The Greatness Zone and Positivity, with Jay Forte – PS011

Episode Overview – The Greatness Zone and Positivity

My guest and conversational partner is this episode is Jay Forte.  Jay is a business and motivational speaker, coach and author.  Jay is President and Founder of The Greatness Zone – an organization that provides talent and strength-based tools to help people live extraordinary lives, and, organizations achieve exceptional results.  Jay is the creator of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation course at Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL where he’s an adjunct professor.

Through the lenses of positivity and our own greatness zone, we talk about the importance of living a purposeful life and how to create that for ourselves.  It starts with developing a sense of self-awareness and how we go about our daily lives.  Taking time to notice the world around us and how we fit it can start by becoming aware of our strengths, and what gives us joy which leads to discovering the best of who we can be for ourselves and for the world.

Energizing Work

Delivering, training and coaching the Greatness Zone is optimistic and positive work that energizes Jay.  His goal is to share what’s right with the world rather than what’s wrong.  He works to help people find their strengths. When people find the right road that helps them find their abilities, talents and values, they tap into their own greatness zone.  All of that is most energizing.

From Misalignment to Alignment

Greatness Zone work is  extra energizing because, Jay admits he was misaligned for most of his own life.  He was of the mindset, that the world does a good job of reminding us that a lot of things go wrong most of the time.

He stumbled into the greatness zone,  because, at that time he was not on the right  road:   he was on someone else’s road: starting with parents, then employers and partners. He experienced pessimism and negativity. He lacked passion, even though he was good at what he was doing professionally, he was not standing in his own authenticity.

The Greatness Zone

Jay defines it as a place where you are aware of the best in you and you bring that self to the world. To find your own your Greatness Zone, Jay provides a process and series of steps that help you identify your own road to a rewarding, fulfilling life.  It’s a process of self-discovery that leads to clarity of your abilities, passions and values. When you can identify them, that’s when your Greatness Zone shows up.  This quote says it:

Frederick Buechner:

“Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.”

Jay teaches that we need to identify our own road and  our place in the world.

Millenial Generation

In his course, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, designed for freshman, the focus is on tapping into the greatness zone by taking students on a journey of discovery: of themselves, the world around them and their fit.

He teaches his students to come up with three adjectives that describe themselves and their behaviour and then write a statement that suggests who they are in the world, as a “branding statement.” This is a measure of success that is a great outome – they show up in the world differently at the end of the course than at the beginning.  Better than any grades, he suggests.

When you have this clarity of yourself, the world opens up and so much more becomes possible;  and the world seems a more supportive, caring place.

Ready for Life

This is a new program and podcast which Jay will be launching early November. It's geared to bridge the conversation between parents and children, so kids find their own blueprint and begin to think about what might be after college.  Some tips about the course's intention:

• We come packaged to be game changers and most people don’t know what they’ve got
• If you’re aimless you are not optimistic.  Some clarity about what inspires you opens you up
• You only change when you notice what is amazing and remarkable about you – what your built-in genius is
• World gives you back when you are in your authentic place – there's a mutual exchange

Positivity and The Greatness Zone

At the core they are the same.  They are about self-love, self-awareness, noticing the little things that really do have a big impact. Jay talks about an inventory of greatness, and I talk about a reservoir of positive emotions.  Both facilitate a deep sense of knowing that our contribution to the world makes a difference, and we do have impact in all that we do, that we, and the world are full of countless possibilities and opportunities.  We need to trust and act so we can expand our horizons.

When coming from the place that “I matter and can make a difference,” we can participate in a way as Buckminster Fuller describes:

“What is it on this planet that needs doing that I know something about that probably won't happen unless I take responsibility for it.?”

How thrilling is that!

Quotes:

1. Buckminster Fuller – “What is it on this planet that needs doing that I know something about that probably won't happen unless I take responsibility for it.?”
2. Frederick Buechner – “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.”

Links Mentioned In This Episode

• The Greatness Zone Website
• Fire Up Your Employees Web Site
• Jay Forte on Twitter
• Jay Forte on LinkedIn
• The Greatness Zone Facebook Page

Books Mentioned In This Episode: