Have You Ever Been "In The Zone?" - Book Review: "Drive" by Dan Pink

How ironic.  There I was last weekend, preparing for a discussion with my colleagues here at SoundBoard on the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink (www.danpink.com; see his TED Talk on YouTube, embedded below) and I found myself completely "in the zone."  I actually even used those words when my husband interrupted me with a quick question.  I said, "Honey could you wait a few moments please?  I am completely in the zone and the thoughts and words are just 'flowing' out of my head onto the paper."  It was amazing how focused I was and that I could clearly visualize the next morning's discussion.

The term "in the zone" is a sports expression, and generally means that one has made a series of consecutive good plays. Used in the work context, it suggests that a person is performing exceptionally well.  "In writing and speech in general, being 'in the zone' means being completely focused on a task (sport or other) where nobody can touch or change your behavior or process.  The term is usually related to 'performances of any discipline and is considered a positive place to be.'"

In Pink's book, he describes being "in the zone" with the term flow.  Based on the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced: "cheek-sent-me-high-ee"), an American psychology professor of Hungarian origin, whose book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, greatly shaped theories around motivation.  In it, Csikszentmihalyi described flow as "the moment at which a person's body or mind is stretched to the limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."  In Dan pink's book, he continues that sentiment by stating that in the "flow state, the participant experiences a heightened sense of focus and a generally higher sense of satisfaction and therefore, people are the most productive and satisfied when their work puts them in a state that provides them with the most satisfaction."

Fundamentally, the flow state is "one where a person is engaged in a task that is ideally suited to just push his/her ability. It is not so difficult as to produce anxiety nor so easy as to be boring. It is in these flow states where our ability to grow is maximized."

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always be in "a flow state" or in "the zone"?  Of course, in reality that is not really possible.  (If it is, I haven't figured it out yet.)  However, preparing for our book discussion reminded me of my flow state: writing, outlining my thoughts, digging deeper to find new ways to explain something for others to embrace, succinctly interpreting a paragraph after reading it over 20 times.  Writing this blog and preparing for our discussion reminded me that, as leaders, we can do our best in business, at home and in humanity to "maximize the opportunities when we can be!"

In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink also points out that "mastery is difficult (of course), and that it requires an ability to grind it out sometimes."  We're not going to be in a state of flow all the time, and will have to "grind it out" at times between our flow states.  I can say this though, there's nothing like being in "the zone," being in "the flow state," to get us to move past those difficult moments!

When was the last time you felt you were in the zone?  Share your stories below 

Comments

[Howie Schweibel]

Great Job

I am living in the zone right now

Its awesome