The Zone – AFL Podcast

12/09/18 • 9 min

In The Zone

Have you ever been “in the zone?” Have you ever heard someone say “I’m in the zone, don’t bother me?” If you have then you know what I am talking about. If you’ve never really been in the zone then let me explain, because this is a really amazing thing, and you need to not only know about it, but you need to experience this as often as you can.

Defining it

I did a lot of searching to see what others thought the definition was. The one I found that was closest to my perception is the definition by the Collins English Dictionary – a dictionary I hadn’t heard of until now.

In the zone
Informal
in a state that produces achievement with such an extraordinary, often unlikely, degree of success that it seems to defy purely rational explanation

It is interesting that it mentions “often unlikely” degree of success, isn’t it? You are doing something that seems to produce an achievement, with a very satisfying and unusual degree of success that you can’t seem to explain. I think that’s a big part of it. You go to do something, to create something, and when done you look at what you’ve done and marvel at the outcome – dang that turned out really really well.

That’s a part of it, but let’s take a even large view and encompass the entire concept, in my humble opinion of course.

Being in the zone just feels right. It feels like you are doing something you are good at – something you are exceptional at. That feeling of perceiving that you are very good at it is a feeling of self-validation. And we all know just how powerful validation is – it’s the feel all be all emotion. But the zone is more than that.

The Second Facet

If you were good at something but didn’t like it then you would only have a two dimensional feeling of validation. The other facet adds another dimension. Not only do you feel like you’re good at this, but you just feel right doing it. When you do this you feel like this is your thing. This is your domain. Hold my beer. It’s the third act and you are up. That’s a really important part – that feeling that you are doing your thing. This acts as a self-contained fuel for the validation. You do the thing and enjoy it, then take a step back and say “Dang Karen, you really are good at this!” But wait, there’s more.

The Third facet

There’s a third facet of The Zone. This facet is not required but it just makes the zone that much easier to attain for some, and it involves the V word again. Again, you do this thing, then you look upon it and pronounce it amazing, this validating yourself and fueling your passion for it. But now you show it to others and they go crazy over it, not only confirming your assessment of it, but increasing the assessment to another level. You think it’s great – humbly and almost secretly – and they all think it is awesome! Now you have external validation that adds to your fuel.

Systemically

Since I see everything as a system, I see how these three things can be combined to produce different results. I’ll revisit these facets separately in another podcast/article, but the scope of this post doesn’t allow that.

What is your zone?

There’s no limit as to what your zone is. It can be writing, acting, creating music, your specific form of art, or even playing Santa.

Discovering your gages

If you follow me and are aware of The Status Game then you’re aware of how you’re guided by these gages on your dashboards. The Discover Your Gages workbook will be out soon (as a companion to the seminar of the same name). If you haven’t been in The Zone then that’s a crime. You need to find your zone, and The Status Game will help. Hit me up, peeps.

The post The Zone – AFL Podcast first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

In The Zone

Defining it

In the zone
Informal
in a state that produces achievement with such an extraordinary, often unlikely, degree of success that it seems to defy purely rational explanation

That’s a part of it, but let’s take a even large view and encompass the entire concept, in my humble opinion of course.

The Second Facet

The Third facet

Systemically

What is your zone?

There’s no limit as to what your zone is. It can be writing, acting, creating music, your specific form of art, or even playing Santa.

Discovering your gages

The post The Zone – AFL Podcast first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Previous Episode

Absurdity Filter

The Absurdity Filter

Do you have an absurdity filter? Of course you do. But are you using it correctly? Do you keep messing with the sensitivity depending on who you point it to? Of course you are. Does this have to do with status? Yep.

Listen to gain an awareness of this filter, and detect if you are using the wrong settings on the wrong individuals in your life.

The post Absurdity Filter first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Next Episode

Charging a battery, filling a bucket and accomplishing a goal

Charging a battery

We all own devices that run on batteries – iphones, androids, laptops, macbooks, ipads, apple watches, wireless headphones. Charging them sometimes becomes a sport in which we actually change our behaviour based on how much time we can get out of a certain item, right? Charge at night, or while you’re showering, etc. Ever notice that everything with a battery charges a certain way? It may take three hours to charge something but the way it charges is not linear.

Filling a bucket

It’s easy to liken charging to filling up a bucket without spilling. Imagine that your battery is a bucket, and the charger’s job is to fill it to the very top without spilling any. Spilling some equals ruining the battery (or at least drastically reducing it’s capacity and effectiveness). If you want to fill this bucket as fast as possible you just dump the water into it and try to stop at the very top. if you pour to much you screwed up the battery (and got the floor all wet). If you stop to soon you underfilled the bucket (and the battery only has 80% of the charge it is supposed to have(. So your charger does just what you’d eventually learn to do:

It charges very quickly in the beginning (it dumps the water) and then slows down near the end, and just gives it a trickle at the very very end. In fact some charges just sort of stop at 98% and then wait until it falls below 94%.

Accomplishments and goals

Accomplishments and goals are very similar to this battery and bucket. In fact, this charging method is a perfect metaphor for how goals are sometimes accomplished (and not).

Remember the last thing you tried to accomplish? No, not doing the dishes – something larger like a project or even a major goal. You probably plunged into it full force, and got a great start. As the project progressed and you became aware of the many steps and milestones and sub tasks needed... you slowed down. Maybe it wasn’t voluntary – after all if you were working and depending on others you may have had to wait for them.* But indeed you slowed down. As you approached the finish line a few things may have happened:

The goal changed – once you were deep into the goal/accomplishment you discovered/realized a few things you were ignorant to before starting. So the goal line moved. The battery has more capacity than you thought or the bucket is deeper. So your trickle at the end is a trickle at the middle.
You lost interest/because daunted – This can happen when the menitua of the task eats you up. A death by 1,000 cuts is a very real pitfall of accomplishing a goal** You can also lose interest because, hey, I didn’t know it would be like this and jeez, this is harder than I thought and maybe this isn’t for me. You don’t really want to charge this battery, maybe someone else should do it?
You get paralysis by analysis – This is also why no one erects a statue to a committee. Though analysis is important if that’s all you’re doing you’re not moving forward. So your charging is really looking at the battery, wondering about the best charger to use, or maybe considering filling the bucket with something other than water.
You want to do it right – You look back at your progress and you really become one with the moment, being aware of the shift of time. This battery is going to be charged perfectly to 100%, and that bucket is gonna get filled to the very top.
You start to savor the victory – A wonderful but dangerous thing to do, akin to counting those chickens before they are hatched. You may become so busy celebrating the 85% progress of te bucket fill and battery charge that it never goes higher.

Be mindful

So, be mindful that the process of charging a battery, filling a bucket and accomplishing a major goal has a certain method for a reason.

Check out my Balance Sheet as part of the Alchemy For Life system of accomplishing goals for a tangible was of reaching your goal.

I want your battery to be charged to 100% and your bucket to be filled to the very top. Because there’s going to be another battery and another bucket soon, and they’ll be even larger.

* My experience with web development has taught me that the major delays and slowdowns of producing a newly developed site is mostly caused by waiting for the client to decide on an option, or deliver needed media.

** Writing a book is not just creating a manuscript – there are many tiny th...