#115: Out Of The Zone.
I know what it feels like when I am «in the zone». It is different now.
Right now, I am no longer in my zone. I am out. Completely.
How do I know?
Once upon a time, I asked myself what I needed to experience joy. Not just once. The objective of the exercise was to identify the drivers of what gave me joy so that I could cultivate them continuously. That was how I came up with the following four quadrants.
Connect — It is about us
Interactions with other people have the same effect on me as sunlight and water have on plants. They are not only vital to survival, nothing develops without them.
That includes my wife and children, extended family, friends and co-workers, but it doesn’t stop there. Actively reaching out to people I haven’t yet met but would love to get to know also falls into that category. And then there is those interactions I don’t plan for, the accidental ones, often in places where I know upfront that if I were to run into someone, the resulting conversation would be an enriching one.
Grow — it is about me
This is my personal space. It is where I look after myself. Ultimately, it is all about health, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. However, there is nothing competitive about it. I don’t compare myself to others. I experience personal growth when I am a better person today compared to who I was yesterday. That shows when I am in good shape, well rested, curious, present, balanced, helpful, interested, humorous, trying out new things, willing to experiment and joyful.
Design — it is about why
What is my place on this planet? How can I contribute to something bigger than me? What are the questions I ought to asked but never dared asking? This is about thinking in systems and seeing the larger picture. Some of it is practical and tangible, quite a bit is not. Productivity and efficiency are not the goal, which doesn’t mean that there could be real output.
Ship — it is about getting things done
Ultimately, we make a difference with our actions. That is why getting things done is important. It is what we celebrate, what brings us across the finisher line, what allows us to say «yes, we did it». Not aiming for perfection, being happy with «good enough».
When I feel engaged with the world around me, care enough about myself, invest time and energy into designing solutions for problems that matter to me and deliver tangible outcomes, then I am in the zone.
That is not what I experience right now. I am out of the zone, not only in one quadrant, but all four.
That is bad. The good thing about is that I am aware. So how do I find a way back into the zone? There is only one way and that one starts with me. Baking my own bread again. Going for a walk in the forest. Finishing a book. Laughing about what I now worry about. From there I rebuild momentum in all other quadrants. It is possible as I have seen it happening many times before.
Looking forward to working myself back into the zone.
Starting tomorrow!
