WHEN YOU’RE IN THE ZONE, YOU SHUT OUT EVERYTHING ELSE, AND CONTROL THE UNCONTROLLABLE.
An excerpt from RELENTLESS: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, by Tim S. Grover
Quiet, dark, alone. Always alone, even in a crowd, even when you’re surrounded by an entire arena of fans screaming your name. Alone in your head, alone with that buzz no one but you can feel . . . no outside static. No distraction. Right now, all about you. That dark side pushing you, burning in you, driving you . . . do it. Do it. You can hear your heart, you control every beat. You control everything. Somebody is talking at you . . . but you don’t hear and don’t want to. Later tonight someone—media, colleague, family—will say you’re a jerk, rude and uncommunicative. They don’t get it and you don’t care. “In your own little world,” they say. Yes. Exactly. Get out. Leave me alone. Leave me alone.
You’re in the Zone.
You know others around you are emotional. They feel scared or jealous or excited or they’re too clueless to understand what’s happening, but you feel only readiness. No emotion, because in the Zone the only sensation is anger, a quiet, icy anger simmering under your skin . . . never rage, never out of control. Silent, like a storm that moves in slow and dark, its violence unseen until it hits, and can’t be measured until it moves on.
That’s the impact of a Cleaner in the Zone.
Everything you feel, all your energy, it’s right under the surface. No ripples, no waves . . . no one can see what’s coming. Leave the drama and chaos to others, that’s not you. You’re saving it all for what’s ahead.
Because once you step into the Zone, that’s it. You own time.
***
Anyone who has experienced the awesome power of the Zone will tell you it’s deeply calm. It’s not relaxing or peaceful—this isn’t yoga—but intensely focused. And once you’re there, you have no fear, no worry, no emotion. You do what you came to do, and nothing can touch you. But what takes you to that elusive space where you’re fearless and powerful, where you can completely trust yourself to just let go? How do you find that perfect internal silence that people talk about but can’t ever really describe?
One thing I know for sure is that we all have a trigger that puts us in the Zone, something that ignites our competitive intensity, laser focus, and a relentless craving to attack and conquer. It’s different in every individual, and no one can tell you how to get there. But I can tell you this much: it comes straight from the part of you I call your dark side, which we’re going to discuss in the pages ahead. Truth: when you’re finally able to let go and be who you really are, that’s what puts you in the Zone, and only then can you control your fear and inhibition. Without that deep instinctive component, it’s like trying to light a lighter that has no fuel inside. You get a lot of sputtering little sparks but no fire.
