Putting Yourself “In the Zone”

We are not talking about your Comfort Zone.  If you are reading this chapter, you are reading it because you want to LEAVE your Comfort Zone.  We see the Comfort Zone Syndrome in sports all the time.  It’s the 12-point-per-game scorer in basketball who has 10 in the first half.  Second half? 3 points.  It’s the 15-handicapper in golf, who shoots 39 on the front nine and 51 on the back.

To leave your Comfort Zone, for those times that you require your best performance, you need to be “In the Zone.”  As former athletes, we called it “psyched,” “pumped up,” “wired,” “on fire,” or “juiced.”

In “The Zone,” it is easy to concentrate.  You have a heightened sense of awareness.  Your adrenaline electrifies you, but you feel strangely calm.

As you perform your job, you feel that you are working at warp speed, getting three times as much done as you would normally.  When you look at the clock, you can’t believe that you have so much time left, because you have been so productive already.

In a terrific book, “Mentally Tough,” James E. Loehr, Ed..D., talks about acting out the role of a confident person.  He suggests observing . . .

“How does a confident person act?  One who stands tall, who speaks with authority, who stays in control.  If you stand tall, speak with authority, and stay in control –in short, if you act like a confident person – then you will become a confident person.”

The basic message is:  Body and mind are very closely connected, so you pay attention to both to set the stage for personal motivation.

Co-author Steve Carroll is president and CEO of Lee DuBois Technologies (www.leedubois.com).  Lee DuBois Technologies offers sales training and talent development for individuals and corporations.  To purchase a copy of Don’t Sell Yourself Short…Be All That You Can Be!, visit the website, www.dontsellyourselfshort.net .