004: Finding and Maintaining Your Genius with Gina Marotta

Pete Mockaitis
Okay we are on. Gina thanks so much for joining us here in our home where the Christmas tree is still up.

Gina Marotta
So great. I am looking right at the tree with the beautiful angel on top.

Pete Mockaitis
So, we keep it festive, we keep it festive.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
So, well I am so excited to dig in. You talk a lot about finding your genius. And, so I first like to hear a little story about how you came to find your genius and what that means for you. I guess as a term in the course of in your business as well as for you personally.

Gina Marotta
Yeah. So the beginning of finding my genius starts as me about 10 years ago laying in the fetal position in my shower, crying, because I didn’t want to go to work.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, that’s dramatic.

Gina Marotta
Yes. [laughter]

Pete Mockaitis
[laughter] Yeah.

Gina Marotta
Yes, and I had been a rising star lawyer. I had great opportunity. I was in a wonderful firm with great people. And the truth is I was getting to a point that I did not want to go to work anymore. It’s because something inside of my heart and my soul was calling to me saying that I was not going down the right path for me.

And so, beginning there I started taking steps to inquire who am I, what do I really want to do in my life, which I think we all do at some point, but for me it really became about career and finding that right direction. And it started at that moment, and I did make a career pivot at that time. Not immediately, it took about a year and then I made another career pivot to starting my own business, which is what I do now. And as I created this business about finding your genius I’ve really looked at my own path of discovering my own and what are the steps that I’ve taken and that’s what I not teach others about.

Pete Mockaitis
So finding your genius sounds like a cool good fun thing to have like to have my genius going for me, but can you tell us sort of why in sort of practical terms what are the benefits of having that going for you?

Gina Marotta
Yes, so I’ve got three to share with the audience. So one finding your genius is going to really help you understand who you are, and what matters to you, so that in your career you are not in a reactive state you are in a proactive state. You know who you are, you know what your best skills are, and you know where you want to go.

The second point would be knowing your genius would really make you marketable to the right people. So in your career you may seek promotions you may seek a new job, you may switch companies and if you know who you are and what you want, great now you bring that into your resume, you bring that into the companies you are examining all the positions that you are looking at and again you are in the driver’s seat of your career and you are making choices on what is most in alignment with who you are.

And then number three which all of us leads to is if you are working from your genius that ensures you are going to enjoy your work. Because you are going to be doing what is most fun and easy to you. And it’s not going to feel hard the way some people traditionally talk about work being so hard. Albert Einstein has a really great quote about genius, and he said the following, he said: ‘’Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will spend its life believing it’s stupid.’’

Pete Mockaitis
Alright, Yeah.

Gina Marotta
So basically a lot of people are doing work in areas that feel hard, because it’s just not their thing.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah, makes sense to me, certainly.

Gina Marotta
If I somehow got into computer programing as my career that would have probably been really hard. Right?

Pete Mockaitis
Right.

Gina Marotta
That wasn’t just my natural talents and what eased out. I actually started in college as an accounting major and I got clear by the end of college I mean that was my degree, then I was like, this is not going to be me and the direction I want to go with my life, it’s not my personality.

Pete Mockaitis
Understood, thank you.

Gina Marotta
Yeah.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, lovely. So, I’d like to hear some perspective on that. So, in practice we get to work with a lot of different clients who figure some things out, doing some, I imagine some introspection some brainstorming some hard hitting questions. Could you maybe give us a sample of some of that, or what are the things folks need to think through to find that genius?

Gina Marotta
Well, so most of the people I work with are, they are in a job that they have a sense of what they are good at. They’ve gone on a path to access some level of skill, achieve some level of success. But now the question becomes: Am I really on the right path? And so there becomes this question of a greater self – discovery and what they want to learn about themselves. So I take people through a process of uncovering what is their genius and simply put one of the best ways I describe is. It’s your natural born talents.

Pete Mockaitis
Aha

Gina:… and what is fun and easy for you. Now…

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
Yeah. Now, some of us are connected to that and some of us aren’t.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah.

Gina Marotta
So if I ask you what is just fun and easy, what do you love doing more than anything in your work? What would you say?

Pete Mockaitis
That’s fun I was about to say in your work. Some of those things you get to be paid for some of those things you can’t. And that’s fine.

Gina Marotta
Right.

