Purple Sector/Yellow Sector Days

As we’ve been coming out of the holiday season, I’ve been reflecting on the last couple of years and how I measure success.

By some measures, I haven’t hit some of the goals I’d like. But I think that’s good. I still need objectives and motivation and things to work toward.

But many (including myself) would consider me wildly successful. And I’m super grateful for that.

One of my favorite ways to measure whether I’ve been successful or not is a concept I like to refer to as Purple Sector/Yellow Sector Days.

In Formula 1 (F1) racing, during qualifying (quali), the track is divided into 3 sectors. As drivers go around the track and finish each sector, they are given a color-coded rating to indicate how well they are tracking compared to their own previous runs as well as their fellow drivers.

If the driver has the best (fastest) time in a sector, they get purple.

If the driver performed their personal best time in the sector, they get yellow.

Anything else is indicated as green.

It’s an incredibly handy way to quickly see who is on track for the fastest time, as well as seeing who is improving.

Do you ever have those moments where you know you are exactly where you are supposed to be? Or put another way: there’s nowhere else in the world that you’d want to be?

For me, historically, these events have occurred most often at music events. Concerts and shows that were once in a lifetime. Things I’ll remember and cherish for ages and tell stories about.

Seeing songwriters from Nashville perform and talk about some of their favorite/biggest songs for an audience of about 20 people. Watching Andrew Bird at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago.

These are my purple sector days. Moments when I knew no one else in the city was having a better time.

But I’ve also been having this feeling more often recently, since the birth of my son almost 2 1/2 years ago. The feeling of contentment that I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be in that moment.

There might be people living it up on yachts or personal islands, but none of that matters. I was exactly where I was needed and you couldn’t have dragged me away.

For me, those yellow sector days are everything. I’m running my own race and doing exactly what I needed to be doing. No regrets. No concerns other than keeping that feeling going as long as I can.

The more I have of either of those types of days, the more I know I’m living a good life. They aren’t every day, but where would the fun be in that? Their fleetingness makes them that much more special.