feels heavy or my season of life changes. Then ask the short question from BEFORE YOU START about what I would like to change, and stop. If I ask for a change, give me the whole map again in one code block.
You are done with this step when
You have one move with the day you will do it this week, and your whole Zone of Genius Map in one box: your four zones, your top 3 to 5, your one trap and your one move.
Original examples
My own four zones, from my original Zone of Genius playbook
Zone of Genius (top 3-5):
1. Coaching / Mentoring
2. Creating playbooks
3. Writing posts (personal)
4. Strategizing (campaigns, etc.)
5. Simplifying core concepts from complex info
Zone of Excellence:
- Conducting qualifying calls
- Affiliate / partner management (gifts etc.)
- Hiring
- Interviewing
- Speaking / teaching the same thing over and over again
Zone of Competency:
- Project management
- Video shooting
Zone of Incompetence:
- Editing
- Designing images
- Backend
- Recruitment
- Onboarding operations
- Scripting
My real answers, word for word from my original Zone of Genius playbook, with the bold formatting removed and the dash in "top 3-5" typed as a plain hyphen. The playbook does not record when I wrote it. On a coaching call in December 2025, I named much the same genius activities. It is here only for its shape, not as a template to copy.
What to notice
Every activity is a few plain words, and each one sits in exactly one zone. Teaching the same thing over and over again sits in Excellence, because I am good at it but I don't enjoy it.
Teaching the four zones live, from a 1:1 coaching call
[00:18:38] Marc T: So zone of genius, right, are the activities in business that you are not only the best at, but you actually enjoy.
[00:18:47] Marc T: That means you feel more energized doing it than drain, right?
[00:18:50] Marc T: So this zone of genius, what you are great at, but you don't enjoy, right?
[00:18:55] Marc T: So set face, right?
[00:18:56] Marc T: is what we call your zone of excellence.
[...]
[00:19:04] Marc T: So, for example, for me, I can be very good at conducting workshops.
[00:19:13] Marc T: I don't think I'm the best, but okay, not bad.
[00:19:14] Marc T: But I don't really enjoy it if I do it for the rest of my life.
[00:19:17] Marc T: Or if I keep doing the same thing over and over again, I get very bored.
[00:19:20] Marc T: Okay?
[00:19:21] Marc T: So, I'm sure you know the guru world where everybody keeps repeating the same webinar every week.
[00:19:25] Marc T: I can vomit.
[00:19:27] Marc T: I cannot keep repeating it.
[00:19:28] Marc T: like to share new stuff, new insights, new perspectives.
[00:19:31] Marc T: So, that's my zone of genius rather than zone of excellence.
[00:19:35] Marc T: So, the other two, so what you enjoy and what you are not really good at is just sometimes you call hobbies.
[...]
[00:19:48] Marc T: And then this one is what I call your zone of incompetence.
[...]
[00:19:52] Marc T: Which is you don't enjoy and you are not good at it.
[00:19:55] Marc T: So, this one quickly, bye-bye.
[00:19:57] Marc T: Don't do it as much as possible.
[...]
[00:20:00] Marc T: I think the first, I think the main question is, when it comes to your zone of genius, right, [name], what do you think are the top three to five activities?
[00:20:06] Marc T: So for example, for me, very good, creating content, creating frameworks and systems, simplifying for people, to me, it's very easy for me, and I know it's enjoyable, and number three, it's more coaching, consulting, like what we're doing right now.
[00:20:19] Marc T: To me, it's very, I don't get tired, but it's very fun for me, right?
[00:20:22] Marc T: I know I'm very good at it as well.
[00:20:23] Marc T: So for me, that's why I've seen it, like, connecting workshops, creating SOPs, not SOPs, managing teams, right, and stuff, like, okay, I'm pretty good, but not really my cup of tea.
[...]
[00:22:26] Marc T: Yeah, so one quick one, which is obviously for Zone of Genius, the more you can double, triple down your Zone of Genius, and the more you can delegate the stuff of your things that you don't like and don't enjoy, like video editing for me.
[00:22:41] Marc T: That day I tried video editing for 30 seconds, my head started throbbing very fast, right?
[00:22:46] Marc T: I cannot.
[00:22:47] Marc T: So of course you delegate, eliminate, or put somewhere else.
[00:22:49] Marc T: And then Zone of Excellence, it makes the money, but try to limit it.
[00:22:53] Marc T: That means don't try to overdo it because it might burn you out.
[00:22:55] Marc T: So that's what happened to me on point of time, that I kept doing webinars.
[...]
