Week 13
The school I work in provides us with professional development meetings every six weeks or so. As a speech and language therapist, it gives me more insight on what my kids are doing in the classroom, and for teachers it gives them time to plan as a group for the upcoming units. Last week, before any talking about future units occurred one of the assistant principals dimmed the lights and showed us a 5 minute TED Talk. It was about two important 'Zones' - the Learning Zone and the Performance Zone. Both zones are vital in all we do. We're either in one or the other. But for many reasons, we are typically stuck in one zone. We're stuck in the Performance Zone. Day and night. 24/7.
In all we do, work, hobbies, parenting, LIFE, we are usually in the performance zone. We perform. We do. We repetitively act on how and what we already know. This is how he explained it. I listened and knew it to be true. At least for me, in many aspects, it is true. As much as I hate to admit it, it felt as if it was being said solely to me. Loud and clear, with a dark background, and headlights on him. "Get out of the performance zone only, because nothing ever grows there" - ok Angie! Once again, this is it. Get out of it.
The performance zone is the zone that I am mostly in. Because when I perform I do what I know. I'm good at it. I've mastered it. I've already done it so many times that I know what to expect. The results are good, therefore I do it over and over again. It's pretty much my comfort zone.
I am typically in my performance zone at work with my kids. The materials, tasks, and strategies I use work, and the kids love them, so I use them over and over. Can I add more to my repertoire? Of course. Do I? Yes, but not as often as I would like to.
I also find myself in my Performance Zone in my art. With my photography and writing. Not because I love being there, but because it's what I know well and I like the results. When photographing, I usually have three or four compositions that I love. My hands tightly gripped on the camera swiftly, and automatically turn to those well known angles. The post processing is done with tools and programs, and clicks and shading that I am familiar with. Little frustration there. In writing, only my journal pages witnessed the bleeding of my pen. I read entries out loud or to a few friends, but nothing more.
But then I look back at photos I took 2 or 3 years ago, and realize I have been in the Learning Zone many points since, because I see growth. The lighting, colors, composition, focus, cleaner shots with less distraction. I can now pay attention to the entire picture, my subject and what surrounds it. The few workshops and classes I took, and self-taught practices brought me here. I look back at old journal entries and compare them to the ones I write now, as well as these essays, and realize my craft has improved. I no longer keep my writing in journals and for a few to know about, but publish them in a blog, weekly. And it's because at several points I've been in the Learning Zone in writing too. Inspiring workshops, more reading on the craft of writing, and giving myself more discipline in my writing practice, also brought me here. My Learning Zones merged with my Performance Zones, which is absolutely fine. That's the point. Learn it well, learn it deeply, put what I learn into practice, make it familiar, make it be a part of me. But I need to keep going back to my Learning Zone as much as possible. Because growth should never stop. Especially for the things I love.
If I could do less robotic performing and doing, and instead, do more learning, exploring and asking, I would be able to balance out my time in each zone, and prioritize the more important one. The Learning Zone.
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