Pete Mockaitis
You know you have passions and interests and things you do to recharge, rejuvenate outside. So for me, I’d say what’s funny ever since I was a kid I’ve always loved I remember going to the Danville public library with my dad and I’d read all kinds of books about success goal setting leadership communication and fluency and all these stuff.

Gina Marotta
Wait. And how old were you?

Pete Mockaitis
I was about 12.

Gina Marotta
Yes, okay. That’s not something a lot of 12 – year – olds do.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s true.

Gina Marotta
And it’s a really good age to look at Pete. What you were doing there doesn’t that totally set you up for what you were creating as your career?

Pete Mockaitis
It sure does.

Gina Marotta
Absolutely. Yes. So that’s the stuff we want to look for and you may not know that out the gate in your career how it kind of ties back and you might need a few years in, five years in, ten years in, and you’ll really be like: Oh my Gosh I was doing this as a child, that’s what I loved.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s fantastic. So that’s kind of one indicator as a clue.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
What are some of the other, big ones?

Gina Marotta
So, a fun one. This one has people always kind of be like: Hmm, really? so one way to indicate what your genius is, is to notice where you really get frustrated with other people.

Pete Mockaitis
Hmm, okay.

Gina Marotta
In other words, here is why: You get frustrated at certain moments where you are looking at people behaving in a certain way or not understanding how to do something that you know really well, you have a unique understanding of.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, okay.

Gina Marotta
Okay? You may not know that you have this unique understanding, but you do. It’s frustrated with other people.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah. I see, so it’s kind of like, I am so naturally gifted at something…

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
…that seems like no big deal to me.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
Thusly, I am like: What’s your problem guy?

Gina Marotta
Yes, exactly. That’s the reaction you want to look for. When you see it in other people. So, you know it’s kind of funny when you turn it around, right? And you are just like wait a minute, wait a minute… In this moment I can actually discern something that has to do with my genius because there is something I know here that this person doesn’t know.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, that’s fun. Keep it going, what else?

Gina Marotta
Okay. . Let’s see. So, what’s another one I want to give you? Oh, this is another great one. So, who are your role models?

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
Okay, so can I play with you on this one?

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, sure, sure.

Gina Marotta
Okay, this is good. So, Pete

Pete Mockaitis
Yes.

Gina Marotta
Who are some of your favorite role models?

Pete Mockaitis
Well, first I am going to have to think of Jesus, you know.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
And then, well Mawi, he is one of my role models. He is the first guy on the podcast, he’s given me a lot of cool perspective.

Gina Marotta
Say a little bit about him.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Sure. It’s fun how you’ve hear about him so little. Well Mawi, He has an inspiring story though, you know in terms of being very resilient, coming from a refugee camp in the United States and then prevailing so that’s one thing that is a source of inspiration as well as a reminder to be grateful. You know he said I feel like I won the lottery for just being here. And so, that’s one thing. So it’s great perspective it’s like put it in its place and be grateful for all the many blessings that we really do have, we are quite fortunate.

Even that we have the capacity to listen to a podcast, it means a lot of things are going pretty right in our world. So it’s just that he has a good sense of being very generous and serving and he seems like he has turned down opportunities to cash in on some things because of people he knows or things he can do and so I like that that he has high integrity. And he thinks this is actually helpful for people and provides a value and an access of what it costs. So I like that he is generous in that sense and focused. And he is just doing good, he is highly competent at what he is doing.

Gina Marotta
Yeah, so Pete as I asked you that now something that you might be interested to reflect on is how are the things you said about him, how do you see those in yourself?

Pete Mockaitis
Well, I’d like to hope that I would do those things. Yeah.

Gina Marotta
Yes. So admiring other people qualities that we hold dear that are important to us and that we want to bring forth in ourselves. We admire people who have a similar essence to our own.

Pete Mockaitis
Essence.

Gina Marotta
And so, when you want to understand your genius looking at those who you admire would be a way to know what is part of your genius. So you as a business person, we know what you do professionally but what I feel like you’ve revealed here are some of the values that you really hold and how you do business.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah.