[00:23:00] Marc T: Wow, I want to quit my business because I didn't want to keep repeating myself.
[00:23:02] Marc T: Like broken record.
[...]
[00:23:23] Marc T: But limiting it will be useful.
[00:23:24] Marc T: means, okay, maybe once every month, not so tiring.
[00:23:27] Marc T: Once every quarter, right?
[00:23:29] Marc T: That's one.
[00:23:29] Marc T: Number two is how can you find ways to still tap into your zone of genius while doing this?
[00:23:34] Marc T: So for example, if I conduct workshops right now, number one is I never teach the same thing.
[00:23:41] Marc T: Right?
[...]
[00:23:43] Marc T: Then I teach the same thing or twice a year, max.
[00:23:44] Marc T: Number two is during my workshops, even public ones, I don't mind doing coaching and consulting on the spot.
[00:23:52] Marc T: Yeah, so you see, I kind of position in a way where that, okay, I still do things that I enjoy, even though the broad things of it is my zone of excellence.
My lines only, from a 1:1 call where I walked a client through the zones. The client stays anonymous, and their name is replaced by [name]. Where you see [...], I left out the client's words, a few lines the recording gave to the wrong speaker, and some garbled lines. The recording also garbled a few words in the lines I kept, for example "connecting workshops" is conducting workshops.
Zone of frustration, and why I almost shut everything down, from my YouTube video
So zone of genius are activities that you are both amazing at in your business, right? That actually helps move the middle of the business. But number two is what you actually enjoy as well. So what happens is if you're always doing activities that make money right which is what you might be great at but don't enjoy soon you become what I call a zone of frustration where you start hating your business and you don't do what you want. So that happened in me right uh in about 2024 where I almost quit my business because I was doing things I was pretty good at and ranking making money but because I wasn't enjoying them
[6:12]
and I could not see myself running the rest of my life with that business with those activities I almost shut everything down but when I decided to continue focusing on my zone of genius right creating content and playbooks and systems and frameworks right or actually coaching and consulting private clients the better that I got and the more enjoyable business was and everything else you will want to systemize, delegate or automate.
My words from a video about what my mentors taught me, as the auto-captions recorded them. I left out the sentence just before this, which names the mentor who taught me the idea. The captions misheard a few words, such as "move the middle" and "ranking making money".
The activities I was not aligned with, from my short video
[0:00]
and I said as I went deeper I realized it was just because of a few business activities that I was not aligned with especially this few um number one conducting webinars over and over again repea the same thing over and over again just to sell right and to Market and get new customers not something that's lying to me I I'm not saying that U others shouldn't do it but just didn't feel uh right for me personally I also did not like just hosting two day weekend two to 3day weekend workshops sacrificing my precious time my energy away from my friends my family just to get new customers over again and I was still repeating myself really didn't like
Every word of the auto-captions for this 33-second short, as recorded. It is a clip from a longer talk, so it starts and ends in the middle of a sentence. The captions misheard a few words, for example "lying to me" is most likely "aligned to me".
This is what I call your Zone of Genius, from my Facebook post
When you build a business doing what you're BEST at and actually ENJOY...
When you make real impact AND have time for your family...
When work feels fulfilling instead of draining...
Why would you ever want to stop?
This is what I call your Zone of Genius.
The sweet spot where your skills meet what lights you up.
And the more you operate there, the more money you make, the more people you help, and the better life feels.
Everything else? Delegate it. Eliminate it. Automate it.
An excerpt. I left out the opening lines, which give an older figure for my business, and the closing lines about retirement.
Takeaways
Your Zone of Genius is the top 3 to 5 activities you are best at and actually enjoy, where you do your best work and feel the most fulfilled at the same time.
Two questions sort every activity: do you enjoy it, and are you good at it? Genius is the only zone where both answers are yes.
You find it in evidence, in what you actually did and what people keep coming to you for, not by sitting and thinking about it.
Watch Excellence most closely. It makes the money, so limit it before it burns you out.
Make one move at a time: systemise, automate, delegate or limit one activity that drains you, on a day you choose.
Build your offer around your genius, and redo your map when your season of life changes.
Start today
Open one chat in your AI today, talk through everything you did for work over the last two weeks in a voice note, and run Steps 1 and 2.
Then finish Steps 3 and 4 this week, and put your one move in your calendar on the day you chose. Keep your map, because your Golden Offer starts from it.
AI Implementation Toolkit
Download the AI Implementation Toolkit, open a new chat in your AI (ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini), attach the file, then type start and send it. It walks you through all four steps in one chat and ends with your Zone of Genius Map.