

What Is 'The Zone' Anyway? - martinrue
http://martinrue.com/2012/06/21/what-is-the-zone-anyway.html

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hsmyers
When I came back to college after the war, I resumed my studies as an art
major. For those of us involved, the 'zone' was pretty much a natural state.
We would drop in and out for conversations and such. But mostly as soon as you
pick up a chisel or piece of boxwood to smooth clay or whatever it might be to
initiate work, the rest of the world pretty much goes away. To the degree that
I remember such things, this has always been the way it works for me. I pretty
much see it as intimately tied to any creative task. When after 8 years of
enjoying myself I woke up and realized that you really can't make a living as
an art major I walked across the campus to what would one day become the
computer department (then a branch of the business school) sat down and
proceeded to learn how to program. I was very surprised to discover that there
was no difference between the 'zone' with painting and the 'zone' with
programming. This lead me to the notion that it must be tied to the idea of
creativity. I've seen virtually nothing since that would lead me to believe
otherwise. Since I started zoning out in grade school, I can't really give
advice on how you might arrive there, but if what you are doing is 'creative'
then you most likely will find that moment when you lose yourself in the
activity---at that point, welcome to the zone! As far as literature goes, most
of what I've read that seems to explain or resonate comes from the world of
Zen. In particular the idea of 'Mushin'. As starting point down that road,
try: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin> with the usual caveat that 'nothing
you read is Zen' :)

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sophacles
A thing I've found about zoning, is that no matter what the magic sauce
required to get there, it is impossible if you don't ever start working. He
mentions going in needing to know what you are going to do -- I totally agree
with this. I don't know if it is a key component of zoning, or just
bootstrapping to get there, but it is important. In fact even in complicated
bits, I tend to have a list of todos around that are simple or at least
straight forward, that can be done any time (e.g. clean up comments or
rearrange methods to my preferred ordering style or whatnot). I used to use
these tasks for remaining productive during meetings, or in those wierd little
30 minute windows between things that crop up. But I found they are also a
great bootstrap for zoning.

A different way I sometimes think of it is "warm-ups", like the little
walks,stretches etc before a workout, or the first 10 mins of a run, the
minutes that are largely useless from a running point of view, but are needed
to get the blood flowing and the joints loose.

Good article, thanks Martin.

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yobfountain
Just in case it's not on your radar, there's a very compelling book called
Flow by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi that delves deeply into the subject of 'being
in the zone.' (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29>)

~~~
slap_shot
I came here just to post this. Quite an incredible book. Highly suggest it to
anyone!

~~~
jseliger
I came here to post this as well, so I just upvoted the OP instead. It's the
kind of book that's almost impossible to excerpt, but a few of my favorite
passages might illuminate a few of the topics it covers:

"Though the evidence suggests that most people are caught up on this
frustration treadmill of rising expectations, many individuals have found ways
to escape it. These are people who, regardless of their material conditions,
have been able to improve the quality of their lives, who are satisfied, and
who have a way of making those around them also a bit more happy.

Such individuals lead vigorous lives, are open to a variety of experiences,
keep on learning until the day they die, and have strong ties and commitments
to other people and to the environment in which they live. They enjoy whatever
they do, even if tedious or difficult; they are hardly ever bored, and they
can take in stride anything that comes their way. Perhaps their greatest
strength is that they are in control of their lives" {Csikszentmihalyi
"Flow"@10}.

This also sounds like descriptions of resilience. Maybe there's a connection
between flow and being resilient, like one enables the other. Or do they go
together?

"What I 'discovered' [25 years before the writing of this book] was that
happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune
or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It
does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them.
Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and
defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner
experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as
close as any of us can come to happiness" {Csikszentmihalyi "Flow"@2}.

"One of the most frequently mentioned dimensions of the flow experience is
that, while it lasts, one is able to forget all the unpleasant aspects of
life. This feature of flow is an important by-product of the fact that
enjoyable activities require a complete focusing of attention on the task at
hand—thus leaving no room in the mind for irrelevant information.

