Finding the Zone and Experiencing Flow

Thanks Doug,

that was a great explaination. I've felt the "zone" a few times in my life. It's like when you try a new thing.

A good example is when I was 17 or so I worked for the town where I was living, as summer help, and was offered the opportunity to operate a cable driven "clamshell" crane. The equipment was older then myu father and I had never done it before but I was excited to do it and do it well. Well sitting in the seat felt natural and I was ablt, after a few tries, to pick up a quarter from the top of a cardboard box, with no harm to either.

It was an amazing feeling. Thanks again.

I definitely agree with the graph. I am a college student and am involved with many time consuming activities. I find that the more things going on in my life (within reason), the more likely I am to do better. I find that this is because I KNOW that I have to get my homework right after I go to work or it adds anxiety. This way I can stay focused without stressing myself or being to bored. I find that the laws of physics apply when they say 'an object at rest will stay at rest'. If I find myself not doing anything when there is homework due or something, I will find myself bored for a while and then later, I will be stressed out because I need to do it NOW!

You could say that the challenges are high, but also within my efforts to complete them. I think that challenging yourself is the best way to control 'the FLOW'. I think your interpretation of the Zone was well within reason and made for an interesting article.

Do you think music helps people get in the zone better? I have heard that non vocal, semi-fast beated music helps people to study, but do they focus better? If so, how does this fit in the chart (or is it an external variable)?

for what it is worth, i believe it is an external variable.

doug

i was thinking some more about your question and music tyipically is a "primer" to set the mind in a state where it is receptive to experiencing the zone.

music does not actually put you in the zone...just primes you mentally (and physically) for it...assuming the music has an impact on your emotional state and heart rate, etc.

thanks

Doug

Hello DrDoug,

I like to think of it as a gestalt. A state of mind, mind set. When one achieves it often enough to recognize the gestalt, one can consciously seek it.

One other skill I developed to go with certain zones I regularly seek is to tie that zone, that feeling to a melody of a song. Now to aid my being in the zone I pull up the song bit from memory and seek the state of mind I desire.

Now I just have to remember to seek the state of mind that I want or need.

Usually I'm caught up in the moment and forget to.

Brad

Hi Doc

I wasn't even sure if I should reply to this post as it is a bit like replying to myself. What I have noticed over the years is that people in the "zone" don't have to use many words to get things done, make decisions, or, like in this case speak ones mind.

I am an active artist in many disciplines including inventing and being in the zone is part of all of them. Even when I do my gardening this zone "sets" in and time is of no issue. Time, in all of the above, is excluded in some way and we must have all said at some stage "Wow, it is already that late, three hours, what happened?" We know that something has happened by looking at the later results. Things can happen much faster if more than one person is in the same zone. It can speed up a game or product development, you name it.

As you will well know, the time after running onto the field until the end of the game becomes a nothing. Only your strength or lack of it is an indicator of time. You just feel more tired and have to find reserves but you were trained for that. Your body tells you that it will not be long now till the whistle blows. The wildly behaving team of trainers are only a blur. If you have the time to look or find it appropriate to look at the stadium clock, your are not in the zone but in a wishful frame of mind. Your opposite will take advantage of that because he can sense you are not 100% there. He, being in the zone, will punish you with a milli second side step.

If one is on the loosing side the game seems not to be ending. A whole team out of the zone requires a strong leader for the game to be picked up and turned around. These captains, as you mentioned not only in the sports, are very rare to find and are the salt in the soup of any team or company.

I am sure that there are biological impulses maybe even pheromones that assist with the creation of this zone. I have seen teams way behind and then seemingly from nowhere they got their "second wind" and thrashed the by then 'sure of victory team'. If this is a realistic observation then the zone seems to be something that is transferable or interchangeable. The team that had it has it no more and vice verca.

It can happen in meetings were people come to late (maybe only a few minutes) and never make up for the time, because the early birds have catapulted them self's into the zone already. To get there, having missed the initiating process/impulses, is not easy to do.

