It has been a little while since I blogged, so first I’ll apologize for that. Now that’s out of the way, there has been something on my mind that has inspired me enough to share it with you. I’m going to call it “living in the spin zone”. I learned this at a young age when there was a lot of things in life happening that was starting to affect my mood and bring me down. I had a very influential person in my life at that time (still do) named Beverly. Every time there was something that would happen and it would get me down she would say, “Chris, you have 5 minutes to be down and sulk. After that, put a smile back on your face and get to it!” It bothered me at first, but she was teaching me that staying in a mood like that was counterproductive to accomplishing all the things that could be accomplished in a day. Don’t get me wrong, she was very empathetic to situations, but there comes a point and time where being down and thinking about that situation is not going to help you get out of it. In fact, whatever you focus on is where you will end up. I love what the author of the 7 decisions, Andy Andrews says. “Your best level of thinking is what got you here. It’s not likely that the same level of thinking will get you out of the situation.” Over the years I have trained my mind to live in a spin zone. I find myself constantly spinning the positive. When things get me down and I feel like moping and perhaps even complaining, I remind myself of what Beverly taught me and spin it to the positive. I use it to now motivate me. Instead of it taking me down and it being my excuse, I turn it to positive and use it as a reason to achieve. I have heard some say, “Chris, that isn’t being real”. When I was a kid, my brothers and I would play hide and seek. Every time I spotted my brother and he knew it, he would say, “You can’t see me cause I can’t see you”. I would punch him and say, “I can see you just fine.” I’m not saying that you live in an altered reality where you don’t see what is plain as day around you. I’m saying that you train your mind to spin it, and use it as motivation to succeed in spite of your surroundings. Besides, would you rather be sad and not move towards your goals, or driven to reach them? The spin zone has helped me not entertain the negative thoughts that can take you out, and focus on the things that are important to move me closer to them.