Living In the Zone

[EyeOnThePrize]

This thread will be a place where I write about the wisdom that I believe leads to ultimate fulfillment and life satisfaction, whatever that means to the self.

The topic of this post is 'being in the zone'. I've been meaning to write about this topic for a while.

There are countless books on the subject. The general idea is that when you're performing at your best, you're completely in tune with your present surroundings. The term is used in sports constantly. If a player is 'on fire' or 'in the zone' they're performing exceptionally well, like a god amongst men, standing out from the other players by showing seemingly perfect levels of skill.

When these players are interviewed immediately after their amazing performance, the answers are always in the same vein: they describe what was immediately present, what they sensed in that moment, and it all sounds so simple, like common sense (to anyone familiar with the skill).

This is our first clue to being 'in the zone'. The trick to being in the zone, is that you can't will yourself into it. You can only setup the conditions for it to occur spontaneously. A sports player trains, eats well, studies the appropriate techniques, gets the proper rest, etc. They are systematically increasing their chances of inducing the 'in the zone' state, because they have no direct control over it.

That is, to be 'in the zone' you have to learn to get out of your own way.

Another example of this state is any simple action, like picking up a pencil. You're not consciously thinking about all the various muscles you need to contract in order to pick it up. You have enough practice doing it that it's second nature and all you really have to think is 'pick up the pencil'.

The common theme is that the mind that's performing the bulk of the action is the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is in a calm and alert state, but is not overwhelmed.

The conscious mind simply doesn't have the capacity to orchestrate every little movement perfectly on it's own, otherwise there would be no such thing as missing a shot. You would perform perfectly much more often, but that's simply not the case.

Since any deliberate action is a skill, any action can be performed 'in the zone'. Start small, a simple skill, create the conditions to become exceptional at it. Do the same for another skill. Keep doing this until your day is filled with honing various skills. Again, this increases the chances of inducing the 'in the zone' state.

This brings up a very important point. Many skill improvement paths will have the same conditions for success, which means there is a common skill (or skill-set) that determines how fast you attain any other skill. A 'meta-skill', if you will. This meta-skill is something more abstract, like your relationship to change/failure.

If you can hone a healthy relationship with change and failure, you will be honing this 'meta-skill' or core skill that will be useful in the pursuit of any other skill. This core skill is basically your capacity to understand how conditions need to be tweaked to induce success. Learning to do this effectively is at the heart of autodidacticism.

In conclusion, there are two main parts to living a life 'in the zone'.
1. Practicing a range of skills and changing the conditions to increase the chances of inducing 'in the zone' moments.
2. Identifying the common skills (or core/meta skills) that apply to the process of learning any new skill itself.

The relationship between the two is symbiotic, meaning an improvement in one will always improve the other.

The main takeaway is that if you want to perform at your best, you need to be comfortable, confident, and what you're doing should feel effortless in a way, like second nature. Whether it's talking to women, or doing a triple backflip, or literally anything, when you get out of head and let the interaction be natural, you will increase your chances of success tremendously.

Let your conscious mind oversee the interaction from a higher level, so as not to be overwhelmed, and to perform effectively. Remain mindful enough to gauge this level of 'overwhelmed', it too is useful feedback.

Some other simple clues that you're approaching or are in 'the zone':
- What others say/do doesn't get under your skin.
- You adapt easily and quickly to leverage everything available to your benefit.
- Your mind is calm and confident in it's level of control of the situation.
- You see opportunities, not failures.

I hope this speaks to you.

 

[Blacksheep]

Damn man! Thats a amazing post!

I completely agree with that and I can relate to some of those ideas. Obviously I didn't have this awareness about it, but I use to observe what kind of habit, behavior put me on the best state to realize something.

Simple example:

- Having proper sleep make me less lazy and I can focus and achieve more. But also, it doesnt count if for example I keep drinking alcohol. So I realized that when I'm using alcohol during weekends, I don't have the same energy to complete hard challenges. And that I need at least 3 months without it to start become perform very well again.