Gina Marotta
And maybe something that considered at some point, this viewer as a client and I will couch you. At some point maybe not necessarily today, but some point that might get big in your business model because this is part of something that you’ve held so closely, you’ve held so dear so you may bring out to the world and show others how you do it.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, I like that. So that’s interesting. So it seems that once we get a pretty clear map of these sorts of things what are you actually good at, what you admire, you are frustrated when you see it at the absence of. And I guess the next step is probably matching up opportunities.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
And to do that whether it’s in your work, your play or your friendships and such. So that sounds great and worth having some deep reflection. I guess what I am thinking about is maybe it’s like your micro genius is I feel like and maybe this is just a human condition and there is nothing that could be done about it. But I have some days when I am just rocking and rolling, I feel the efficient and productive I feel funny and witty and exciteful and I could course through a 10-hour long coaching clients and I feel like I genuinely enjoy every one of them and connecting with people, having fun with it. And then other times it just feels like a slog even if I am doing objectively the same stuff, it’s like I am not in the grove, I am not in the zone.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
And I am thinking did I sleep enough, but yeah I did. Did I eat a healthy breakfast? Well yeah I did. It’s a little bit mysterious so I’d love it if you have anything to say about how can you be kind of hit the genius zone more often day in, day out.

Gina Marotta
So that’s a really great question Pete and so you are talking about it an area you know it’s your genius zone, right? You are doing your activities that you know you love but you have days that you struggle and it doesn’t feel so easy. Yeah?

Pete Mockaitis
Well, yeah.

Gina Marotta
So that’s what you are talking about.

Pete Mockaitis
Absolutely.

Gina Marotta
I love where you started. You said well I asked myself about my own self-care, right did I sleep enough did I eat right. Because those are some really important parts. So that would be the first thing I would say to people.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
Number one: Are you burned out, are you in some way over giving? It’s not just sleep and eat, it’s like have you, did you get through a ten day run of not taking a day off not having any rest or play?

Pete Mockaitis
Right.

Gina Marotta
Right? So that would be the first place I would say to take a look. If you, if that doesn’t reveal some sort of a clear: Oh okay now I know what I need to do, I need to rest a little more or play a little more. If that doesn’t reveal its up to you. The next thing I would look is so part of being on your path of living in your genius zone is kind of growing and expand. Okay?

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah.

Gina Marotta
And so, I doesn’t mean like: Oh life is just fun and easy all the time because I am working in my genius. You are going to face challenges, you are going to face difficult days, because they are presenting you with opportunities to grow and to be better, and to master, be more masterful.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah.

Gina Marotta
Trying to think of an example for you. So, growing in your genius. Let’s say that you are starting something that or let’s say that you are doing the same thing, because that’s the example you gave. You are doing the same thing that you’ve done before.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
And you are finding yourself tired or not energized for it. It could be a signal for example that you are meant to put in some more expansion for yourself. Like, you right now are starting a new podcast right?

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah.

Gina Marotta
That’s a new piece of business where you are growing and expanding, that… What you did before was the same and steady and you are good at it, but you are meant to go up a notch to go up to the next level.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
And so that would be the next place I would look. What am I being shown here about the possibility to grow and expand and if I’ve mastered one level maybe it’s time to go up to the next.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay that makes sense. Self – care and then challenge and what else?

Gina Marotta
So, if you are finding yourself burned out, or not energized for a particular day. something else you really might examine is the relationships that you were existing that day. Right?

Pete Mockaitis
Existing.

Gina Marotta
Yes, so who were you with that day?

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
So perhaps it wasn’t anything particular about you, but it may be that you were engaging with individuals who had some were dealing with really difficult issues, could even be you know someone that you know personally that you came across and you spent some time with them and they had some negative energy around them. We are energy – beings, and we pick up…

Pete Mockaitis
Right.

Gina Marotta
…negative energy from other people. So sometimes it’s not even yours.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. That’s true. I remember there was a manager who remained nameless and he was pretty competent, you know. Pretty sharp guy. Good at solving problems, figuring things out, he was what a consultant was supposed to do. But I remember he said that he got the feedback from a partner that when you enter a room people need to be more calm instead of more anxious. And I was like man that part you said was solid, that’s was fantastic feedback for you because that is exactly how I feel whenever you enter this room.

Gina Marotta
Yes, right.

Pete Mockaitis
It’s a little bit kind of stressful. He just kind of made a joke about it so I wrote on my sheet that I need to enter more stressed rooms like how, that’s really a great feedback, because I do pick up on that and I do think that some people are probably more prone to pick up on that stuff, and I’m thinking about Myers-Briggs thinkers, feelers.

