Tezuka Zone (手塚ゾーン)

The first thing on your mind must be “wtf is a tezuka zone?’ Heck, what on earth is a Tezuka anyway? Well, Manga enthusiasts like myself would probably be familiar with the prince of tennis series; A series in which they play, well, Tennis. The captain of the protagonist’s squad is a guy named Tezuka. He’s a really good player. He’s got everything you could ask for; the service, the backhand, the smash. Pretty much your run of the mill great player (oxymoron anyone?). But the young lad also has the ungodly ability to spin the ball in such a way that, after a few exchanges, any return from the opponent flies right back to his racquet. Kind of like a vacuum/magnet. And from then on, the kid doesn’t have to move an inch; all the opponent’s returns go right back into his strike zone. And that’s the Tezuka zone. Awesome, right?

Yeah, I know it’s pretty much impossible in real life, (hey, that’s why it’s a manga!) But I digress.

Now you may be wondering what I’m ranting about. Well, you see, I really like that move. Apart from the fact that it’s Totally Awesome, I see it as analogous for the perfect life. The raison d’etre of lives everywhere. It’s the life all lives should aspire to be. (Right now you’re probably thinking “what the hell? I bust my ass for a bachelors degree/masters and this mo’fo is telling me to go play tennis?”). I implore you to be patient and allow me to expanciate (is that even a real word?)*

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim. Most Nigerians should know who that is. (Those who are still in the UK/USA, I wouldn’t bet on sha). Anyway, for those who don’t know, Mr. Ibrahim is a prolific entrepreneur, and just recently bought Virgin Nigeria, amongst other things. Now, one thing really amazed me about this encounter. It was not hearing of his exploits, nor was it hearing about the staggering rate at which he acquired business ventures. It was seeing the speed at which all these opportunities came to him. While I was in the meeting with Mr. Ibrahim, he literally had people lined up at his doorstep, waiting for an audience. Several he told to just come back another day. Some fortunate few were allowed the privilege of waiting in his compound whilst he wrapped up his other meetings. One thing in common with all these folks? They all wanted to do business. Some wanted to assist with a takeover; some wanted to be taken over. Others were potential pilots or managers of his most recent takeover (Virgin). There were all sorts, and Mr. Ibrahim had his pick of the litter. If he thought your proposal could fly, he’d buy into it. If not, he wouldn’t move a financial muscle. If he thought your venture had immense potential, you could walk away with millions in the space of an evening, though Mr. Ibrahim would likely make a few more million than you would at the end of the day. Such was his control over things.

Mr. Ibrahim is at that stage of life in which he no longer has a need to hustle; to go out and look for viable areas of growth. They all come to him. All that’s left for him to do is analyze the situation and pick what he thinks to be the most profitable ones. Everything is at his beck and call. The bullets are already loaded. All he has to do is pull the trigger, for he is the top gun. He is at the zenith, the epitome; at the centre of things; He is in his Tezuka Zone**. And I believe, to a greater or lesser extent, that this is where we should all aspire to be; at the center of things. To be the ‘be all and end all’ of whatever we do. We don’t have to make boatloads of money a la Mr. Ibrahim (though that would be nice too), but if we do what we love and strive to do it better than anyone else, money will naturally follow. And moreover, we will be at the dead center of our industries. Nothing will be able to pass from one end of the circle to the other without passing through us first. And because of this, we’ll be able to take a bite out of it if it looks tempting, a la a great white shark.

But it is important to understand that nothing comes without hard work. Even Tezuka has to trade shots with the adversary and analyze him before he can appropriately match his own strikes. In the same way, we have to play the game, and build up our zones with every stroke of the ball, taking everything in stride; Keeping our eyes open, waiting for opportunities, and taking advantage of any openings we see. We can’t expect to have everything in place from the get-go. We must be ready to work extra hard: For we are facing the toughest opponent; life.

So we should give it our all, and aim for the top, creating our zones as we go along. Who knows, we may have a future Jimoh Ibrahim amongst us. But, more importantly, if we play our cards right in the game of life, almost everything*** will come to us, and we won’t need to sweat the small stuff anymore. We can all just sit comfortably in our Tezuka Zones, waiting for an opportunity to land that killer drop shot****.

- Fin

* No, seriously guys, is that even a real word?

**(I guess technically he’s in a Jimoh Ibrahim zone, but that’s beside the point).

***yes, “almost” everything. Tezuka zone isn’t perfect, you know

**** Zero-Shiki dropshot, anyone?