Revealed: The Sporting 'Zone' and 'Flow State' Doesn't Exist!!

The Zone or Flow State Just Doesn't Exist! 

You may have heard someone say that before and much has been written as to whether being in the zone or flow state really exists. So, does it really exist? If it does, just what is it? How do you enter it? and how would you know whether you were in it or not? The answers are contained within today's article.

I've spoken to many people who claim to have been in the zone and I myself have experienced it, which you can read about below. Let's first answer: Does it really exist? The answer is yes but maybe not as you think.

Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi  (pronounced as ‘Cheeks-Sent-Me-High’), renowned psychologist, described 'flow' or 'being in the zone' when he said "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."

Now, I ask you, how many times have you been in such a state? Probably more than you think, regardless of whether it was in sport or not. It's the state that you find yourself in, when you are completely absorbed in an activity and completely focussed.

For a sportsperson, it is a place that you often want to be, isn't it? So how do you get there? Once experienced, many try to replicate the circumstances to get back into their zone.

This is not always possible however, so I'm providing the list of the main factors that you may need to get into 'flow'.

• Clear and attainable goals are being pursued.
• Intense concentration and narrow focus of attention.
• Distorted sense of time in that you become less aware of the passage of time.
• The activity provides immediate feedback in terms of success. This enables immediate adjustments and changes to be made.
• The activity is sufficiently challenging – neither too easy nor too difficult.
• You have a sense of personal control over the activity.
• The process of being involved in the activity is intrinsically rewarding so it will feel effortless.
• You will become unaware of other needs e.g. feelings of tiredness, thirst or hunger will go unnoticed.

Be aware though, when you are in flow, you will not be consciously aware of it. It's not until you 'come out of it', that you will realise that you were in it! That's not fair, I hear you cry out. True. But what an experience to have!

I vividly recall a particular time when I was in the zone whilst playing football. I remember having the feeling that time almost was standing still, to the point that I could read perfectly the movements of all the other players around me, no matter where on the field. I seemed to have so much time on the ball, even when under pressure from an opponent. What really stands out are the sounds; everything seemed almost muffled but still audible, like I was encapsulated within a free-flowing bubble. I felt like their was nothing I couldn't do. It was great!

As mentioned above, if the correct 'ingredients' are present, flow can be experienced by anyone. If you were to think, right now, and imagine, in what situations would you like to get into your 'zone', what would they be? What would it feel like? What would you see and hear?

So, flow state/ the zone does indeed exist and it is an amazing place to be!

Think It, Say It, Act It

A recent study conducted by Mayer, Tormala 2010 explored think (“I think . . . ”) versus feel (“I feel . . . ”) message framing effects on persuasion. The authors suggest that think framing will be more persuasive when the target attitude or message recipient is cognitively oriented, whereas feel framing will be more persuasive when the target attitude or message recipient is affectively oriented.

Now, as you can imagine, I'm not here to talk about advertisements and the effects they have on us, interesting though that is. However, the above study does give us some insight into how the mind processes information around us and how your own thoughts can have a massive impact on your sports, health and fitness performance and results.

If you want to improve your level of fitness, sport, health, and even business, it's imperative that you understand what's going on inside your head, so that you can create the optimal circumstances for your success.

Unlike Mary in The Sound of Music, I'm not going to start at the very beginning, however the end and the beginning of this process are intrinsically linked.

Let me ask you, how many times did you look in the mirror before you left home today, think about it? Now, how many times do you think you peered into your other mirror?

The Emotional Mirror
You fair badly at a task, sporting or otherwise. You begin to feel really bad about what happened and feel that you're a "loser" and that "things never go right for me!". Before you know it, you have a picture in your mind of your failure and this in turn makes you feel even worse; you can't get it out of your mind no matter what you do.

You speak to your coach, family or a friend and not even they can change how you feel. If you're anything like others, you would have experienced something similar in your lifetime. Horrible, isn't it?

But that's ok. You've done what many of us do, you looked in your emotional mirror and didn't like what you saw staring back at you! What is this emotional mirror?

Our emotions are just a reflection of our thoughts. For you to 'feel bad' about yourself, the thought must of first been presented in your mind, therefore you would probably be thinking 'I'm bad'. You may not be consciously aware that you had that particular unhelpful thought because it would have occurred all too quickly for your consciousness. In fact, the concept of being bad is an incorrect one, as you cannot become or be the word bad itself. And that's a whole other topic, which I will save for another time.

The thought resulted in your own self-talk, your internal dialogue, which if left unchecked can be disastrous, as you see from the example above.
 
The Little Known Secret!
The emotional mirror is a good part of our human behaviour and we should never try to ignore it. Instead, you may have gathered by now that to change the reflection, you need to alter the the thought. I appreciate that being able to constantly control the unhelpful inner thoughts can be challenging, especially as we may have so many of them throughout the day AND of which we're not consciously aware of.

So just like an athlete, when he/ she trains their bodies to respond in a specific action, we must train our conscious mind to 'red flag' the unhelpful thoughts as they arise. I wouldn't want you to think that this is easy and that with time you'll be able to see yourself doing this easily and with time you will. As you practice this skill you'll find that it will become an automatic response, i.e. a subconscious process.

Why not keep a note of the automatic unhelpful thoughts you have and combat them with more resourceful ones instead, write them down in a notebook or sticky-note. So, if you find yourself thinking "Well that was rubbish, I always get that wrong. I'm a loser", combat it with "What? I'm not a loser! I just missed the mark. I've done this great before and I can do it again. At least now I know what I need to work on to improve." You can use whatever feels and sounds good to you.


To help you appreciate more about how we process information, feel free to view the video below. The video contains information that many people are unaware of. It explains how we communicate information and how this affects our thoughts and behaviours.

The Mayer, Tormala 2010 study is great proof of how we communicate and process information, internally and externally. By becoming more aware of your thought process, you can combat negative emotions in your sport, health, fitness and even business.

Remember, if you think it, you say it, you without fail ACT IT!

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