Gina Marotta
Oh for sure. Feelers are very sensitive to the energy of other people. And I’ve actually read a statistic where feeling types feel their feelings ten times more than everyone else.

Pete Mockaitis
No kidding.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
ten times?

Gina Marotta
Yes. Ten times. So I could you know crack a joke Pete at you. Let’s say that you are a feeler, I don’t know if you are, I am a feeler.

Pete Mockaitis
Yep.

Gina Marotta
Okay, because I am too. So let’s crack, like let’s say a sarcastic joke about your shirt. To most people who aren’t feelers they wouldn’t care at all. But a feeler would actually, you know that would hurt. That would stink. You know you might be able to put on a straight face like it didn’t bother you at all. But to a feeler you are going to walk away and then that’s going to deplete your energy and you are going to go through your day and if then people made a comment about your shirt you are going to feel, you know, you are not in your genius zone.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah, okay.

Gina Marotta
Pete, I am telling you, your shirt is great. [laughter]

Pete Mockaitis
[laughter]

Gina Marotta
That was just an example.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh no thank you I appreciate that. And I was like clearly this is not the issue, because it’s a great one. [laughter].

Gina Marotta
[laughter].

Pete Mockaitis
Fascinating so, I am working with that a little bit, so tell me then what are some other things we can do to maybe protect or maintain the genius zone and be there most often. So it seems like one thing is if you have the capacity to avoid I guess a dose of negativity, criticism, nervousness, kind of coming off of other people, you know try to do it. What else can we do to stay in the grove?

Gina Marotta
Well so even what you just said brought me to another very important point. There, I know that you have an audience that’s really more into their early stage of their career.

Pete Mockaitis
Right.

Gina Marotta
and so I have a warning for them.

Pete Mockaitis
I will take the shirt off; I will take it.

Gina Marotta
A warning about my generation. So I…

Pete Mockaitis
I never know what the dividing line is. [laughter]

Gina Marotta
[laughter]. So I am turning 40 this year. So…

Pete Mockaitis
Well, you don’t look it, Gina.

Gina Marotta
Oh thank you. So I am at the level of executive, right? The executives that you are going to be working with in your companies. And I have a lot of friends who are executives and on power positions and so I know what’s sort of going on in their minds and where I see this generation is different than the younger millennial generation is that when we went to work we had this mind set at just suck it up and take it. Right?

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
There were a lot of negative things going on in our work environments. There was sexual harassment, there was racism, there was the sense of just work endless, endless, endless hours and get the output out there. There was the sense of I am the boss and I just want you to get done what you are meant to.

And these were like energies around the work we were doing in our workplace, as we were coming up where these millennials are coming up now. And so, this group of millennials I find amazing because they are not the suck it up and take it mindset. They really are free – spirited, and they want to do good work, but they also want balance in their life and they want to be appreciated for the work that they are doing.

So one of the things I find important to understand is where this older generation might be coming from and we might bring to you the sense of well just do this, because this is what I need you to do.

Pete Mockaitis
This is your job and you are paid for it. And for execute.

Gina Marotta
That’s right. And that doesn’t mean that’s everybody in my generation. There are companies that are in this conscious capitalism mindset that are really designed to be more collaborative, and healthy environments that want the young voices to be heard that it is a more of a bottom – up approach. My brother is an executive at Google, that’s totally how they do it. So if you are in an environment where or if you are in an environment or if you have one or two people in your professional life, that have this sort of mindset like you’ve just said – this is your job I am expecting it of you. It might have you stray from your genius and think well I just need to do what is my job. And yeah, get your job done, be successful as you can in the moment, but no, that this is what’s possible to know your genius and then be able to go out be marketable and be with those skills that you really have. Don’t let that generation based on their mindsets squash what truly wants to come out of you and your work.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s true. That’s an interesting notion and millennial and I don’t even know if I am a millennial I am 32, I think I am at the border – ish and the set ups I give a little bristle about generalizations about generations at all but I think those who critic that have a millennial tendency you know I want to do this creative, I want to live my dreams, passion, values, genius. We are all set I kind of labeled them as you know, you are lazy.

Gina Marotta
Right.

Pete Mockaitis
Because you are not at, on the line and I think what’s interesting is there is a little bit I think of a need to do some stuff you don’t like for a period of time. Now, what’s the exact period of time I don’t know. You know to get to the stuff it’s awesome and I think that’s another part of the, of the actuation.

Gina Marotta
I hear what you are saying and what I am wanting to give us the warning is don’t let that squash, what you really want to do. That’s why the clients are walking into my office in their 40s and 50s. And they’ve totally let go forgot about what mattered to them, so its’s keep that balance. And if you find you are in a company that it really doesn’t match for you it doesn’t feel like you are getting what you want there, keep learning what your genius is because that will make you marketable for the company that really does want to value what you do.

Pete Mockaitis
I see. And you have any kind of pro – guidance on just sort of how long is an appropriate amount of time to kind of just bare down and take it as you are kind of growing, learning cutting your teeth getting it set up versus no this is a long, this is fundamentally unworkable.

Gina Marotta
Right.

Pete Mockaitis
For your kind of situation, for where you need to be.

Gina Marotta
Yeah. That’s a great question. I would say one of the best things that any professional can do is build a great relationship with your own inner compass with your gut. To know when something works for you and when it doesn’t. And it’s really based on a comfort level. Does this you know when I am going to work and for most days does it feel good? And am I enjoying myself and I being stimulated, am I doing work that I enjoy? Or for most days is it feeling, at worst, toxic? If you are in toxic work environment, work on your exit strategy.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, I see. Like, here are just genuinely nasty human beings all around you just like…

Gina Marotta
Yes. Work on your exit strategy. Yes. If that’s that case. But if it’s about the work itself not working for you, then that’s when you want to listen to your gut, because to your point you may be getting groomed for something you don’t necessarily understand yet. So one of the great things that I’ve heard Steve Jobs the founder of Apple said about your career and I coach with this a lot is that you never know going forward how the dots are going to connect. Why you did this in your career, why you did that in your career. But you’ll always know when you are looking back. Like wow I can’t believe how all those things connect.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, that’s lovely.

Gina Marotta
Yeah. And so this is what I am saying. If you trust your gut, so your gut knows where are you supposed to go. It has all the information about your destiny, your higher self, what are you supposed to do. And if you listen to the gut and if its saying stick this out it’s not the right time, stick this out it’s not the right time, I do this with clients all the time. I have clients who are in on happy jobs and that’s always my couching. It’s what do you know inside of yourself. Take some time, get quiet. Pray. Do whatever is that you do. Go to yoga class. Do yoga for two weeks and see what you start to, what starts to emerge, what do you know, what’s your wisdom. And that’s really the best way to know, because it’s not a, it’s a case by case analysis.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Thank you. So now I am curious to hear a little bit more about kind of day in day out sort of tactics, whether that’s in terms of between your own two ears, like how do you manage your brain so that you are staying in the grove and being a genius. Or just in terms of sort of best practicism in terms of the things that make the difference for you to stay in the grove for as long as possible.

Gina Marotta
Yeah. So play is really important.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, you tell.

Gina Marotta
Yes. So play in two senses. One in balancing your life with playfulness, so you have your work-life, but also make sure you are doing things that are playful, with your friends, in your own time, things that feel just they are for the purpose of having a good time, for joy, because we, what happens we spend this time we are using our mental energy for work, we need to let our mind relax, we need to let that go so we can come back fresh to our work. Its super important. I am a workaholic in recovery and this has been a journey for me to learn. But what I have seen is that if I just try to plause straight through, and yes we all have projects where you just need to just hanker down for a week and I am not talking about that I am talking generally in the balance of your life. Insert some play time so that each day you come back more fresh and rejuvenated in your genius zone.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, now is there any play, this is almost like contrary to the nature of play, trying to optimize it, but I am going to. Is there any play that is extra beneficial because I think it’s possible of a play, think of play like oh yeah I am going to grab some drinks with friends and maybe that’s exactly what you need?

Gina Marotta
Yes. Pete you’ve asked like the million-dollar question.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Well thanks.

Gina Marotta
Are you ready?

Pete Mockaitis
That’s what I do.

Gina Marotta
Okay, so one of the things you said a few minutes ago was when, there are the things you do in your spare time that you don’t make any money at and then there’s the things you make money at.

Pete Mockaitis
Right.