In normal everyday existence, we are the prey of thoughts and worries
intruding unwanted in consciousness. Because most jobs, and home life in
general, lack the pressing demands of flow experiences, concentration is
rarely so intense that preoccupations and anxieties can be automatically ruled
out. Consequently the ordinary state of mind involves unexpected and frequent
episodes of entropy interfering with the smooth run of psychic energy. This is
one reason why flow improves the quality of experience: the clearly structured
demands of the activity impose order, and exclude the interference of disorder
in consciousness" {Csikszentmihalyi "Flow"@58}.

This is what I feel when I write.

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mattdeboard
When I'm reading blogs and stuff at work, I generally like to scroll down
enough to hide the headline or site banner so it's not EXTREMELY obvious that
I'm perusing HN or Prismatic. No one cares per se, just a thing of mine.

Doing that is impossible when no matter how far I scroll down your profile
picture is stuck in the upper left corner of my screen.

~~~
fuzzix
"Doing that is impossible when no matter how far I scroll down your profile
picture is stuck in the upper left corner of my screen."

An irritating feature displayed on many of the blogs which feature regularly
on HN... (I'm looking at you Zach Holman... because your picture floats there)
:)

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kator
I've been coding for nearly 30 years and to me "the zone" is most easily
described as Meditation.

I meditate often and in my early years I worked hard to master the process as
I tend to be a bit hyper active and easy to distract (see I'm reading HN right
now lol).

If you add the same sort of discipline to your "the zone" quests as suggested
in a number of good teachings on meditation I think you will find that it is
actually fairly obtainable.

I do agree with the post that it's not magical and that we can control it.
That said a lot can make it hard to enter "the zone" some call it writer's
block etc. When I hit those times I usually just give up and find other things
to do for a bit to relax and let my mind clear up.

Your environment can only effect it as much as you allow. I've been in the
zone many times in an airplane between JFK and LAX and in an airport terminal,
in car rides while my wife drives us on a long ride etc. It's really about
discipline and training your mind to let go of distractions.

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swalsh
I'm completely incapable of finding 'The Zone' in my office. Every time i've
reached it, there are a few things in common. I know exactly what i'm doing.
The full solution to the problem is in my head. When i'm "in the zone" i can
twist that diagram around, jump to different parts etc, but its all in my
head. More importantly its the only thing in my head. That's the most
important part. That means I can't have an orange light in the corner of my
eye, I can't be wearing shoes that are uncomfortable, I can't be hungry or
thirsty. Anything and everything that would cause me to loose my brain state
will cause it to break. Music (like the techno that is repetitive) is best for
me, as after a while I can zone it out. However it blocks environmental sounds
from entering.

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c0nsumer
I find myself coming out of the zone when someone comes up to me and talks to
me. I feel baffled, stupified, and really confused about almost whatever they
are asking about.

It's obvious to them, and 60% of the time they find it extremely bothersome
because I'm nearly unable to focus on what they are asking after because I'm
heavily processing whatever what was flowing around my head.

The result is that I feel irritated and being interrupted, and they feel put
off because I'm not paying enough attention to them. Thus my most productive
times when really digging into something are something like 6pm - 9pm in the
office, alone.

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gms7777
I can't find the article but I remember reading at some point about how
difficulty of work relates to one's ability to get in the zone. To achieve
some level of flow, the work you are doing must be difficult enough to provide
some sort of challenge and mental stimulation, while not being too difficult
that you find yourself getting stuck and frustrated. So if you're not
constantly trying to push your abilities to their limit, you're not going to
find that sweet spot.

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tzaman
For those of us who are easily distracted I would recommend a wonderful tool
called Rescue Time (<http://rescuetime.com/>)

It doesn't solve the problem but helps you analyze it.

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Jgrubb
The zone for me is that hyper productive place I get to at approximately 5 o
clock every day right before my wife asks me "so what do you want for
dinner?".

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programminggeek
I think the easiest way to get in "the zone" (at least for me), is to have
side projects that you can only devote time to in 30-60 minute chunks. You
have to get down to business and focus to get anything done in that amount of
time. Make sure you get at least one session done a day and over time you get
good at jumping in and solving a problem quickly.

