The Zone

Have you ever been in the zone before?

Maybe you were playing a sport, performing on stage, solving an equation, troubleshooting an issue and you were on point! Everything in front of you was in complete focus. You not only had the ability to perform at an extremely high level, but you could for see future moves, and obstacles, and simply dominate. It's as if you unlocked the Matrix, took the blue pill, you were in the zone, and nobody could stop you.

What was that like? How did that feel?

When I've polled audiences with these questions they typically flash back to years earlier. They think of a high school football game, or a presentation that once gave. It's never an example from yesterday, or even last week... why?

It seems as though we have all tasted the zone before, but why can't we continually find the zone? One reason may be that most people aren't looking to enter this arena of production at this current point and time. They aren't living on the savanna, hungry, and needing to kill an antelope with a stick to survive... they're not hungry. They are living in a routine, repeating their daily activities, and more or less living for the weekends... The zone? What zone? What's for lunch?

Another reason for a lack of living in the zone may be the individual's vehicle. The entity in which they produce, their job, does not require them to pursue and find the zone. Many people are in a vehicle with set hours, set pay, and set expectations. My uncle once told me about a young man who started his first day working for the railroad. He was swinging his hammer, and working hard for all of about 10 minutes, until he was told by his foreman to take it easy... that he was making everyone look bad. He was actually being encouraged to avoid the zone!

There are three zones in which we may reside. It's common to move back and forth between zones. But long term success can be found within a single zone over an extended period of time. Let's dive into each zone.

The first zone is what we spoke about earlier. Most people permanently live in the comfort zone. It's all too common for a young college graduate to accept the first job offer that comes their way, get comfortable with their modest 3% raises every year. And have a mid life crisis in their 40s when they finally stand up from their cubicle and realize that they've settled for the comfort zone... never really stretching them self and pursuing what they truly valued.

The comfort zone is a fine place to reside. You can earn a living, take care of your family, and live... comfortably. But if you're an A Player, and want more out of life, or desire to make an impact on the community, a move must be made. A move towards stretching yourself to move beyond comfort.

The stretch zone is where the movers and shakers live. They look for opportunities to grow, learn, and make mistakes. The stretch zone is where your sales calls are completed, or phone calls made for the day, or you're done with the day's required reading for class... and you decide to stretch and do more. The stretch zone is when you purposefully exit the comfort zone, do more, or even do what scares you. It's where experiential learning occurs, and you get better. It's where the extra dead lift rep resides, or where you hand goes up to challenge the CEO's new idea. The stretch zone is a gateway to consistently live in THE ZONE. Most people have only experienced this level of production a few times in their lives. But what could you accomplish if you stretched yourself every day? Those daily stretches consistently over time add up to massive change, growth and results.

The third zone is an arena that most of us have entered while going to school. Putting that term paper off until the last minute, puts you smack dab in the middle of the Stress Zone. It's super stressful to be in this arena, and its unsustainable to reside here. Performance can peak in the stress zone, but it's always short lived. People who try to set up shop in the stress zone quickly experience burnout, discouragement and anxiety. They quickly revert back to their comfort zone and tend to lose any momentum they've created. Bouncing back and forth from the comfort zone, to the stress zone can be frustrating because you may never gain traction, and you may end up doubting yourself and your abilities.

I read a great book years ago by John Maxwell. In his book 360 Leader he discusses leading from where you're at. I love this concept because it supports the idea of leading while living in your stretch zone. We are all individually responsible for our personal growth. We are responsible for our lives, where we are and where we are heading. If you don't like where you're going, change. Make changes to stretch yourself, and lead your life from where you are today. Take on a project that scares you, that requires more responsibility, that forces you to speak in public, and get out of your comfort zone. If the vehicle you're in is placing a lid on your potential, change it. If there's no possible way to enter a stretch zone, change. Find an outlet to learn, grow and make mistakes. Find an arena that will reward you for stretching, and recognize your growth, and provide you with opportunities to pay it forward.

The stretch zone has room for us all. But it requires consistent, daily decisions to get us there. If you could enter the zone, and live there for a week, a month, even a year straight, where would you be?

Make stretch the new standard.