OK, here we are at the final unit - this is where you get to actually put a name to your Genius.  This is what you focus on, the single thread that runs through all the work you've done so far, the drivers of what you focus on, and the rules you will apply from now on when deciding whether or not an activity or opportunity fits within your focus.

Course

There is an acronym I often use for focus, "Follow One Course Until Successful" - it often upsets entrepreneurial people, because they hate the idea of being tied to just one thing. Until I point out that it's not one single track, not even one single path - it's one general course.

There will be a theme that runs through everything you do, what journalist and author Katie Ledger calls your "Single Red Thread", something that ties it all together. In my book The Busy Fool's A to Z of Loving Work, I call it your umbrella theme.

For me, that's really my Core Process, "Encouraging Potential", and particularly, helping business owners to focus on where they add the most value. My coaching business, the consultants' network I  part-own and the various providers I partner with, all contribute to this one course - leaving entrepreneurs free to do what they do best.

Take some time now to re-read your responses from units 1-7, and identify some candidates for your single course, then write them in the space provided in your course workbook.

Drivers

Now, you're going to look at what the important factors are when you think about describing your Genius. Re-read your responses and notes to units 2 to 6 - yes, I know you just did that, do it again, this time with these questions in mind:

• What is it about an activity or opportunity that makes it really attractive to me?
• What is it that it has to have, to fit with my principles?

Signposts

Now you're going to define the signposts that you will use to determine whether an activity or opportunity contributes to you using your Genius. The best way to do that is to review units 4-7, especially unit 7, and write up to ten sentences in your workbook defining your signposts.

Here's something very important to understand about these rules: they're your rules.

That means you can change them, if they no longer suit your life. It doesn't mean you can ignore them - you wouldn't ignore a "No Entry" signpost, would you!

But if they aren't working for you, change them. Just know why you're changing them, and what new rules, or signposts, are going to replace them.

In my experience, for the first six months or so, you'll probably change them - in small ways - every few weeks, as you fine-tune them. Eventually, the changes will become only minor. At least until you have a major life change (and you probably will), and then you'll want to review the whole process.

Resist making big changes for at least six months at a time, unless you are absolutely sure that either something major has changed in your life, or you missed something enormous (for you) in the first place.

Name it

You have now identified your Genius. And now, the final step: your Genius Statement. Distil everything from your Course, Drivers and Signposts into a single paragraph, no more than 30 words long, that sums it up for you.

This isn't something you have to share with others (unless you want to), and it's certainly not an "elevator pitch" for marketing purposes. It's your personal reminder of what you are going to focus on.

Now take a single word, or a 2-3 word phrase if you absolutely must, that condenses your statement even further. For example, my Genius is Encouraging Potential. Something that allows you to ask, at every decision point: "How does this fit with ... ", and to say "My Genius lies in ... "

That's it, your final entry in your workbook!

And now you have uncovered your Genius, you can start to LUV it = Leverage its Unique Value!