The same goes with food, relationships, our understanding about ourselves and how some memories impacts our emotions. All this can put us on that state or stop us from achieving this "in the state" you quoted.

Also I would add that those common skills could also have some levels or categories, that the more you evolve it, the more it will ease your process through some achievement.

Congrats for that post bro! Very good content!

 

[Epicenter]

I feel a bit critical today so I will put my two cents into it. This sounds like generic self help stuff. I am into self help but it is not the year 2000. It has been a while sind
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote his 'flow' book.

We identified some master skills that is habits. One of them is meditation. We have so much information about habit management. These are much more practical steps.

You put a such simplified roadmap that critical parts are not mentioned. The way our brain works is very complicated. Most of our motivation is based on fear. So we have to study a lot of stuff without knowing where it leads. We have to deal with uncertainty and fear and suffering is part of it. Just to bring postive keywords does not get close to the problems.

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

I've noticed several ingredients that act as building blocks for success in my life, and I want to share them here for further insights.
Presence, Curiosity, Consistency, Passion, Fulfillment, in that order.

Each one builds on the last, and they pertain to the growth of any skill.

Presence
First it's imperative to be present. We won't perform anything well in the moment if we're stuck on the past or contemplating the future. Presence allows us more grace. We notice more context and thus notice mistakes sooner, we think about the problem at hand and only the problem at hand, we get out of our own way. Presence creates the mental conditions for spontaneously being 'in the zone'. Presence also encourages us to have patience.

Curiosity
Being present allows us the freedom to mentally explore the immediate sensory environment. What mental capacity we would be using to dive into the past or the future is available in presence. During execution, we naturally find quarks or novelties in our actions. We start to wonder 'what if', what if during the next basketball shot we twist our hand slightly differently. What if during the next line plot we use a log scale instead of a linear scale. What if during the next shot of the gun we adjust our grip slightly higher. It's a fine balance that we keep these curiosities to the topic at hand, and not let our imaginations carry us too far away.

Consistency
If we can be present and curious consistently, we're adding the element of time to our growth. Like the old adage, a master has failed more times than a beginner has even tried. Consistency provides us a rhythm, a pattern. With enough consistency we can accomplish anything. Mastery may be 10,000 hours away, but presence will keep us grounded in this moment, curiosity will keep things interesting, and consistency will show us our progress. This again, reminds us to be patient.

Passion
Some say it takes 30 days of consistency to form a habit. I won't put a number of days on consistency, but with the above three, eventually what forms is a passion. This is a form of self love, and probably the most profound and powerful love there is. When we see our own progress over time sometimes we're amazed by how far we've come. We're astonished that the subconscious mind has begun working on the same goals our conscious mind has. We start to feel a real connection to our sport, our musical instrument, our car, our gun, etc. It becomes a dance, a work of art, and we begin focus less on technicalities, and more on feelings, something indescribable that we can only express with our chosen medium. It's always there for us, ready to challenge our beliefs. Personally I believe these are meant to always be our first love.

Fulfillment
When working deep on a passion project or skill, we eventually reach a state of euphoria. The best comparison is a full body orgasm. We sense that this moment is perfect for us, so perfect in fact that we begin to believe we've found our calling, or that we must be god, or that all the stars have aligned and we are the chosen one, as if we've reached the top of a mountain, standing at a peak. We know that we're in the zone, or were just in it. Nothing can bring us down in this moment, not even death itself. We need nothing, and feel a true 'full' feeling, down to our very core. It can be fleeting, lasting only a moment, or it may resurface as a constant high every time we execute. We see that this peak is one in a series of infinite peaks, each higher and harder to attain than the last, and we're overjoyed that there is more to learn, more to conquer, forever...

