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During my senior year at Compton High School in Southern California, our basketball team was undefeated. Among the many memorable games we played along the way to becoming Californian Interscholastic Champions, one game in particular stands out in my memory.
It was a Saturday night, and our opponent was the Ventura High School. The bus trip to Ventura was long and boring, and the game itself wasn’t what you would call a decider. Sure, we wanted to maintain our winning streak, but since Ventura wasn’t in our league, winning or losing wouldn’t affect Compton High’s standing.
Nevertheless, when I stepped onto the court that night, I could sense something was different. Call it luck, fate, or some kind of intergalactic harmonic convergence — whatever it was, I was hot. I took 16 shots from outside the key that night — all of which would be scored as three-pointers today. I made 15 of them.
Everything I did that night fell into place. I was completely in tune with what I was doing. It felt great. It was as if I could do no wrong. I was at the top of both my physical and mental game. I was in the zone. (Today’s world of athletics discusses it under the heading ‘psychology of peak performance’).
Magic Johnson, former Los Angeles Laker star and Hall-of-Famer, famously des-cribed what being ‘in the zone’ meant to him: “Man, you put that ball in my hand and I’m in another world. All my problems are gone as soon as I step out onto the floor and get that feel of the leather in my palm. Boom! Boom! Boom! Bounce that ball. Feel it come back up. Just caress it. And I know I can do anything with it. Me and that ball, we belong together. I’m in my own world and it’s the greatest feeling there is...” (Fran Blinebury, Houston Chronicle, November 8, 1991).
Similarly, golfer Chip Beck described his euphoria after a great day in the US Open: “I knew I could take on anyone that day. You just feel like you’re hitting your shots, you’re hitting all targets, you just feel it. It is an almost invincible feeling because you know everything is going your way. I almost won the US Open that day. You visualise your putts going in. At that point in time your confidence just builds.”
When you’re in the zone, you lose yourself in the game. Your mind kicks into automatic. As future Hall-of-Fame baseball player George Brett puts it: “When I’m going good, I’m simply unconscious.” You’re not concerned about how you look or what the end result will be. You’re imm-ersed in the moment. You feel a sense of harmony with everything around you.
When I think back to that game in Ventura, I realise that it wasn’t a normal game. Whether you’re talking about sports, teaching, business, or any other aspect of life, being ‘in the zone’ is something everyone experiences infrequently.
However, it’s possible to improve the frequency of your in the zone moments. Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”
Therefore the first determinant of peak performance in any endeavour is preparation. I must have shot a million baskets before that night in Ventura — and the practise paid off. You can’t get into the zone unless you constantly improve your skills. If you’re a basketball player, you work on your passing and shooting. If you’re a sales person, you work on cold-calling and deal-closing techniques. If you’re a parent, you work on your listening and communication skills.
Unfortunately, mastery of physical skills is not all it takes to get yourself into the zone. It’s also what you have in your mental toolbox that makes the difference. After you’ve developed your physical skills, it’s the mental game that determines how well you perform.
The three ‘C’s of mental preparation are:
Confidence. The innate belief that as a player you will perform successfully. In any arena, confidence is based on skills mastery (which is where preparation counts).
Concentration. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that concentration “is the secret to success in politics, in war, in trade; in short, in all management of human affairs”. Concentration is the key attribute that determines your level of play, and it’s a skill that can be learned.
Control. The ability to be mentally disciplined. To play in the zone, you need to be able to control your emotions and thoughts. You can’t let frustration, anger or anxiety take over. When in a pressure situation, you must learn to manage it, rather than letting it manage you.
Playing in the zone doesn’t happen often. It is, however, the ultimate objective of all endeavours in sport, work and all that’s important. Continuous striving for peak performance is what games and sports are all about.
Entering the zone can happen any time (usually when you least expect it), and it can happen repeatedly. But it won’t happen without preparation. When you’re in the zone, it’s like icing on the cake. It’s up to you to want your cake plain, or frosted.
(Dr. George A. Selleck is a San Francisco-based advisor to EduSports, Bangalore)