Being In the Zone

What’s your best state to be in when making love? What’s your best state to be in at work? And what’s your best state to be in when playing with your kids, or watching a movie, or reading a book, or playing sport? The list could go on with as many activities as you can think of – yes, even cleaning the bathroom, dealing with conflict or simply painting the garden fence.

I’m sure you’ll have a lot of different states that come to mind for each of these activities, some similar and some vastly different depending on the context. But what if I told you that the best state for all of these is the same, would you believe me?

So that we’re on the same page, I better first explain what I mean by ‘state’. When asked what ‘state’ means, most people will answer with some kind of emotional state such as relaxed or anxious. Some might come up with something more complex like confused, frustrated, reflective or curious. So with so many different states, how can there be just one that’s the best for all of those completely different contexts, and what is that state?

It’s a bit of a trick question really. Obviously you wouldn’t want to be in a ‘serious’ state when having a romantic dinner, a backyard BBQ or playing fun games with your kids; nor in a ‘happy’ state when getting mugged! The trick in the question is that I’m not talking about the primary state (happy, sad, confused, intrigued, etc.), I’m talking about the meta-state that governs the primary ones. Primary states are the ones we’re aware of in any situation, e.g., “I’m feeling comfortable”. Meta-states are more ‘out of consciousness’, operating at a higher level. It’s true that there are also many different meta-states; so, what exactly is that one that I’m talking about?

The best state for any activity is the state of “Flow”. The flow state is essential for resilience and high performance. Flow is the term coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He’s been described as the worlds’ leading expert on positive psychology and is known for his work on creativity and happiness.

Flow refers to the state of being completely engaged in any activity. Professional athletes, and high performing business professionals all speak of being “In the Zone”. Abraham Maslow’s descriptions of ‘peak experiences’ speak to the same state of being. In Neuro-Semantics we call it the ‘’Genius state’ and learning to turn on this state of complete engagement at will is the entire focus of the Self Leadership training ‘Accessing Personal Genius’.

We’ve all experienced the state of Flow at one time or another. In Flow your thinking becomes super clear and everything feels effortless. You’ll know the experience of being totally lost in a book or movie, the feeling that whatever you’re doing is just so easy and gives you those moments of bliss, when everything is easy – even mundane stuff. The great thing is that this state can be accessed for any activity – when conditions are right.

Csikszentmihalyi; “The flow experience, like everything else is not “good” in any absolute sense. It is only good in that it has the potential to make life more rich, intense and meaningful; it is good because it increases the strength and complexity of the self.”

Conditions For Flow.

I’d highly recommend the book “Flow, The Psychology Of Optimal Experience” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In it he describes the experience and outlines the conditions required. Basically, there has to be a balance between challenge and competency. There has to be enough challenge in the activity to engage your mind in an effortful way, thus cancelling out other distractions. But not so much challenge as to make the task so difficult that you won’t be successful. This creates a moment where your mind is totally in the moment. There also has to be a set of rules involved (even if these rules are just your own) and there has to be immediate feedback on how you’re doing.

We all experience flow. But to make life more enjoyable and blissful, and a whole lot less boring and stressful, learning to cultivate flow can be the key to a happier, healthier and more meaningful existence.

To find out more about how to access your inner Genius, check out my training page or check out my courses on Udemy