I have seen groups of people, starting with two, that were clearly in the zone. I seem to have a feel for it and avoid interrupting or trying to join in. This can be picked up without hearing what they are saying but the non verbal language tells of 'it' as well. I suppose that many of us have met with the situation that while having an "in the zone" meeting and some outsider comes in, he/she will have a very (even if not intended) destructive or irritating fall out on the group. It usually only takes a minute to get back but the distraction will sometimes linger for longer than needed.

A good speaker will, from time to time, use humor to get the listeners back to being at the same level or the same zone if you like. Good bands have that knack but they have it easy because the fans are indoctrinated with the zone before they get to the concert.

Some thing else I wanted to say is that even if you are in the zone it does not make you the owner of it. It is as if one is in a dream but can control it. Interruptions still apply but are manageable.

Before there was CAD I used to do all drawings with pencils and other mundane tools. This in the zone (by the way, I don't like the terminology) drawing made it possible to imagine the object in all or most of its dimensions and functions. Decisions concerning materials, size, function and others already become reality.

After that the different stages of proto typing are in the same realm. As in planting the first seed and knowing what the soil has to be like. The environment has to be in a state to let that seed (idea) grow and if constantly disturbed by out side matters one can waste a lot of time and seed. Preparing or being prepared keeps one longer in that state and like you said, then every thing falls into place.

known as FLOW, rests between anxiety and boredom.

This is an interesting but not all inclusive way of looking at things. For me it is the vision or challenge and not the anxiety that is a driving force. Counter balanced by available hard ware or solutions or the lack of. CR4 is a good tool to over come this as we all know. We play golf here in some way but are some times not sure of the skill set of the other. Biographies can only tell so much about a person. I am, for example, way above par in many fields but very specialized in others. Not many, I must admit, but like the salt in the soup, with out it, all would taste a bit bland.

Explaining, or having to explain, to the bean counters who mostly have no clue what we are talking about because they were never in that zone, can be a huge obstacle. Some will never be there and others seem not to pick up on the detail of the presentation/demonstration but more on the enthusiasm portrayed by the presenter of an invention, improvement or what ever has to be translated to the "real world". Going by their instincts is not their forte' but some do and are rewarded accordingly.

This seems to be putting the bean counters into the position of the rulers of the real world but we all know that is not the case. It is us, but we better keep them in their belief, so we or the product or idea can win in the end. Those, always being in the mindset of the winner, make them very vulnerable to all kinds of mistakes. They are in a better position to cover up their some times misguided decision making, because they can. Them, being the messenger to and from top management, have the function of a sometimes very important "buffer zone".

I am not suggesting that the people on the floor should rule the roost that would be in no ones interest and irresponsible. A person with your credentials could be a very effective mediator and that shows with the amount of positive response you are receiving.

I'll have to leave it at that for the moment because the real world has just announced time out. Back to the drawing board that is.

I hope we can all stay in this game and solve the problems of these very challenging times. I am more than willing, let me assure you.

Thanks for your time, Ky.

I know what you mean by the time dilation ky,

When I was designing on the computer, a refridge of Mountain Dew and a 5 lb bag of peanut M&Ms other than bathroom breaks sometimes 48 hrs would go by. It never seemed that long but the amount of work done would be well over 2 weeks.

Now my system will not put up with the Mountain Dew. What always gets me about getting in the (for lack of a better word) zone was how I would come up with solutions for complex problems and later I would try to refine them but usually only found that they were more flexible than I was trying for.

Brad

UV

Please promise me that you will look after your health Mate. Borrowing from the future or your future bodily functions can bite you. I was once very and I mean very overweight. Over indulgence, over seas trips and their trappings as they so rightly call it. I can sympathize with your procedure but they have to change. Not you but your routine. Other wise it will take a serious warning not to overgraze, be it in front of the computer or in a five star hotel.

