Transcription
As you know, I've been obsessed with the Zone. And in this video, I want to talk about the seven levels of the Zone.
The first level is the anti-zone. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite of the Zone. This is where things move too fast, where you have bad luck on command. It's like bad luck multiplies. You have a lack of skill, a lack of coordination. Even things you actually have skill in, you get in your own way. You play over-aggressive, or maybe you're too lethargic. It's the opposite of things slowing down. It's the opposite of feeling highly coordinated. It's the opposite of confidence. You lack self-esteem. Everything feels like chaos. It feels scattered. It feels unorganized. And a lot of players end up in this type of Zone, this level one zone, the anti-zone, which again, is the opposite of the highest levels of the Zone.
The second level of the Zone is the no Zone. This is where you have players who aren't really engaged in the game. For better or worse, they don't really care. It's just this kind of blah existence. They go, they play, but they aren't really into it. They're not really out of it. They're just kind of there. They're role players who have no enthusiasm. They're just there. It's the no Zone. It's bland. And they eventually fall away and stop playing, not because they hate it, it's just because it doesn't bring them anything. They're just flat. If you think about players who aren't emotional and just flat, I'm not talking about like Tim Duncan or Kawhi, like that sort of game phase. I'm just talking about players who just don't seem to ever experience the highs or the lows of the game. They just don't care. They're out there because their friends are there. They're out there because maybe their parents want them to play, but they never experience the Zone. That's level two, people who just don't experience the Zone.
The third level is the episodic Zone. Now, this is where I think a lot of you are who are listening. You love the game. This is for people who love the game, and occasionally, you find yourself in the Zone. You find yourself on balance. You find yourself composed. You find yourself confident. You find yourself able to focus. You make your shots. If you play golf, you swing the club great. And it's just a mystery. This is like the mysterious. I'm like, how do I get there? Why did it come about that one day that I remembered from a year ago when I just couldn't miss? Like, what happened then? I'm so confused. I'm not sure. But at the third level, you finally have a glimpse of the higher levels, and what you want to get there, you just don't know what to do. That's where a lot of people who find my channel come from. They experience the episodic Zone, and it's mysterious to them. They have these fond memories of it, but they can't remember how to get back there. So they just keep playing and crossing their fingers and hoping they find the Zone. It's a better place to be than level two, the no zone, or the anti-zone, but it's still, you're just not reaching your potential. It's still a lower level of prowess.
Now, the next levels, the next four levels, are where we really start getting into the Zone. The fourth level is the psychological Zone, or the basic Zone. In this level, you're using your conscious mind to think positively, to think clearly. You're using your willpower. Your thoughts are under your control by conscious effort. The fourth level is maybe the most important level, simply because it's what you can control. You're using your conscious mind to start to bring yourself closer to a zone-like state. You're using affirmations. You're talking positively to yourself. You're visualizing. You're using your mind to bring you closer to the Zone. This Zone is something that is under your control, and you can be there almost every single day. You wake up and you start to think about your goals for the day. You're writing down goals. You're thinking clearly in the sense that you know exactly what you want. You have a plan for the day. You have routines you're sticking to, and you can play very well in this state.
Now, this isn't the same as the next level, level five, where you get into the subconscious Zone. That's level five, the subconscious Zone. Now, here is where the conscious mind becomes quiet. It's not that you don't have access to the conscious mind, it's that the conscious mind becomes quiet, and the subconscious takes over. In the psychological Zone at level four, you're addicted to repetitions. You're using your willpower. You're using reframing. You're using positive thinking, positive self-talk, visualization. You're just flooding your subconscious with mental and physical reps. You're using your thinking to stay motivated. You're in, you're dousing yourself in motivation. At level four, you're staying inspired, and you're doing that so you can eventually, as you're in that psychological Zone, drift into the subconscious Zone.
The subconscious Zone is where things are on automatic. It's where you're humming along. It's where there's that feeling of time slowing down, where you have amazing coordination, where you can't miss, where you can anticipate things, where you feel like your best self, where your confidence is so off the charts, it's beyond, uh, anything you'll experience at the lower levels. You're just loving the game. It's when the game is extremely fun. Now, when you get into the subconscious Zone, where everything's automatic, humming along, it's a very, very high place. It's, it's if you get to level five, and that's the only place you go to, well, you're in a magnificent place. And it's just getting into the psychological Zone opens up the door for the subconscious Zone.
