WHEN YOU’RE A CLEANER . . . . . You get into the Zone, shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Cleaner is never going to stand up in front waving a towel; he’s down at the end, alone, focused and unemotional. At a critical moment when everyone gets too pumped up and overheated, he’s the guy telling everyone else to keep it cool.
You can tell someone all day, “You need to relax, you need to focus.” But what does that actually mean? You’re not giving him anything he can use. He’s looking for someone to tell him what he’s
doing wrong because he thinks he’s relaxing and clearly he’s not. I can always tell when something on the inside is making someone react on the outside. So I point it out. Here’s your movement pattern, you look nervous. Your eye contact shows stress, you’re looking away instead of looking at your opponent. You’re grabbing at your shorts, you’re rolling your eyes . . . you’re emotional. And you’re doubting yourself, so the other guys have done their job and set up shop in your head; they’ve pulled you off your game. You’re not in the Zone. You’re thinking. Don’t think.
When you’re a Cleaner in the Zone, you operate with no wasted motion, no chaos, no warning. You don’t tell anyone what’s about to happen, it just happens. You may not even remember how it happened, but you know it did; as Kobe says, you know you’re in the Zone but you can’t think about it, because thinking is a distraction.
A Cleaner operates out of pure desire for that result because he knows he must execute or fail. There is no other way.
Emotions make you weak. And without focus, you fail
Emotions pull your focus and reveal that you’ve lost control, and ultimately they destroy your performance. They make you think about how you feel, and you’re not supposed to think, you’re supposed to be so well prepared that you slide into the Zone and perform with grace and purpose. Not possible if your mind is on other things.
A Cleaner thinks, If I’m feeling nervous, how the fuck are they feeling? They have to deal with me.
While others are getting heated up, I want you to start cool and stay cool, because anything that starts too hot can only get cold. When you want to preserve food and keep it fresh, what do you do? Refrigerate it. Keep it cool. Make it last longer. As the lights get brighter and the place gets hotter, you should be feeling darker and cooler, pulling deeper inside yourself. This is your Zone, all instinct; you can feel your way in the dark while others have to see and hear and watch what everyone else is doing. You go with what you feel. The people who can get into that space, those are your killers.
Finding your way into the Zone begins with trusting those instincts.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Cleaner is never going to stand up in front waving a towel; he’s down at the end, alone, focused and unemotional. At a critical moment when everyone gets too pumped up and overheated, he’s the guy telling everyone else to keep it cool.
You can tell someone all day, “You need to relax, you need to focus.” But what does that actually mean? You’re not giving him anything he can use. He’s looking for someone to tell him what he’s
doing wrong because he thinks he’s relaxing and clearly he’s not. I can always tell when something on the inside is making someone react on the outside. So I point it out. Here’s your movement pattern, you look nervous. Your eye contact shows stress, you’re looking away instead of looking at your opponent. You’re grabbing at your shorts, you’re rolling your eyes . . . you’re emotional. And you’re doubting yourself, so the other guys have done their job and set up shop in your head; they’ve pulled you off your game. You’re not in the Zone. You’re thinking. Don’t think.
When you’re a Cleaner in the Zone, you operate with no wasted motion, no chaos, no warning. You don’t tell anyone what’s about to happen, it just happens. You may not even remember how it happened, but you know it did; as Kobe says, you know you’re in the Zone but you can’t think about it, because thinking is a distraction.
A Cleaner operates out of pure desire for that result because he knows he must execute or fail. There is no other way.
Emotions make you weak. And without focus, you fail
Emotions pull your focus and reveal that you’ve lost control, and ultimately they destroy your performance. They make you think about how you feel, and you’re not supposed to think, you’re supposed to be so well prepared that you slide into the Zone and perform with grace and purpose. Not possible if your mind is on other things.
A Cleaner thinks, If I’m feeling nervous, how the fuck are they feeling? They have to deal with me.
While others are getting heated up, I want you to start cool and stay cool, because anything that starts too hot can only get cold. When you want to preserve food and keep it fresh, what do you do? Refrigerate it. Keep it cool. Make it last longer. As the lights get brighter and the place gets hotter, you should be feeling darker and cooler, pulling deeper inside yourself. This is your Zone, all instinct; you can feel your way in the dark while others have to see and hear and watch what everyone else is doing. You go with what you feel. The people who can get into that space, those are your killers.
Finding your way into the Zone begins with trusting those instincts.
Comments
Post a Comment