“The Zone” — How to Enter the Stratosphere of Productivity
We all get into ‘the zone’ sometimes. But what would our workdays look like if we reached it consistently?
I’m sure you’ve experienced it before, oftentimes when working on a creative project at home or grinding at your 9–5. Being in ‘the zone’ is an exhilarating sensation that takes you to a completely different place where there’s nothing else but you and your project.
All distractions get muted and you become fully present. Energetic yet clear-headed. Pumped yet composed.
It’s often at this point where practically no one can stop you from getting your best work done. It’s the stratosphere of productivity and professional performance.
I love being in the zone. I’m sure you do too. After all, how many hours you spend in it pretty much determines the level of satisfaction you get at the end of the workday. And who doesn’t want to just crush it and win the day each time?
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, positive psychologist and the first proponent of the theory of ‘flow’, or the zone, described it as an
“optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.”
The greatest athletes in the world are all too familiar with this concept. For Kobe Bryant (May he and Gigi rest in peace) it’s slowing everything down to a point where you have complete control of your body and the ball, giving you supreme confidence that every shot you make will go in.
The same goes for artists of all types — designers, content creators, actors, writers, you name it. When they get going, you know you’ve lost contact with them for a while.
Even for not-so-creative professionals like the people in medicine, the academe, or business — the zone is still a very real phenomenon so long as there is passionate work being done.
Deep Work & The Zone
Cal Newport, who coined the term ‘deep work’ and wrote the best-seller book of the same name, described it as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”
I believe this is one of the best books that illustrate the existence of the zone quite well. Newport might have used different terminology but I could say with full confidence that the mental state that he often describes is without a doubt, ‘the zone’.
And it can be achieved through the vehicle that is ‘deep work’.
This tells us that if we set up ourselves and our schedules in a way that puts us in a position to perform a good amount of deep work every day, we are almost guaranteed to enter the zone each day as well.
How to know you’re there
Before we learn how to reach it, we need to first understand how to recognize it. How to know when you’re actually there.
I’ve identified four distinguishable elements that tell you you’re in the zone. Some might not apply to you depending on which field you belong to. But generally speaking, these are the four:
- High Levels of Focus — You become hard to distract and your full attention is zeroed in on your work.
- Heightened Productivity — You become compelled to try and squeeze every ounce of output for each minute you’re given.
- Maximum Level of Performance — You’re performing at your absolute best with an A+ across the board and nobody can stop you.
- Enjoyment and Satisfaction — The work no longer feels like work. Joy fills your bosom, even to the brim as you fly through your tasks and enjoy every minute of it.
Entering the Zone each time
So far I’ve described the zone as a place, a state, or point to get to. This means that in order to reach it, let alone reach it consistently, some groundwork needs to be done.
Consider doing the following to help you consistently hit the zone each day:
1. Schedule a time for deep work.
Deep work and the zone go hand in hand. You often achieve the highly coveted mental state in the latter whenever you are heavily engaged in the former.
If you block off time each day just for ‘deep work’, you’re exercising your ability to stay in the zone for longer as well. And don’t just block off time, stick to it. Honor your daily commitment by showing up even if you don’t feel like it.
You know what they say, practice makes perfect.
How long should it last? A good starting point is devoting 1 to 2 hours each day. The more you get good at it, the more comfortable you become maintaining 5, 6 even 7 straight hours of deep work — which is virtually the wavelength in which the pros operate. Naturally, the longer you can do deep work, the longer you can stay in ‘the zone’.
What time is best for deep work? There is no one single time slot that’s proven to yield optimal results. The trick is to schedule your deep work session anytime you’re most productive.
2. Set up a conducive working environment.
Get rid of all distractions. This starts with your work area. Choose somewhere quiet, clean, comfortable; a place where you won’t be bothered for the whole duration of your daily sessions.
3. Exercise your “focus muscle”.
Focusing is a true skill in which everyone has their own pace in learning how to get good at. I was never really the best as someone diagnosed with ADHD as a child.
That however didn’t stop me from putting in work to improve my focusing ability and I must say, I’ve come a long way.
The better you get at focusing, the more often you go on a roll and eventually, enter ‘the zone’.
Tip: Use Pomodoro timer apps like Forest to help segment your work sessions, giving you a sense of purpose and urgency for each working interval.
4. Track your progress.
Stay on top of your progress by recording it in a journal. You may record how many times you enter ‘the zone’ each day, week, or month. This helps you know where you’re currently at in your journey.
Review your progress regularly so you can spot areas where you can improve on and make the necessary adjustments immediately.
5. Do something you love
It’s definitely a lot easier to be fully immersed in an activity if you love what you’re doing. And I get it, not everybody has the luxury of making a career out of something they’re passionate about.
That said, there’s always something to look forward to in any job. In my experience, it’s not uncommon to enter the zone for work that you feel relatively neutral about.
If given the chance though, make the effort to invest time and energy to develop skills around something that you truly love, even if it’s just a side project for now.
So long as you’re working on it each day you will hit that zone consistently. You will become better at the activity and eventually, become an expert. This puts you in a better position to finally turn your passion into a career.
The zone is a great place to be in. Lately, I’ve been entering it more often and I must say that it feels quite liberating, to the say least. That being said, I’m still not at the level that I want to be.
It’s still after all a skill that needs to be developed and polished. There are different variations and levels to it for each person. My “zone” may not be as intense compared to yours and yours might not be as groundbreaking as Cal Newport’s.
That’s just fine.
What’s important is that you can be at a higher level of focus and productivity each passing day; that your skills can be improving at a stupidly higher rate compared to before.
Learning to get into the zone consistently is an invaluable skill to have. Thankfully, it’s one that you can start now.
