You have a category superpower. Here’s how to see it
4 steps to unlock what makes you different.
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Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,
In yesterday’s Category Design Academy workshop, we asked a question:
What’s the thing you do that makes a disproportionate difference for others?
The question seems simple. But when you sit with it, it cracks open everything—your work, your purpose, your confidence, your category.
You might call it instinct or talent.
We call it your Category Superpower.
It’s the thing that creates an exponential impact when you do it. The pattern of value that follows you everywhere you go. The outcomes you drive for others.
You have a Category Superpower, even if you can’t see it yet.
When most people think about a superpower, they think about how others see them.
But your Category Superpower isn’t about perception.
It’s the pattern of value you create for others, over and over again.
It’s being the only one who does it that way.
In the Academy workshop, a member named Nick said he’s been wrestling with how to describe his superpower. As he explained it out loud, the pattern popped:
“I’m good at scanning the entire playing field and finding the crevice, the crack, the constraint in the industry.”
Although SEO strategy for attorneys is his “most recent outcome,” it’s not the full story of his superpower. Nick shared what he has done, what he enjoys doing, and where he feels his potential lies.
Pirate Eddie reflected back the meta-pattern he saw in Nick:
“Most people fixate on traffic, but you see the field. You find the constraint and choose the decisive move. That’s the wide-angle lens. That’s your meta-superpower. ”
This 'a-ha' moment happened as a result of pattern recognition.
How To Discover Where Your Superpower Lives
To recognize your superpower patterns, don’t confuse skills with superpowers.
A skill is context-dependent.
A superpower travels with you.
If it doesn’t show up outside of work, it’s a skill. If it does, it’s your superpower.
Here’s a lens to make it tangible.
Ask yourself:
What problems find me again and again?
What patterns keep showing up in my work and in my life?
When do people say, “I don’t know how you do that so easily”?
What happens around me when I’m at my best?
These are your Superpower signals—the moments you create disproportionate value without extra effort.
Then, another member named Mario asked:
“Is your superpower for you personally or for your business?”
It’s a great question. Often, they’re reflections of each other.
If you’re a founder, creator, or executive who designs new categories, that impulse shows up in your personal life. You redesign how you learn, your family rituals, your fitness routines, or even how you travel.
The same curiosity that questions an industry norm often questions a life norm.
Business just makes it measurable.
If you’re a natural builder, you’ll build companies.
If you’re a natural synthesizer, you’ll design systems.
If you’re a natural connector, you’ll architect relationships.
A Category Superpower runs underneath everything you do.
If your superpower is pattern recognition, it probably shows up at home as connection-making. If your superpower is turning chaos into clarity, you probably do that in every conversation you have. If your superpower is turning signals into systems, chances are your life and business share that same organized rhythm.
The distinction between a business and personal superpower isn’t either/or.
It’s the same pattern playing at different volumes across your life.
How To Map Your Superpower
We use a simple four-part map in the Academy: