Play to Your Strengths: Understanding the Circle of Competence

Want to make smarter choices? Learn this game-changing concept.

I am not good at packing up the car.

If we need to load up luggage for a trip, help someone move, or pack up the car after a big Costco trip, I am not your guy. If you go with me, odds are good you will ride home with the Talking Rain at your feet and bags of chips in your lap.

My wife, on the other hand, is a packing master. She spent her formative years playing hours of Tetris and sees a pile of things and a confined space as a fun challenge—a puzzle to be solved.

When she’s done, you can go right from Costco to Lowe's just because you can.

Packing cars is firmly in her wheelhouse. Which brings us to this week's topic: the concept of the "circle of competence." We'll unpack (see what I did there?) what it means, why it matters, and how you can use it to play to your strengths and make smarter choices.

What is the Circle of Competence?

Much like my wife's uncanny ability to transform our car into a real-life game of Tetris, each of us has areas where we excel. This is the essence of the ci…