Your Expectations Shape Your World

DAM Monday March 19, 2001

I know I know it’s been a while since a new DAM Monday has shown up but sometimes I just don’t have that much to say.

Today I thought I would share some wisdom I picked up while in Colorado a few weeks ago. I spent a couple of days with my brother and his kids and learned a valuable lesson from his four-year old boy.

Patrick, his son, is taking Karate and his instructor teaches his students at any given time humans are living in one of four zones.

The Zones are color coded white, yellow, red and black.

The yellow zone is a place where you are tuned into your world, you are relaxed, and focused, and you pay attention to your body and your surroundings.

In the white zone you are out of it, you are not tuned into the world or your surroundings, you have little or no focus, and you invite accidents and mishaps.

The red zone is the “no go tell zone.” In this zone if someone is causing a problem or doing something they shouldn’t be doing to you or others you tell them to stop, if they choose not to stop you go tell the proper person.

The black zone is the fight for your life zone.

Obviously we want to be living in the yellow zone as often as possible.

On the days I was in town the four year old had an assignment to learn to be aware when he and those around him where in the white zone. I have to admit he was quite good at pointing out when his uncle Bobby was living in the white zone.

Once I returned to Dallas I found myself spending too much time in the white zone. Thinking about who knows why or what, with little focus as to where I was, or why I was there. I also noticed others seemed to be living in the white zone and few people were living in the yellow zone.

Then one day it dawned on me if I’m spending more time in the white zone and less time in the yellow zone I’m missing most of my life. And the really scary part was I was the one choosing to live in such a foolish manner.

I decided I would take my nephew’s coaching and make an effort to live more of my life in the yellow zone and less in the white zone. Its’ kind of fun to judge myself in different situations and discover where I go mentally.

Maybe you can use this approach at sometime in your life, like when the leader of your lane can’t get the clock right and your rest goes from 25 seconds to 5 seconds all because he was swimming in the white zone!

I thought I would pass this zone theory on so that somebody else might gain an extra few moments in the yellow zone.

See you at the pool.

Bobby