the Zone

“You’re right in the work, you lose sense of time, you’re completely enraptured, you’re completely caught up in what you’re doing … there’s no future or past, it’s just an extended present in which you’re making meaning …”  Mark Strand

What does it mean to be in the “zone”?    For some it is a magical experience where time seems to stand still and the mind and body are fused in harmony.   Some would call it the perfect moment a synchronous dance between the external world and your internal world.   Athletes are in the zone when they are at their peak in terms of experience, this harmony, or flow, or being in the zone often produces great results.

The key ingredients to getting into the zone include:

1. A clear goal

2. Activity that provides feedback

3. A focus that becomes intense.

The idea is to achieve a balance between anxiety (fear of failure) and not being challenged enough (the goal is too easy).   Somewhere between failure and challenge is the zone, a zone of mental harmony and maximum results.

 Some athletes prepare to get into the zone by using visualization techniques.  

“We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration”, writes Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi the author of the book, “Flow”.      Getting into that experience even for a short amount of time is a worthy experience.   Staying in that experience for a long period of time proves to be a challenge.   The zone is a space between challenge and ability and as the ability increases there is a shift out of the zone.   If the challenge increases without a corresponding increase in ability then there is too much tension to stay in the zone.

The zone is a place of harmony, appropriate challenge, the right frame of mind and sufficient capability to maintain the experience.

When have you been in the zone?

What was it like to be in the zone?

What kept you in the zone?

The zone is emphasized in sport, but what about other areas of life and how do you get into the zone?

 

peak performer …

“Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour?s duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

What do you think is your normal operating zone?    By zones I mean “victim zone”, “excuse zone”, “performance zone” and “high performance zone” where you spend most of your time.

What zone do your thoughts and actions reside in most of the time?

With stress increasing daily and more and more jobs being lost in an anemic economy many people (over 10%) have lost hope, at least the hope that they would fit into a job that would pay the bills and offer some type of security.    When hope is lost the focus is in making excuses about “why” they are in the position they are in.   As time passes the feeling moves from excuses to being a victim.   The victim mindset is characterized by withdrawal and giving up.   At times the victim will lash out in anger with that anger being directed externally (it is someone’s fault) and with a strong need for sympathy.

What we need today is fewer victim’s and excuse makers and more performers.    Shifting the mindset from victim to owner (performer) takes work and a lot of work.    It takes recognizing that there are opportunities and it takes a desire to step towards opportunity rather falling into the pit of despair.

John Milton wrote, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”    What we feed our minds we soon become.  If we feed our minds and endless stream of excuses that is what we become.  If we don’t believe we are good enough we will shortly become that as well.   If we rise to the level of our thoughts then when are thoughts are decidedly negative our results will be as well.

We choose our thoughts as we choose our performance.   Even though our circumstances may be challenging or very challenging we have a choice to make about out thoughts.   Are our thoughts going to meet the challenge or be beat back by the challenge?

Maybe you know someone who has given up and fallen into the mode of being a victim.   You might know someone with similar circumstances finding opportunity and taking action.   The difference between a performer and a victim are the thoughts rather than the circumstances.

Take a look at Louis Zamperini’s life and see how he was able to overcome  physical and mental abuse by keeping a positive attitude, a high performance attitude.

Next time, how to become a peak performer.