Gina Marotta
Well, the most like golden price to all of us is to get paid for what we love doing, right?

Pete Mockaitis
Oh yeah.

Gina Marotta
Isn’t that what we all want? Okay. So, the areas that you are now playing use those as areas that might become the area for your career in the future.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
Let me give you an example.

Pete Mockaitis
Thank you.

Gina Marotta
When I was a lawyer and starting to feel the sense of I think I am supposed to do something else with my life. This isn’t feeling right, but I have no idea what it’s going to be. You don’t have to be in that drastic scenario, but this is where I was and when I started asking these questions. So what I started to do is in my spare time I started to do things that just felt like they would be enjoyable to me. I didn’t have a lot of spare time as a lawyer but this is what ultimately led to my next career.

So what did I do in my spare time? One thing was, I was always curious about charities. I’ve never been involved in a charity, never had any exposure, but I wanted to good for society in some way I was particularly drone to like women and children . And I just had no experience. Well, I found a non – profit organization that was a boys and girls club in the Chicago area and I asked them: Could I throw a fund – raiser to you? I just want to try and see what this is like. I’ll to throw a party, raise money. And they were like, of course.

Pete Mockaitis
We’d like that.

Gina Marotta
Yes. We’d like that. So, I grabbed a friend asked her to do it with me and I threw a fund – raiser. Had a good time doing it, learned how to raise money, what does it take, you know strategy and all that. But it was a good time, this was a play – project for me. Something else that I did, just based on what I wanted to do, I was interested at the time I was a lawyer it wasn’t a lot about bringing women together professionally. And so I started a dinner group of women in different careers. There were all women I knew so that could invite other women and once a month we get together for dinner. It was about networking and connecting and how can we help each other, what can we do to be supportive. And then one other thing that I did again just because I wanted to, because it felt playful was I put on a seminar for women and it was about specifically the mother – daughter relationship and deepening that because it was something that mattered to me. But I had the experience of producing a seminar. So, when a friend of mine and I were sitting down having drinks one night she started telling me about this organization step up, step up women’s network. They are a charity organization they are about empowering women and girls at low income communities, they put on seminars, they do workshops, they are about women networking and connecting with each other. It was a lovely moment. I was like Oh my goodness I’d just been playing and spending my time and doing all those things. I can now apply for that job and put all of that on my resume so I did and I got the job.

Pete Mockaitis
Alright. Congratulations.

Gina Marotta
Yes, so the idea is you can yes, play now in what feels joyful to you and know that somehow that may actually be enhancing your career.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, that’s a good tip, thank you.

Pete Mockaitis
What, you dropped a great quote there saying that it might be a good time to transition over to the fast faves and I’d like to start, do you have a favorite quote or is that it? Did Albert Einstein just nailed it?

Gina Marotta
That’s definitely what I use when I talk about genius. I have another one by Steve Jobs and he said: “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know who you are really want to become.’’ And this goes back to something I’ve said earlier which was about if you follow your gut if you get in tune with that it’s going to guide you where you need to go. You may not totally understand it from a rational level but this is wise, wise wisdom from a man who has done incredible things.

Pete Mockaitis
Alright. And could you share with us a favorite study, maybe a piece of research or experiment that you find yourself thinking about exciting repeatedly?

Gina Marotta
Yeah, so I’ve seen a lot of different statistics on this, but the statistic around how many people are actually happy at work.

Pete Mockaitis
I’ve seen the Gallup engagement statistic work where it should be now.

Gina Marotta
So I’ve seen it range from either the number of dissatisfied people are somewhere between 70 and 50 percent.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s the US or worldwide?

Gina Marotta
That’s the US yes.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
And that’s with this idea of genius and something that I am really trying to have an impact on because if you are working in your genius you will enjoy and love what you do.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And how about a favorite book?

Gina Marotta
I have so many. I am kind of a book nerd. So I thought about what to recommend to your audience. When I was starting out at my career one of the greatest books I loved was ‘’Pour your heart into it’’ by Howard Schultz, he is the guy who started Starbucks.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Gina Marotta
And it is a great book about finding that passion within you and letting your career be driven by who you really are and what matters to you. It’s really an inspirational story. What I am reading right now, almost done is ‘’Big magic’’ by Liz Gilbert. She is definitely an idol of mine, she is the woman who wrote ‘’Eat, pray, love’’. And this book is particularly about creativity and opening that up, whether your creativity is riding, drying, painting but knowing that we are all creators and finding our ways to tap into that fearlessly in our lives.