Now, beyond the subconscious Zone, there's the hyper Zone. A hyper Zone is the psychological Zone. You have access to your conscious mind. It's a subconscious Zone. The subconscious is taking over. But then you also access the collective unconscious. You start to embody the archetypes. You become, if you're a warrior, you become Achilles. If you're a basketball player, you become, it's almost like you channel Kobe or Jordan, right? And that's what they were channeling, uh, the other greats when they played. You become the archetype. You become a genius at this level. In the psychological and the subconscious Zone, you probably go for, if you're playing basketball, 30 points. You shoot 50%, 55% free throws, 90%, right? Playing extremely well. In the hyper Zone, this is where you start to shoot 75%, 80%, and you score 50, 60, 70 points, where you get a bunch of steals, a bunch of rebounds, a bunch of assists. These are the rare games in NBA history. This is a step above the subconscious Zone. This is the Zone of Kobe scoring 81. This is the Zone of Jordan scoring 69 points, or the first half against the Portland Trail Blazers. The greats get to the psychological Zone very often, every game. They even get into the subconscious Zone. It's a certain part of the game. In the hyper Zone, it's almost like you find the hypers from the beginning. And getting in the psychological Zone helps you get into the subconscious Zone. And being in the subconscious Zone, it lays the groundwork for finding the hyper Zone.
Now, there is a state even beyond the hyper Zone, and I call it the spiritual Zone. The spiritual Zone, compared to the hyper Zone in terms of athletics, is you get into these periods of maybe weeks or days or months at a time where you're in the Zone around the clock. You never leave the Zone. Kobe scoring 49 straight games is an example of that, right? You're just in that, you're in a Zone that's above the hyper Zone because it just doesn't leave. You've seen Jordan do this during playoff runs. It's game in, game out. You start to average 40, 45 points a game for an extended period of time. Or if you're a golfer, you're shooting like below 65 for an extended period of time. It's like the hyper Zone plus being stuck in the hyper Zone is the spiritual Zone. You have a sense of the miraculous. You have a sense of being guided by a higher power. You feel like you're put on Earth to do what you're doing. You feel like God is with you. And if you don't fight that feeling, there are stories of players who get into the spiritual Zone. They have these great stretches of games, and then they think, "I'm going to die. This can't go on." There was an NBA player who had this feeling. He, he actually did in college. He had these two 50-point games back to back, and it scared him so much, it was starting to drift in that spiritual Zone, that he, he backed away from it for a while. He thought his plane was going to crash because he'd been in the spiritual Zone. And it, you don't know what to do because everything goes right. I mean, you're not, you're shooting 70%, 80% game in and game out. You're starting to get these miraculous powers of anticipation. In the spiritual Zone, you seem to be able to, I know it sounds crazy, I've talked about it before on this channel, it's like this, you shoot a shot and it's off, and it's like you use your mind to move the ball back towards the hoop. Now, probably, if you're a materialist, what you would say is happening is you actually weren't off by that much. It just felt that way, but it came off your hand a little wrong. You weren't off as much as you think. But if you're in the spiritual Zone, it feels like you can almost move the ball with your mind. My neuroscience friends are laughing at me right now, but that's what it feels like phenomenologically.
So, the spiritual Zone is that hyacinth. Just to recap, level one is the anti-zone. It's the opposite of everything we're talking about on the spiritual side. It's like you are, you have the opposite of good luck. You, everything goes wrong. You're clumsy. You whack grace. You should also note the higher levels of the Zone, you have gracefulness. You're aesthetically pleasing very often, and you swish the ball more if you're a basketball player. It hits the center of the hoop more. From level one, the anti-zone, you go to the no Zone. These are guys who are just kind of out there. Level three is the episodic Zone. This is where I think a lot of you are. You have experienced The Zone and you're dying to get back. Level four is the Zone you have control over. That's the psychological Zone. When you're in the psychological Zone to the subconscious Zone, the psychological Zone, you're also repping it out mentally and physically, and that leads to the subconscious Zone where your subconscious takes over. Level six is the hyper Zone. Here you don't just shoot 56%, 50%, or 55%. You're up at 60%, 70%, 75%. These are the iconic performances. And then there's the spiritual Zone when you have a string of iconic performances back to back to back.
This is Dylan from basketballbrain.com. Please go to basketballbrain.com and get the full program. Also, check out boingvert.com and get hummingbird. Boingvert hummingbird, a really unique and innovative vertical jump program I came up with. And you also get basketball brain included if you purchase Boingvert. Peace, guys.