Scott Clary, in his Saturday Strategy Sessions newsletter, asked a powerful question:

What if the thing you’re best at is the thing that’s killing you?

He used the example of Josh Waitzkin — chess prodigy, national champion, International Master, and the inspiration for Searching for Bobby Fischer. By all external measures, Josh was destined for Grandmaster status. And yet, at 23, he walked away.

Scott shared Josh’s own reflection:

I became separated from my love; I became alienated from chess. The need to win all the time, as opposed to the freedom to explore the art.

Scott’s take is sharp. But I think there’s a deeper layer.

Because what looked like burnout was actually misalignment. Chess had become a cage — not because Josh lacked talent, but because talent alone doesn’t leverage your entire MCODE. It only uses part of how you’re wired, which means you’re always leaving potential — and fulfillment — on the table.

Why Talent Isn’t the Same as Zone of Genius

When I talk about the Zone of Genius, I don’t mean talent, gifts, or strengths. Those words sound appealing, but they can be misleading.

Your Zone of Genius has two core components:

1. MCODE — your motivated abilities. These are the five drivers that reveal how you naturally act, think, and decide in any situation.
2. Your Upper Limit Problem. The invisible ceiling you hit when success triggers fear, doubt, or self-sabotage.

Here’s why that distinction matters. You can be incredibly talented in a role and still not be aligned. Talent, gifts, and strengths don’t tell you how you’ll behave under pressure, or whether you’ll find long-term fulfillment.

Take Josh Waitzkin. His talent? Chess. His gift? A natural aptitude for strategy and pattern recognition. His strength? Competing at the highest level.

But chess only pulled on part of his motivational code. And when you overuse only one slice of who you are, you don’t expand — you shrink. That’s why what looked like mastery eventually became misalignment. His “gift” became a cage.

This is why I always start with Zone of Genius. Without that foundation, it’s easy to design a life or a role around talent and strength — only to discover later that the way you’re naturally motivated to act doesn’t fit what the role truly requires.

The Five Motivations at Play

When I work with clients, they take the MCODE assessment — a tool that reveals the top five motivations driving their thoughts, decisions, and actions. These five, when fully engaged, create alignment. When only one or two are active, even extraordinary talent can feel like a trap.

Looking at Josh’s story through this lens, his five likely motivations come into focus:

1. Develop – the drive to refine, learn, and master.
2. Challenge / Take Charge – the need to push limits and thrive under pressure.
3. Realize the Vision – the impulse to codify insights and create transformative systems.
4. Be Key – the desire to be pivotal in others’ success.
5. Architect / Pioneer – the pull toward new frontiers and unexplored territory.

The Real Breakthrough

When Josh stepped away from chess and into new arenas like Tai Chi, Jiu-Jitsu, and eventually coaching, what changed wasn’t that new parts of him “switched on.” His full motivational code had always been there.

What changed was the space.

Chess primarily rewarded his Develop and Challenge drives — refining skill and competing under pressure. But it left little room for Be Key, Realize the Vision, and Architect/Pioneer. Those motivations were present, but underutilized.

By moving into new disciplines, he created room for his whole code to operate. Coaching, for example, didn’t just activate “Be Key.” It also drew on his Develop drive to refine teaching methods, his Challenge drive to help clients push limits, his Vision drive to codify learning into frameworks, and his Architect/Pioneer drive to break new ground in how mastery itself is understood.

He didn’t abandon mastery. He built a life where his entire motivational code could be leveraged — and that’s when his impact multiplied.

The Lesson for Us

This is why Zone of Genius matters. Talent can trick us. You can be excellent and still feel hollow because you’re relying on only part of how you’re motivated to act. That was Josh: his shift wasn’t about new parts of him “switching on”—his full motivational code was always there. Chess mostly rewarded one slice. New arenas simply gave his whole code space to operate.

Josh found this unconsciously—by first removing himself from what no longer felt right. We don’t have to leave it to chance. When you know your Zone of Genius (your motivated abilities + your upper limit pattern), you can design roles and environments that fit how you naturally behave, instead of forcing yourself to perform against your wiring.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

Use these as a short audit. Notice where success feels costly or oddly empty.

1. Winning but drained: Where are you performing well yet leaving the day exhausted or resentful? What, specifically, about how the work gets done drains you?
2. After a win: Think of your last clear success. In the next 48 hours, did you celebrate—or did you overbook, pick a fight, procrastinate, or “accidentally” derail momentum? (Upper-limit tells.)
3. Skilled but avoiding: List two tasks you’re objectively good at but keep postponing. What about the method of doing them clashes with how you naturally operate?
4. Flow vs. force: In the past week, when did time fly? When did it crawl? What patterns do you see about how you were working in each?
5. Role reality check: Write the top three “non-negotiable behaviors” your role actually requires (e.g., meticulous repetition, rapid experimentation, high-stakes decision speed, deep collaboration). Which feel like a fit, which feel like costume?
6. Overuse warning: What do people praise you for that, when overused, creates problems (e.g., always fixing, always pushing, always starting new things)? Where is that overuse creating friction or fatigue?
7. 10% redesign: If you could change just 10% of your work to better match how you naturally act, what would you Stop, Start, and Swap this month?
8. Tiny experiment (7 days): Choose one small, daily action that fits your natural “how,” and cap one action that leans on your overused mode. Observe what shifts—energy, quality, ease.

Use what you notice to refine the environment and expectations around you. The goal isn’t more willpower; it’s better design that leverages all of you.

I’m Giselle Hudson — a writer, possibility thinker, Strategic Alignment Facilitator™, and MCODE Legacy Coach. I start everything at the Zone of Genius—your motivated abilities and your upper limit problem—because without that foundation, it’s easy to build a role, a career, or even a company around talent and strength, only to discover later that the way you’re naturally motivated to act doesn’t fit what the role truly requires. My work is about helping leaders and professionals leverage all of themselves so alignment, not burnout, becomes the norm.