Pete Mockaitis
And how about a favorite website or an online resource?

Gina Marotta
So, favorite podcast these days is ‘’Optimize’’ by Brian Jonson.

Pete Mockaitis
I love optimizing.

Gina Marotta
Yes, it’s your thing Pete. Have you heard of this podcast yet?

Pete Mockaitis
I think I’ve seen the graphic, I’ve clicked it, I haven’t listened to a full episode.

Gina Marotta
So, what he does is he takes big books, big concepts and he distills them down in five minutes or twenty minutes often has on the authors’ writers though leaders on this topics, but what’s great it’s like you take, may I have time to read that whole book, but you get the five-minute nugget set, that he is going to give you in the segment.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh lovely.

Gina Marotta
Yes, so that’s one. and then any good TED talk, I love these concepts of optimizing I really just distilling down the information to the most important parts.

Pete Mockaitis
And how about habits or regular practices of yours that’s really made a difference?

Gina Marotta
Prayer.

Pete Mockaitis
Alright. Amen to that. I am down. How about favorite tools, any gadgets, software, hardware, thinking frame marks?

Gina Marotta
So, a new tool just showed up. It’s an extension of our Google Chrome. Which I don’t really use extensions but this one is super cool. It’s called pocket. And so, one of the, it solved the problem I had. One of the problems I have is that people are always sending me websites: hey look at this article, hey look at this ted talk. You know I see something on Facebook and I want you know to read it, but I can’t read it right now. If you hit the pocket button on the Google Chrome extension than it puts it in a catalog and you don’t have to do anything at all. Just goes right into this place on the Internet and its storing all the things that you’ve want in your pocket.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, I get the name now.

Gina Marotta
Yes. [Laughter].

Pete Mockaitis
[Laughter].

Gina Marotta
So pocket and my other new favorite one is Audible which is a way to listen to books from Amazon and I am finding that I am finishing books this way.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh that is good. That is good. I also like the Amazon Kindle Fire which can narrate the books to you. It is a robot.

Gina Marotta
Oh no, it’s a real bad voice, really? [laughter]

Pete Mockaitis
It doesn’t sound right but it is an algorithm as we post as human being. So it’s not good but it helps me get the books done as well so that’s cool.

Gina Marotta
Okay, great.

Pete Mockaitis
How about a favorite truth bomb or sort of nugget that when you share people start nodding their heads and taking notes, retweeting?

Gina Marotta
Yeah, so great question and I need to start tracking this but I can tell you the subject matter like with always want to talk to people about trusting their own wisdom.

Pete Mockaitis
Alright.

Gina Marotta
Clients are always like, oh I was talking about you and . Oh I saw this person and they were talking about this thing and its always about trusting your own gut.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And tell us your favorite way to find you in terms of is it email, twitter, website, what’s the way to get you?

Gina Marotta
Yeah, so on Facebook you can find me at Genius Guru, and also my website ginamorata.com, go there sign up for my weekly email I do send out tips on discovering your genius and I am always putting out more information on that so that you can tune in more deeply.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh thank you. And how about a favorite challenge or call – to – action partying word?

Gina Marotta
Yeah, so I would offer to the audience on my home page on my website there is a button the do it yourself, finding your genius daily practice. And if you really want to discover what yours is I have four magical questions that becomes something and you can compile data if you just ask yourself every day these four questions, it will take you ten minutes and it will help you get a deeper understanding of what your genius is.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh boy. That’s you know, you did it. Compiling data about your genius, it’s fun. I think it was so great to have you, because that was so like a hard, to give you the tactics to give you the data and you are very you know a heart – warming sort of a vibe and so as a perfect finishing note four questions.

Gina Marotta
Yeah I am legit now. [laughter]

Pete Mockaitis
[laughter]. Yeah. Four questions about feel good heart stuff that are needed to compile data.

Gina Marotta
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
Perfect. Gina thanks so much for appearing here it’s been a lot of fun and I wish you all the best.

Gina Marotta
Thanks Pete. It’s been great being here. And I wish you a wonderful luck with this podcast.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh thank you. Bye, bye.

Gina Marotta
Bye.