A great movie, from which I have had learned a valuable management lesson about the Zorro's Circle!

At the very beginning of the movie, we meet Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas).

Alejandro is a young man who wants to get revenge for the death of his brother and who wants justice for his village. This involves fighting against an entire army.

However, since he’s undisciplined and untrained, Alejandro fails to make much progress toward achieving his goal. In despair over his inability to defeat the army, he turns to drinking.

That’s when Alejandro comes across Don Diego de la Vega, or Zorro (Anthony Hopkins).

Don Diego decides to train Alejandro to become his successor.

Although Alejandro shows some promise with the sword, he’s impulsive and reckless.

Therefore, Don Diego introduces Alejandro to the “Training Circle”. Here’s a description of the training circle:

- It’s a circle filled with obstacles and ropes in which Alejandro will be trained to fight.

- Don Diego explains that Alejandro’s whole world will be that circle.

- As Alejandro’s skill with the sword improves, he will move on to a new circle.

This concept of the “focus circle”, is subsequently better known as “The Zorro's Circle”.

The basic idea of “The Zorro's Circle” is to set a large goal and then select a small area of that goal to conquer.

Once you’ve conquered that small area, you expand the circle. As you conquer each successive “Zorro's Circle”, you get closer and closer to achieving your goal.

Here are the five basic ideas behind “The Zorro's Circle”:

- Research shows that when we feel that we’re in control of a situation, we’re happier and able to perform at a higher level.

- When a task is very large, we lose the feeling of control and influence, we feel overwhelmed, our brains are hijacked by fear and stress, and our abilities plummet.

- You take control of the situation by starting with small, manageable steps.

- Once you’ve mastered one small area, you expand that mastery outward.

- Keep expanding outward until you’ve achieved your goal.

As a conclusion, instead of setting the goal of fighting an entire army at once, fight within your Zorro's Circle.

As you successfully defend your Zorro's Circle, —that is, as you conquer each task toward the achievement of your goal–, you’ll be ready to expand your circle!

[Author's Note: Much of the information here about the Zorro's Circle came from an enlightening article by weblogger (Daring to Live Fully) Marelisa Fabrega.]