Issue 63: The High Performance Zone
THE LEAP
BY QUANTUM ORANGE
GROW, EXPAND & EVOLVE
ISSUE 63 | THE HIGH PERFORMANCE ZONE
Each week The (Quantum) Leap summarises a key aspect of success into what you need to Think, Feel and Do to create a personal shift.
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 being happy.
~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
THINK
Too often people think of the peak performance zone as the domain of world class athletes and performers when in truth, the experience is universal. ‘Being in the zone’ is a fantastic feeling and the ability to regularly get into the zone is one of the most vital skills for life mastery.
While it isn’t always in our power to change our external conditions, we can easily learn to better manage our inner state.
Performing consistently at high levels is more difficult and more necessary than ever. It depends as much on how we renew and recover energy as on how we expend it, on how we manage our lives as much as on how we manage our work. When we feel strong and resilient - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually - we perform better, for longer.
Think back to a time in your life when you were totally immersed in an activity and ask yourself:
- What seemed to happen to time?
- What was my thinking like, confused or clear?
- Did the task feel hard or effortless?
- Do I normally struggle to get going in the morning?
- Do I avoid big tasks that take a lot of mental effort?
- Do I get distracted too much after starting on an important task?
There are environmental and psychological triggers we can use to help us get into the zone on purpose.
We can also sharpen our focus and attention by making sure we are in the present moment while completing a task - this removes outside distractions as well as those caused by our own thoughts.
Meditation can also serve as a highly practical means of training our attention - it can be as simple as sitting quietly and breathing deeply, counting each exhalation, and starting over when you reach ten. Alternatively, you can choose a word to repeat each time you take a breath e.g., focus.
Research has shown that if we push ourselves too hard mentally it will undermine our performance, so we need to consciously manage our time and energy. By alternating periods of stress with renewal, we can learn to align our work with our need for breaks every 90 to 120 minutes. Managing our time in this way will increase focus, as well as positive and critical thinking skills.
What can you do to manage your time better so you increase your ability to focus?
FEEL
Extensive research in sports science has confirmed that the capacity to mobilise energy on demand is the foundation of the high performance zone.
On top of this foundation is our emotional capacity.
Think back to a time in your life when you were totally immersed in an activity or performing at your best and ask yourself:
- How did I feel at this time?
- What emotions were present?
- Do I find it hard to maintain positive energy while working on something important to me?
- Do I push myself too hard emotionally?
- Do I normally feel bad at the end of the day, like I haven’t accomplished enough?
- Do I feel like I can give maximum effort for only a few hours each day before tiring out?
Research with top athletes has shown creating specific mental rituals is powerful in sustaining the positive energy that is necessary for high performance. One of these rituals is visualisation.
For example, Earl Woods taught his son Tiger to form a mental image of the ball rolling into the hole before each shot. According to neuroscientist Ian Robertson, that exercise does more than just make us more positive - it can literally reprogram the neural circuitry of the brain, directly improving performance.
Just as positive emotions ignite the energy that drives high performance, negative emotions - frustration, impatience, anger, fear, resentment, and sadness - drain energy. Over time, these feelings can become toxic, elevating heart rate and blood pressure, increasing muscle tension, constricting vision and ultimately crippling performance. Anxious, fear ridden athletes are far more likely to ‘choke' in competition because anger and frustration will sabotage their capacity for calm focus.
What mental images could you focus on to keep you feeling positive?
DO
There are many actions you can take to get into the high performance zone and stay there. Here are some everyday things to “do”:
1: Start your day with the task that is most important for reaching your goals and targets. Make a conscious decision to only focus on your most important tasks. This way, you put both your conscious and unconscious mind in agreement with each other.
2: Remove all distractions.
3: Tap into your deepest values and define a strong sense of purpose to unleash the energy you need - you have to link the activity to a goal to convince your brain the task is worth the effort. This will also serve as a powerful source of motivation, focus, determination and resilience when things get tough.
4: Stay mentally and physically fit: mental and physical fitness improves cognitive performance and provides the groundwork that makes it more likely you’ll enter a flow state.
5: Use music: it’s no coincidence that many athletes wear headphones as they prepare for competition. Music has powerful physiological and emotional effects - it can prompt a shift in mental activity from the rational left hemisphere of the brain to the more intuitive right hemisphere; it provides a relief from obsessive thinking and worrying; and it can be a means of directly regulating energy - raising it when the time comes to perform and lowering it when it is more appropriate to decompress.
6: Body language also influences emotions. “Act as if” - consciously creating the look on the outside that you want to feel on the inside. “You are what you repeatedly do,” said Aristotle. “Excellence is not a singular act but a habit.”
Take some time today to reflect on your current state. Ask yourself:
- How have I been feeling - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?
- What one thing could I do TODAY that will make the biggest difference to my day-to-day life and wellbeing?
Start with just one thing, and do it today. Repeat it tomorrow. And then keep going, until it becomes part of your lifestyle.
If you want to uplevel your focus, productivity, and performance - begin by implementing a flow routine.