Now that I have tried to mastermind your future life lets get to the good part. Knowing and appreciating your contributions to so many issues on CR4 I would like you to relax. It is neither possible nor necessary to do a lot of work in a very short time. That is or can be left to a team and so it should be.

My post "Choose your favorite invention" is trying to achieve that. Trust me Mate; you can not transpose time in real life, like you can in music. Dilating it is just another word for the same thing. As I said earlier if you have time to look at the clock you are not in the zone (gosh, I wish someone could come up with a less sportive word).

We have to pull together and like President Obama said (his name still comes up as something my spell checker does not except) well he said:

"We have to act now otherwise we will have a catastrophe at our hands." Don't nail me down on the correct words but that is the message I got.

I think he is more than right because this message can be transposed to any of our stages of life and our neighbors or what ever circumstance we try to live or survive in.

Kennedy (please admin.) said "It is not what the Country can do for you but what you can for your Country". That is an old slogan by now and I remember it well. I was only a young man back then but it stuck!

The slogan now could be: DO IT NOW.

What you can do for your country, DO IT NOW.

What you can do for a friend, DO IT NOW.

If you love your wife, DO IT NOW.

If you can teach, DO IT NOW

This can go on for ever in to the smallest detail. Like the rules and the sequencing of the "Fibernachi" rule/code. I hope I have spelled that right.

I have promised not to get in to the discussions about modern day politics. These could be seen as too radical and not palatable for some. Politics can not be a science if secrets are withheld. This could not happen in any other field of science or discipline. One of the few things I will not be doing right now is to comment on those. Not that I am afraid of ridicule but I respect CR4 being a site for engineers.

Taking care of ones conditioning (not only the peanut M&M's bit) is very important and doing it now even more so. You ask Doug about the health conditioning of the young guns. What a challenge that must have been, or is, for that matter. Not to mention the drug problems.

I am truly not trying to conflict with your remarks and thank you for your very considerate reply. If you need to, go for it! Go and help your self to what ever it takes and what ever you have or want to achieve. If one can, delegate do it! If not try again.

We, in Australia, are over whelmed at the moment by the responses to the natural disasters that have struck our nation. Good will, action, sympathy, results and DO IT KNOW comes to mind again. Looking forward to the challenges of the future can be the only true driving force. Having a team to do it, even more so. Having a Nation that will do so, God bless.

Hope all goes well, Ky.

Many years ago I was introduced to "Psycho-Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz. I practiced then and still heavily practice techniques introduced in that book. Makes finding and keeping the "Zone" easier.

BTW, I think, in my opinion, that your golf analogy is flawed. A smart golfer doesn't compete against the competition and is barely aware of their progress/scores, if at all. A smart golfer plays against the course, following a course management regime for that particular course designed to play up his strengths and play down his weaknesses. If his course management is on track, he is likely to have a higher success in competition than if he concentrates on what others are doing, over which he has absolutely no control.

Now, if you want to talk about being in the "Zone" on a particular swing, that is a different story.

Hooker

Hey Hooker,

(Something seems very wrong with how that looks when typed.)

Good insight…what you are describing is the difference between "absolute" vs "relative" comparisons.

Top performers in any field choose to focus on "absolute" comparisons, meaning they judge their success based on how they perform. They go out each time with the mindset of "I want to be a better (whatever) than I was yesterday."

In contrast, most people make "relative" comparisons and strive to beat someone else or compete against someone.

While both are powerful drivers, my point in the post was that if you are like most people, you are subject to relative comparisons and as a result, are likely to underperform if they are worse than you and outperform if they are better than you.

While the ideal would be to be only have an absolute comparison mentality, the reality is that most people are not at that point. Do I think anyone is capable of thinking this way? Of course I do because it is learned characteristic. Do think most people fail to think this way? Yes, I do…and simply because it takes a great deal of internal confidence, courage, persistence and discipline to maintain that level of mental toughness….especially when the outcome (results) are not positive or favorable.