So many times in my life I've simply remembered to be present, to stay curious, and to be consistent. The passion and fulfillment seem to come effortlessly, as if out of my control, until I'm grinning ear to ear feeling that wonderful bliss of mastery and accomplishment.

The glue holding these things together is will. If we have the will to be present, curious, and consistent, then passion and fulfillment is ours.

 

[Epicenter]

You can not talk about presence without talking how to get it. So what you write does not make much sense.

Then you talk about will without telling what it is and if it is possible to get.

If your post ist meant as a journal it is ok but if you want to have a conversation you have to activate much more brain cells.

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

You can not talk about presence without talking how to get it. So what you write does not make much sense.

Then you talk about will without telling what it is and if it is possible to get.

If your post ist meant as a journal it is ok but if you want to have a conversation you have to activate much more brain cells.

I can talk about whatever I want in whatever order I want. If you'd prefer an expansion or an explanation of a term simply ask, or provide your own definition to show you're trying to find common ground.

'many more brain cells', not 'much more'. I'll make an exception of your pretentious tone this once, but if you expect further constructive responses you'll have to show more respect. You're free to play devil's advocate, but any attempt of ad hominem takes away from your credibility.

i explained what presence is, the act of focusing on the present moment, rather than past or future. Many guided meditations and sports coaches instill this by instructing participants to focus on the nuances of each breath they take, since no two breaths are the same. If you're asking how to focus on your breath, then you'll have to explain what hinders you from shifting your focus to it or what specifically you don't understand.

By will I obviously mean willpower, which is simply your ability to control impulses and direct mental energy to your chosen activity. Why would will be unattainable? You already have it, you use it every day to do everything you want. We can probably agree that your beliefs about everything directly affect your will. Believe you are capable of something and the will to do it comes easier, etc.

And to respond to your first post in this thread, at no point did I claim to have a master formula of the universe that perfectly and accurately defines everything the brain does. This is simply what I've felt and found to be the most effective thinking in my personal life. It must be simple to be digestible/easily understood. To say I haven't defined all complexity is a moot point, that's by design. You mentioned that we are mostly motivated by fear, can you provide a specific example? I'd say suffering and a motivation of fear are extremely subjective. We're born and we die, if you see the journey to the end as suffering and anguish, if you fear it, then that's a personal projection and a choice. You can just as easily see death as the vikings did.

If a man grinds himself down doing what he loves, is he really suffering?

I'd love to hear what you find powerful in your own life.

Damn man! Thats a amazing post!

I completely agree with that and I can relate to some of those ideas. Obviously I didn't have this awareness about it, but I use to observe what kind of habit, behavior put me on the best state to realize something.

Simple example:

- Having proper sleep make me less lazy and I can focus and achieve more. But also, it doesnt count if for example I keep drinking alcohol. So I realized that when I'm using alcohol during weekends, I don't have the same energy to complete hard challenges. And that I need at least 3 months without it to start become perform very well again.

The same goes with food, relationships, our understanding about ourselves and how some memories impacts our emotions. All this can put us on that state or stop us from achieving this "in the state" you quoted.

Also I would add that those common skills could also have some levels or categories, that the more you evolve it, the more it will ease your process through some achievement.

Congrats for that post bro! Very good content!

I can relate to those examples. You're right that food and relationships with others and ourselves are the most important. To keep these things at the front of our minds is so powerful. It's beautiful to hear you're so self aware, I have no doubt you'll conquer anything you focus on, just as you have in the past.

 

[DEEZEDBRAH]

I go in and out of the that point. I like to refer to it as flow State. Similar to dating or anything in life, when I try to encapsulate it, I smoother it. I learned to let it be and I cultivate routines to increase the probability of being in flow state. 8 hours of sleep, doing my meditation 20min min daily, lifting 4x a week minimum, diet on point, fasting atm, doing my mobility routine etc among other things. Much like jenga once I slip from my routine it all falls down. It's part of the process. A form on entropy.

