If you want to win the battle you have to be there in the battlefield. If you wish to win the game, you have to be there in the playground. It is your mind, and nothing else, who will make you the winner in the game of life, explains Ashay

It's been a few weeks now that I have been trying to write a blog. Generally I have hundreds of thoughts going on in my mind which I believe could be interesting content for a blog. However once I sit to pen it down, somehow the thoughts seem to dry up. It may be so that sub consciously I have convinced myself that I am not that good at writing. So every now and then there is an urge to give up. I keep on believing it's not my cup of tea and so I am not going to put any effort into it, but something holds me back.

Once I was watching a video by a gentleman named of 'Ido Portal' whom I follow, for my exercise routine and he made an interesting statement. He said “Never leave the Playground”. That statement might have impacted me I believe, because from then on, I don't quit anything I am trying to do. Time factor barely bothers me and I concentrate on my tasks in very small progressions. Ido elaborated during his talk that each one of us is acting in three zones.

Zone 1
Learning - When you start to learn learning something new.
This is the zone in which you make most of the mistakes. You tend to be conscious about every action. Moreover this is the zone in which you look the clumsiest. Have you ever thought of your first driving class or the first time you started learning music? Felt too difficult right? But there is an upside to it. This is the zone which contributes to the greatest brain development. He quoted a very beautiful example in which two people tried to learn juggling for 3 months. One was able to juggle whereas the other wasn't. However their MRI scans showed that the brain development results for both of them were the same. So whether you get it or not, just keeping at it is enough to develop a change.

Zone 2
Practicing - This is the zone in which you learn to do things but the finesse is missing.
Technically all the things, you are doing is correct but it feels like still there is something lacking to make it better. This is the zone where you are trying to perfect whatever we have learnt. This zone also causes some brain development but not as effective as zone 1.

Zone 3
Performance - This zone is where you effortlessly perform the actions.
The action is engrained into your subconscious such that you are able to perform even after you wake up from deep slumber. However beautiful this zone might look but this one does not offer any growth.

Now in the perfection driven world we all are appreciated when we are operating in Zone 3. So we enjoy staying in this zone. On the other hand we are laughed at, when we are in Zone 1 and hence we tend to avoid this zone. However I believe that if you continuously need to grow, you should remain in zone 1 for longer by putting enough items to learn, while performing your actions in Zone 3.

As I said at the start of this blog that I believed that I cannot complete a blog, however because I 'Never left the Playground', here I am completing my first blog. Mind you I am still in Zone 1 of and will brush up further on my skills of writing a great blog.

- Ashay Mahajan
The writer is Adventure & Fitness Enthusiast and Co-founder of Swayam Talks.