Eric is a productive and accomplished person.
He heads a sales and marketing team for a company that sells pens to astronauts, he’s a dedicated gamer and hobbyist, and he’s even managed to thrive on a national game show.
But Eric keeps running into the same problem with virtually every project he starts.
He uses his considerable knowledge, skills, and instincts to excel…and then runs out of momentum right around what he calls “hour 4”.
Then, all of the things that helped him find a successful start (whether that be in a game or at work), stop providing the same advantage he was enjoying.
Is it a skill issue? Does he lose motivation?
Perhaps. But to understand the full story, you should know there are three parts of the mind.
When you work in alignment with your conative strengths, tasks take less energy and effort. Things flow more smoothly. You get in “the zone.”
When you are forced to work against your conative strengths, tasks drain energy and things require more effort and focus, which can’t be sustained long-term.
Eric sat down with David Kolbe on the podcast Powered by Instinct: Private Sessions and soon learned the pivotal role his instinctive strengths play in his need to pivot.
On the podcast, David provided guidance on Eric’s 4-4-7-4 Kolbe A™ Index result, and helped him learn how to stop fighting how he’s wired and lean into his natural strengths.
Eric initiates in Quick Start, with a Natural Advantage™ of Idea-Generating Powerhouse.
That means he has no shortage of ideas, and he uses that brainstorming creativity to his advantage in both games and at work.
In games, it allows him to create unique characters and get off to amazing starts.
“Let’s say the game takes 10 hours to complete,” he explained to David. “I found myself a lot of times getting that character to about hour four and then wanting to restart with a completely new character. I always find myself in these scenarios where I feel like I have these great ideas, I jump in and I start going, and then I just kind of drop it, not necessarily because a new idea comes up, but because I get to a point to where it’s like, okay, that kind of ran its course.”
This isn’t a huge problem for gaming, but it’s also an issue with work projects.
“I think in a work setting,” Eric added, “there are times where I feel more pressure. It’s like, I can’t just drop this project at hour four. My job is I need to take this further.”
David offered a clear path for success.
“What I would say to you,” he advised Eric, “is find the opportunity professionally to be in a position, and maybe you already are, where your role is to take things to hour four and then to hand it off, and to let other people in the professional setting see it through.”
The key is to find people who naturally thrive doing the tasks you don’t instinctively align with. That way, you’re not expending extra energy on things that could be done more efficiently by others, and you save that energy to move on to the next idea and thrive there.
Eric is also in a great position to collaborate, as he naturally accommodates in three of the four Action Modes®.
“Because you accommodate in three of the modes and there’s none of them where you really push back and resist,” David explained, “it is more natural for you to be able to work with a broad breadth of people.”
At the end of the episode, which you can listen to here, Eric felt relieved in better understanding how he naturally operates, and the value of communicating and finding those people that can help put those pieces together to complete the project.
“That was really always something that was kind of frustrating to me,” he confessed. “I felt like I would have these really great ideas and I’d get them to X, and then I wouldn’t get them to Y or Z. And I always thought that was because maybe I was inadequate, or I wasn’t doing something properly, or I didn’t have the motivation, when in reality it’s like, no. X, Y, and Z are three separate letters. I’m just really natural at X. I need to find the Y and the Z that can help me complete the end of the alphabet.”
To understand your instinctive strengths and get immediately actionable advice tailored to your needs, make sure to get your Kolbe A result too!