Rather than go into a deeper discussion about that – which I will in a later post – I want to get back to the "zone" concept.

Instead of thinking of my examples as a "person" you are playing against, the same point would be just as relevant if you replace that "person" with a given golf course.

In other words, if you play a local course that has no water, few bunkers, short par 5's, large, open fairways and flat even greens, then you are likely to play a quick round of golf and have a low score – and yet, still walk away from it feeling like you UNDER-performed. On the other hand, if you were to play a round at Pebble Beach, you will likely play a more controlled and focused round – probably lose a bunch of balls and shoot a higher score than normal – yet, walk away feeling like you played well. Why is that? If the golf ball is the same, your clubs are the same and certainly YOU are the same then the only difference would be the environment (golf course). And to reach (and stay) in the zone and experience FLOW, one must enter a situation where the challenge you are facing is in line with your skills.

Thanks for the post, Hooker.

doug

Hey Doc Doug,

Don't worry about the label. It's a title attached to anyone who has ever been a crewmember on a CH-47 Chinook (commonly known as a sh*thook) helicopter. We wear it proudly.

I agree with most of what you say, especially "with the mindset of "I want to be a better (whatever) than I was yesterday." "

I just wanted to highlight the difference between golf and most other sports. One's first fight in golf is always against the course. If you don't compete there, the rest is superfluous as some other competitor is going to "beat" the course better than anyone else. This is patently obvious at championship tournaments like the Masters. The setup of the course by the officials first beats out those who aren't psychologically ready for it and soon sinks those who only thought they were. Otherwise the Master's course on non-tournament days isn't much different from many others.

Still... you mention possible attitudes after playing easy or difficult courses. Again, golf is not a good way to measure. The vast majority of us are handicap golfers, and that system allows us to measure ourselves against any course that subscribes to the USGA handicapping system.

Thus, I can have a really good feeling if I beat par (after handicap) on that easy course and not really feel bad for having a high gross score at Pebble Beach. The handicap levels the psychological as well as physical playing field.

The only guarantee is that somewhere, somehow, every golfer is going to have a bad shot. Being in the zone means that that shot is forgotten when one walks up to the next, and the next, and the next. If one can't do that on a fairly regular basis, it's time to go home and watch golf on TV.

I've had those times, and worked hard to get beyond them. Sometimes successfully.

Hooker

I hear what you are saying...but be mindful of just clumping all mental busting successes as experiencing the "zone"

that is the simplistic and commercialized perception.

Separating your last bad shot from the present is called "compartmentalizing" and under the heading of "mental toughness" rather than the "zone"

zone is the "out of body experience" we all feel from time to time when we seem to be on automatic pilot.

one thing that i do believe, which most people never address is that we all experience the zone on some level and at some point whether we choose to or not.

if we think of any performance activity as a frequency wave with a high point, a middle point and a low point - then the high point and low point of variance are equidistant from the flat line.

as a result, i believe the zone (as well as experiencing slumps) are a normal and natural part of any performance cycle...because all things, at some point have a natural tendency to revert back to the mean.

that, seems to be part of the cycle of life and existence as well.

anyway...my point is that if we think of the "zone" and "slumps" in this respect, then it is a matter of focusing on how to recognize and maximize our time when in the up cycle and extract lessons and value from when we are in the down cycle.

good dialogue, hooker..

thanks..doug

FYI - Dr. Doug is slated to appear on CNBC's Power Lunch on Thursday, 02/12 at 12:15 PM EST. This television program will feature a 1-hour special on the markets. Dr. Doug's spot will be with Donny Deutsch, and he'll be talking about how to get over the fear and get back into the market.

If you missed Dr. Doug's spot on CNBC yesterday, just click this link to watch it on-line.

FYI - Dr. Doug's latest blog entry, Using Your EGO to Achieve Excellence, is now live on CR4.