 

[Epicenter]

I can talk about whatever I want in whatever order I want. If you'd prefer an expansion or an explanation of a term simply ask, or provide your own definition to show you're trying to find common ground.

'many more brain cells', not 'much more'. I'll make an exception of your pretentious tone this once, but if you expect further constructive responses you'll have to show more respect. You're free to play devil's advocate, but any attempt of ad hominem takes away from your credibility.

i explained what presence is, the act of focusing on the present moment, rather than past or future. Many guided meditations and sports coaches instill this by instructing participants to focus on the nuances of each breath they take, since no two breaths are the same. If you're asking how to focus on your breath, then you'll have to explain what hinders you from shifting your focus to it or what specifically you don't understand.

By will I obviously mean willpower, which is simply your ability to control impulses and direct mental energy to your chosen activity. Why would will be unattainable? You already have it, you use it every day to do everything you want. We can probably agree that your beliefs about everything directly affect your will. Believe you are capable of something and the will to do it comes easier, etc.

And to respond to your first post in this thread, at no point did I claim to have a master formula of the universe that perfectly and accurately defines everything the brain does. This is simply what I've felt and found to be the most effective thinking in my personal life. It must be simple to be digestible/easily understood. To say I haven't defined all complexity is a moot point, that's by design. You mentioned that we are mostly motivated by fear, can you provide a specific example? I'd say suffering and a motivation of fear are extremely subjective. We're born and we die, if you see the journey to the end as suffering and anguish, if you fear it, then that's a personal projection and a choice. You can just as easily see death as the vikings did.

If a man grinds himself down doing what he loves, is he really suffering?

I'd love to hear what you find powerful in your own life.



I can relate to those examples. You're right that food and relationships with others and ourselves are the most important. To keep these things at the front of our minds is so powerful. It's beautiful to hear you're so self aware, I have no doubt you'll conquer anything you focus on, just as you have in the past.

English is my third language that is why there are some mistakes.

I used the term 'more brain cells' as to point out that this topic needs more effort and depths.

Yes presence training is the thing what was missing. There are hundreds of methods for that. So it is a tricky thing where the complexity has to be addressed.

Will is not necessarily willpower. Will is much more complex than what you make it look like. For example if I want to eat now one piece of chocolate but I do not want to eat chocolate because I want to to eat healthy but I can not control myself and eat half of the chocolate but while eating I feel guilt, disgust and enjoyment. So what was my will?

Like I said if it would be a journal kind of thing I would not expect better reasoning but you seem to want to put your thoughts into the public. That is why you get 'attacked' and you have to 'defend' yourself and you can 'attack' my postition and I have to 'defend' them as well. That is how knowledge is produced.

Fear is the biggest motivator for all people without it we would die very early on because life would not have much worth. In some cases we feel big fears like when you are close to have an accident or when the doctor says you might have cancer.

Often in the day we have small fears maybe because we are not putting enough effort to solve problems and are afraid of the consequences as they effect our survival in a small way at least.

Yes you can see death as the Viking's did but we live in modern times we normally don't do it their way. Additionally we do not know how they really felt when they had terrible tooth and headaches. So I don't think it is that easy.

Grinding can be both. Suffering and enjoyment.

What I find powerful in my life is the rise from suffering to enjoyment. Though later suffering comes again.

So my enjoyment is probably like with most guys. Music, sports, dancing, singing, competitions, solving problems, danger and play.

 

[metalwater]

A method to focus on the present.

The Power of Now - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

the default way is to feel shame for the past and be needy for the future while at the same time ignoring now. The author in that book does a decent job of teaching how to do what OP is suggesting. Life-changing for those that can catch on and do it.

 

[SargeMaximus]

Another good book is:
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679778314/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_ARGX843JK1SVC4WYGBNB

 

[metalwater]

Another good book is:
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679778314/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_ARGX843JK1SVC4WYGBNB

that type of info is good. knowing it can give you an edge over those that don't know it.