Your career superpower is hiding in plain sight
Why what feels ordinary to you might be legendary to others
Christopher Lochhead was running errands when a casual conversation revealed something profound about how we miss what's right in front of us.
At the local store, the woman at checkout asked about his weekend plans. He mentioned having dinner with his "bride."
"Your bride?", she said. "How long have you been married?"
"Eighteen years. And I still think she's really fucking legendary."
The woman stared at him. "You sound like someone who's recently in love. After 18 years, how did you do that?"
His answer was simple: "We designed our relationship."
She looked at him like he'd parted the Red Sea.
"I've never heard anybody say that. What does that mean?"
Christopher explained how he and his wife sat down early in their relationship and mapped out what they wanted their life together to look like. They talked about what worked and didn't work in previous relationships, the kind of life they wanted to build, how they'd handle problems.
Something that felt completely ordinary to Christopher - having intentional conversations about designing a partnership - was revolutionary to someone else.
This isn't just a nice story.
With AI advancing exponentially, the ability to recognise what's "ordinary to you but legendary to others" might be the difference between thriving and becoming obsolete.
What I was missing
It's only over the past few years that I've had a similar revelation. That there are things I find enjoyable or (relatively) easy, that others dread or simply can't do.
Breaking down complex ideas into simpler terms comes fairly naturally to me. Most people struggle with this.
I actually relish sitting with messy problems without rushing to quick answers. Most people find this uncomfortable.
And for some reason, I genuinely enjoy public speaking. When, of course, most people can barely think of anything worse.
None of this felt particularly special to me. But other people seemed to value it.
Well, the truth is, this always mattered. As Naval Ravikant said:
"What feels like play to you, but looks like work to others? That's your path to leverage."
But it's becoming more important. Because we're shifting from what Christopher Lochhead calls the "knowledge worker era" to the "creator capitalist era."
"When access to all the world's knowledge is available for almost free in a nanosecond... the value of existing knowledge is dropping every day."
Knowledge workers get paid to apply existing information. Creator capitalists use AI and human creativity to build entirely new things of value.
How to identify your ordinary superpower
Think about:
What do people come to you for? (Not what you think they should come to you for)
When do people include you? (What situations trigger "we need to get Sarah on this")
What's your reputation when you're not in the room? ("Your reputation is what people say about you when you're not in the room. And in a work context, it's under what conditions do they go, 'We need to get ahold of Ollie because he's our guy on this.”
This beats following your passion because it starts with external validation, not internal guessing.
The people already coming to you are showing you exactly where your value lies.
Take Christopher's friend Chris Stanley.
He wasn't a writer or editor, but people kept coming to him with the same problem:
"I want to write a book but don't know where to start."
Instead of dismissing this, Chris recognised his superpower - coordinating all the moving pieces to get someone from idea to published mini-book.
He declared himself "the mini-book guy" and now uses AI to help thought leaders publish books in weeks instead of years.
Chris didn't try to become something new. He systematised what he was already doing.
Why this matters now
While everyone else scrambles to upskill or compete with AI, you can build your advantage around what you naturally do well.
Your existing skills won't protect you. But your superpower - the thing people already come to you for - that's harder to replicate.
The irony? Most of us have been trained out of recognising our natural abilities. We've been taught to fit in, follow processes, be good employees. But as Christopher puts it:
"Our natural state is one of radical ongoing, unabashed, unafraid, playful, and fun creativity and innovation. We get beat the shit out of by the world, by a system that tells us we all have to be the same."
Your superpower was always there. You just stopped noticing it.
This week, try this:
Ask 5 people: "What do you typically come to me for?" Don't explain why - just ask.
Review your last 20 messages. What are people asking about that you take for granted?
Notice what energises you but drains others. That's often where your biggest opportunity lives.
Look for the intersection:
What people already seek you out for + What you enjoy that others avoid = Your creator capitalist advantage.
What do people come to you for that feels ordinary to you? I’d love to hear to hear what you come up with. I read every reply.
Have a lovely weekend,
Ollie
Listen to my conversation with Christopher Lochhead, co-creator of Category Pirates and author of Play Bigger, on this week’s Ollie on Work podcast, HERE.
Interested in me sharing insights on these topics with your team? Book a free consultation - HERE