Turbo-Charge Your Performance: 7 Steps to Being in the Zone

Imagine performing at your best in front of thousands – full of confidence and joy. This is what former Boston star Bill Russell experienced frequently. He said,
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“This is when everything goes so perfectly that you slip into a gear that you didn’t even know was there.”
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We all have that secret gear. That’s what psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “chick-sent-me high”) found. His research showed that optimal experience occurs when body and mind are stretched to their limits in order to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. He called it being ‘in the flow’. Csikszentmihalyi said:
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“Such experiences are not necessarily pleasant at the time they occur. The swimmer’s muscles might have ached during his most memorable race, his lungs might have felt like exploding, and he might have been dizzy with fatigue — yet these could have been the best moments of his or her life.”
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Here are seven characteristics of flow or zone according to Mental Training Consultant  Karlene Sugarman:
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•Relaxed: The best performances occur when you are just slightly above your normal state of arousal, not at the extreme end of the spectrum. You feel relaxed, but you are able to move with great strength and ease.
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•Confident: You exude confidence and pride, and it is evident in your performance. There is no fear. You don’t let a lapse in performance undermine your belief in your overall abilities.

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•Focused: You are totally absorbed in the moment. The only thing you are concentrating on is the task at hand. You have no real sense of time.
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•Effortless: You are in a state where you can accomplish great things with little or no effort. Your mind and body are working with one another in perfect unison. That sort of connectedness and moment of greatness is an awesome thing both to witness and take part in.
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•Automatic: There is no interference from your thoughts or emotions.. You are on auto pilot-just reacting to whatever comes your way. Your body just seems to know what to do.
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•Fun: When you’re in the flow, the enjoyment is incomparable to anything else.
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•In Control: You feel that no matter what, you are in control. You own your own destiny. The authority is yours, and no one else’s. You have a feeling of mastery.

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When I read these characteristics, it seems impossible for an ordinary human being to have such experiences. And yet I remember strange moments years ago when I was a professional flutist. It seemed like I suddenly became the flute, and music just poured out of me without effort.

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We all have the capacity for being in the zone. The good new is that we can train ourselves to experience it. The following seven steps show how to develop the capacity for being in the zone.
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7 steps to being in the zone
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The key to being in the zone lies in the mental attitude that we bring to our activity. That’s why good mental preparation is important. You’ll see that all seven steps are aimed at the mind.
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Step 1: Affirmations

It’s important to expect to be successful, not to hope or wish for success. A  confident, winning attitude can be shaped by affirmations. Affirmations work best when they are couched in the present tense. You might say to yourself, for example,  ‘I am a talented basketball player,’ or, ‘I am a great runner.” Write notes with such slogans and stick them to walls and mirrors in your home.

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Step 2: Visualization

All great athletes use visualisations as training for excellence. They imagine the perfect golf swing or the perfect running motion. When we imagine movements, our muscles contract and relax ever so slightly in accordance with the image. You can see by this that visualisations not only train the mind, they train the body as well. A good time to practise visualizations is just before you go to sleep. Imagine that you are performing at your best. Hear the crowd cheer and clap.

Step 3: Meditation

The ancient Japanese Samurai developed sophisticated training systems that taught warriors how to be in the flow. Through martial art and Zen meditation, they developed mushin, the ‘mind of no-mind’. Mushin is the mind that’s clear like water and untroubled by thoughts about oneself.
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In order to clear the mind, start your activity with a short meditation. It doesn’t need to be formal. Just sit upright, and quietly focus on your breathing for a few minutes. When you find your mind drifting away, gently bring it back to the present moment.
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Step 4: Choose a task that  is neither too easy nor too difficult

When we chose a task that is too easy, we can get bored. Whereas if we chose a task that’s too difficult, we tend to be consumed by anxiety. Neither boredom nor anxiety lead to a good mental focus.
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Step 5: Focus

Keep your focus on the task. At first you may find that your mind tends to drift away. When you notice that, gently bring your mind back to the taks at hand. You may also be beset by self-critical thoughts. Let go of them and refocus on the task.

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Step 6: Surrender to the Process

As you start moving into flow, surrender to the process. Let it take you where it wants to. As you surrender, you will begin to experience periods of timelessness.
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Setp 7: Embrace Ecstasy

When you are in the flow, you will be filled with a sense of ecstasy. As the surfer in the zone catches the wave, or the snowboarder launches into  powder snow, or the runner feels the second wind, he or she will feel a sense of tremendous exhileration and even ecstasy. Embrace it!
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It’s good to keep in mind that at a healthy lifestyle supports optimal performance. Here are three lifestyle choices that help you to be in the zone:
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• Good nutrition

Balanced, healthy nutrition and plenty of water supports high performance.

• Sleep

For top performance we need to sleep for  7 to 8 hours per night for optimal functioning.

• Combating fatigue

Ongoing fatigue can be debilitating. Research has identified low-intensity exercise as a powerful way to decrease fatigue and build up energy and resilience.
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It is possible for each of us to experience moments of flow. I think my most memorable moment was stepping onto my snowboard after a long trudge up a ridge. And then feeling the ecstacy of riding down a slope of deep virgin powder!
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We all have that hidden gear that brings us into high performance. All we have to do is to follow these 7 steps, and live a healthy lifestyle.
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Have you experienced flow? I’d love to hear what it was like. Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

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