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THE REAL SECRET TO GETTING IN THE ZONE

Try to recall those days when you did phenomenally well, those moments in your lives where you unexpectedly crossed great limits. In those moments, you are just intensely focused without consciously thinking, no distraction bothers you, it feels as if time slows down and you are completely immersed in the task. This optimal state of mind is scientifically called the 'flow' state of mind or what we call in the sports world as being "in the zone". Flow state is this beautiful space where we completely surrender to the art and allow the energy to flow through us. Psychologically, your brain vibrates at a different frequency than usual at this state. Some examples can be when rappers freestyle or those unbelievable performances in sports. This state is most frequently observed in action-adventure risk-oriented sports such as mountain climbing and skiing where it is a matter of life and death because, in such activities, the situation is flow-or-die. It is a myth that tapping into this state of mind is something that occurs rarely and magically. This flow state can be accessed with conscious efforts and each one of us can experience it. Let me tell you how. 




1.The parallelism between skill and challenge:

To enter this optimal state of consciousness, your challenge shouldn't be too high according to your skill level and neither should it be too low. It should just be a little bit higher than your current skill level. This will increase the excitement of the challenge, eliminating any form of stress and boredom, and help you access the flow state. 

2. Unified and undivided attention:

You need to exactly know what you're going to work on. Choose ONLY ONE TASK so that you can channel all your energy into it. There's no room for multitasking. 

3. Establish the desired outcome:

Clearly establish the outcome you desire for the particular task. If you have a very big and vague goal, try breaking it down systematically into small chunks. When you know the goal with ultimate clarity, your mind will not wonder what to do next. 

4. Immediate feedback: 

This technique is somewhat similar to the previous one. Your goals will tell you what to do but immediate feedback will tell you how to do it better. Our mind does not seek clues for betterment. That's why immediate feedback is crucial to peak human performance. A simple example of immediate feedback can be the scoreboard when you play a sport. 

5. Smart Practice of the craft:

You need to get quite familiar with the task and practice it repeatedly in order to get in experience the flow state. Repetition is the language of the mind. The more you familiarise yourself with the exact situation the lesser consciousness is required while performing the activity. 

6. Meditation:

This is the most crucial step to tap into the zone. When you meditate, you learn how to control your mind, ignore distractions, and focus intensely which are all ingredients of the zone. Meditation basically trains your brain to access the frequency of the flow state. Box breathing is a great technique you can inculcate in your meditation that is practiced by the navy seals for improving their mindfulness. You have to choose a particular number of seconds for this breathing activity. Let's say you choose 3. So the exercise will involve 3 seconds of inhaling, then hold it for 3 seconds, followed by exhaling for 3 seconds, and then hold it again for 3 seconds. This will be one complete round of the exercise. It's suggested to start with small numbers and then progress upwards slowly. Once you go above the rate of 7 seconds, your brain will start to panic a little during the holding breath phases. Resiting the temptation to let go will train you to focus under situations of panic which is often the killer of the flow state. 

For more research and knowledge on the flow state, you may read the book called 'flow'  written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is also known as the "father of flow". 

That's all for this blog! Thanks for reading the article. Peace🙏

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