Coach Chot Reyes: Thriving tips to ZVCC photographers

IN THE ZONE:

Stepping out of your comfort zone, but remain true to your gift zone

by Jay Camus

Chot Reyes was the first invited speaker for the 2022 edition of the Z Academy. Yes, that Chot Reyes. Multi awarded winning coach of the Philippine Basketball Association. The coach of the Philippine team that made “Puso” the battle cry of the Philippines as underdogs who clawed their way to the most successful finish in the international stage in decades. Motivational speaker and leadership coach by way of Coachcom which he also heads.

Listing his awards, accomplishments, and titles would probably fill up the newsletter. There is, however, one item notably missing in the credits of Coach Chot. He is not a photographer. A man that has probably been photographed more often than even the most prolific selfie seeker clearly admits that he knows next to nothing about photography.

Chot was not invited to speak at the Z/Academy for his photographic know how. In fact the title of his talk “Into the Zone. Stepping Out of Your Comfort Into Your Gift” should give one a good idea of what to expect from such an accomplished motivational speaker. While comfort is something all should seek, it should be seen as a hindrance to greater success as Chot pointed out.

Chot’s illustrated his point with stories from his career. In spite of being a championship level coach, he was still let go by the teams he led to glory. He feels this was a result of his getting too comfortable, too complacent, and losing what made him a winner in the first place. It took being fired to bring him back to his core.

Coach Chot has a four step approach to coming out of one’s comfort zone. What he calls the ABCD method. A is for Awareness. B is Beliefs. C stands for Courage. D is Do It. This would apply to any achievements that one would wish to aim for. Success in business, glory in sports, academic recognition, and even a greater degree of mastery of photographic skills.

One of Chot’s points is the importance of mindset. One can work to survive but being satisfied with survival will keep one from thriving. Having a mindset aimed at growth will increase the likelihood of success or maybe coming home with a trophy from a Zone Five contest. People should not fear failure but rather should learn from it.

Change does come all at once. The Coach stressed the need to take “Tiny Tweaks.” It would not be realistic to expect success to come immediately. Naturally there is an amount of work that will come with it. Success is not from intensity but rather from consistency.

Falling into the trap of getting too comfortable generally marks the beginning of the end. This holds true at all levels. It holds true for organizations as well as individuals.

The Zone Five Camera Club is celebrating its 44^th anniversary in 2022. It has lasted this long in part because the members are consistently challenged to do better, to try harder, to avoid complacency. As an organization the club also challenges itself coming up with better projects, better exhibits, better contests, and be a better club. Perhaps be the best camera club. A club with much puso.