Hinsdale Magazine February 2021

Hinsdale Magazine | Cover Story

2021

It’s your

year!

Jim Fannin

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Q&A With America’s“Zone Coach” Jim Fannin

Jim Fannin, a Burr Ridge

resident, is widely known as America’s “zone coach." His 21-page biography (link attached) reflects his career and memorializes his clients’ successes. It covers 48 years, and details how he has coached tens of thousands of students, amateur and professional athletes, as well as corporate executives from small and large businesses to moms, dads and couples, using simple tools and techniques to help an individual make the most of their mental capabilities— to become their genuine, authentic best self.

Because 2020 has been such an upsetting year for everyone, we asked Jim to remind us of how we can be our best selves as we go in 2021.

Q. Jim, how and when did you realize you had a gift for helping people improve themselves?

A. In addition to my extremely positive parents, there were two early mentors that helped me understand how to focus on what is important, and to pay attention to detail. My Cherokee Indian grandfather (“pap-paw”) would take me into the woods in my native eastern Kentucky mountains, when I was just 5 years old. He trained me to be aware of my surroundings in the here and now. One day he said, “Let’s play a game of ‘find your way home.’ I am going to blindfold you, and take you to a place in the mountains you’ve never been.” He told me to

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH JIM FANNIN AND LARRY ATSEFF

count as high as I could, and take the blindfold off. (He was always nearby). He said, “You’re never lost. You just haven’t found your way. If you get lost, physically go to 'higher ground' by climbing a tree or standing on a large rock. Don’t panic—take a deep breath, relax and look for signs.” We played this game for years, and it made a big impression. He also said something else I’ve never forgotten: “Your dreams are like the woods; they are alive. Keep them alive, and they can come true.”

A few years later, I was on a park

“You’re never lost. You just haven’t found your way. If you get lost, physically go to 'higher ground; by climbing a tree or standing on a large rock. Don’t panic—take a deep breath, relax and look for signs.”

- JIM FANNIN

bench in Ashland, Kent. reading a tennis magazine article about two young Italian players. They were my age of 12. They were playing the European junior tennis circuit. A retired philosophy professor and YMCA tennis director named R.W. Ross looked over my shoulder and said, “You could go there. See it in your mind’s eye. Play tennis with them. Travel with them. Shut your eyes, and see it as if it’s so.” The next day, the scenario repeated itself. “Go in your mind with them. Travel

with them. See yourself playing and winning with them on the world tennis stage.” Those vivid images stayed with me for many years, and I followed their progress, while living a life I could only dream about. Sixteen years later, in 1978, I coached those two and their Italian Davis Cup teammates to the world finals. We traveled the world together. We even practiced at the Salt Creek Club in Hinsdale. Dreams do come true.

Because of my tennis prowess, a college scholarship and pro circuit arrived. Coaching, however, became my passion. Seeing others achieve their dreams setmy dreams in motion. [I] coached seven players in the world’s top ten (Wimbledon and French Open champions), as well as seven national amateur champions and scores of state champions.

Q. You have developed a proven success system you call S.C.O.R.E. Why does it work?

A. It came out of a private and independent 18-month research study that I funded in 1974. With three Ohio State Ph.D. professors, we studied 250 kids, ages 4 through 8, with the quest of “how to maximize super learning?” We discovered kids learn more in their first 60 months than the rest of their lives cumulatively. The reason: their minds are free—no past, no future to think about, just the here and now.

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Hinsdale Magazine | Cover Story

“Everyone needs a blueprint in life.”- JIM FANNIN

Continued from previous page

They are, in effect, in their zone of “super-learning.”

We also discovered five universal “markers” inherent in everyone: selfdiscipline, concentration, optimism, relaxation and enjoyment.

By this time, I was working with not only tennis players, but amateur and professional athletes in other sports.

Over and over, world champion athletes in virtually every sport told me how and why they became great. Before playing, the more they focused, those five markers were working in combination to trigger natural body chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, adrenaline, etc. to create a mind-body fusion called being in the “zone.”

I thought, this “zone” thing is real,

whether you are a youngster, or a world-class pro athlete.

More than that, I also came to the realization that people could apply a “zone” focus to their everyday life activities. We developed easy-to-use analytics, which enable individuals to rate what is important to them, so they can focus on what to improve. Those inherent “markers” were codified into an easy-to-remember acronym

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called S.C.O.R.E. (S stands for Selfdiscipline, C for Concentration, O for Optimism, R for Relaxation and E for Enjoyment). Hundreds of concrete mental tools and techniques have been added, such as the 90-second rule, a common-sense observation that most decisions can be made in just a few seconds, when a logical evaluation approach is followed. In effect, we help individuals, teams and companies create their own blueprint for improvement, coupled with the tools and techniques for manifestation.

The S.C.O.R.E. system simply works. It takes less than 3 percent of your waking hours to implement. It is all spelled out in my latest book called The Blueprint.

Q. What is keeping you busy these days?

A. My current focus is one of my greatest challenges, and it is crucial for our society to resolve.

When I went back home to eastern Kentucky a few years ago, I couldn’t believe how many restaurants had

closed. Hepatitis had overrun the area, because of opioid needles. That woke me up.—What happened to my hometown? I have also become very aware of opioid and alcohol challenges among teens and adults right here in DuPage County.

Fortunately, two years ago, I discovered a New Jersey-based company (Recovery Zone Solutions LLC) with a very effective non-opioidbased implant, enabling alcohol and opioid addicts to recover at home. I granted them an industry-exclusive license to pair their treatments with our S.C.O.R.E. tools and techniques. In combination with well-trained, licensed, clinical "zone coach" therapists, patients today are achieving a 90 percent recovery rate— four times more effective than other addiction programs for alcohol and opioids.

Recovery Zone Solutions also has a special focus on our military (both active and retired). Unfortunately, because of the psychological trauma and stress of the job and being away

from family while on duty, our military is affected more than most of us.

Q. What advice do you have for people right now?

A. Look, we have not only [gone] through this terrible 2020 year of [the] COVID-19 pandemic and economic upheaval, [but] for years, our ability to think and focus has been eroding. No thanks to social media, we are bombarded daily with thousands of messages. As a result, we are doing more “surface thinking” just to keep up, which is not very positive thinking at all. Attention spans have dropped. As quantity of information has increased, quality of thinking has decreased.

When we focus on things that really make a difference in our lives, we will be much better off. •

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“Reaching the Hall of Fame, I mean, I owe it to Jim Fannin. He taught me to live in the ‘zone.’ Once I started using Jim’s S.C.O.R.E. system, and following The Blueprint, it changed my entire life and career.”- FRANK TOMAS, Former Chicago White Sox Player

Chicago White Sox great Frank Thomas at his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame

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