Sportsmen are said to have it, an ability to enter "The Zone".

But, it is my belief that everyone experiences the state of consciousness where we feel totally in control.

First lets look at what happens when we are in the zone and what it is .

When we have mastered a skill, certain parts of that skill become automatic. Since most of us will have experienced driving I will use that as an example.

Other examples include playing a sport, roller-blading, skating, playing a musical instrument or even reading or any other activity where actions or events are repeated. The general skill comes from maintaining the quality and efficiency of the actions.

The requirements for this type of activity is that it is a mastered skill with a distinct purpose, a practiced activity that has some degree of habituation, both the conscious mind and subconscious mind are involved, the mind need only give selective attention to 5 to 9 items, a certain amount of stress is generated leading to an altered state of awareness. We are aware of being in the Zone.

Just how do we juggle these 5 to 9 items that we may need to track while running our automatic programs to produce that golf swing or move those skates in the right way?We need to look at the functions of the mind.

The Mind

We are born with two basic fears. The fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. All other fears are learned.

What we learn about fear and pleasure is taught to us between the ages of birth and 12 years old. How we learn is determined in part by our genetics.

The function of our brain and body, our fears, emotions, feelings and thoughts can be grouped into a process we call our mind.

Our minds can be thought of being made up of two major parts. The Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind.

The conscious mind is where we aware that we are focused. It allows to direct our attention, and to select what we want to think about our environment. We analyze the information we receive and test its logic. This accounts for about 12% of our minds functions.

Our subconscious mind, on other hand, is directed to self-preservation. Our beliefs and attitudes, our habits are stored in this area. This area contains our memories, a database of information.  It is assumed that this area has unlimited capacity.

Since our habitual thought responses are stored here, this area generates our emotions. Here also are our motivations stored as automatic programs.

Generally our beliefs, habits and attitudes are resistant to change. This is a specialized function of both the conscious and subconscious mind called the Critical Mind. The critical mind compares, selects and identifies information that corresponds or supports the beliefs we already have.

Also within our subconscious mind is an area that tends to our bodily functions such as heartbeat, breathing, hormones and hormonal activity, digestion and other processes which we do not directly control.

Science has determined that we are capable of juggling 5 to 9 items in our conscious mind at one time. On the other hand, our subconscious mind can run an unlimited number of automatic programs, including our habitual and involuntary programs like heart beat, breathing and so on.

How to Enter The Zone

Practice a skill until you can do it automatically. Assign a sense of urgency to completing the task, each time you do it. When you feel a certain amount of stress to perform that skill, your mind begins to focus on what and how you need to perform certain activities and will begin to monitor the 5 to 9 things it is capable of monitoring to achieve success.

Time will seem to stretch. Because you are so practiced at doing the task and you know how long to take to perform each smaller step, you will get a sense that you have lots of time.

Since you have to direct your attention to achieve a specific goal, you will enter a state of awareness that will track key elements of both yourself and your body, and the environment that are necessary to achieve that goal.

A Personal Example

When I am driving I often notice that I am totally tuned in to the movement of traffic around me. I know exactly when to move from lane to lane and can anticipate the movement of other drivers. This often occurs when I am alone in the car.

I really don't have to be aware of leg movement or arm arm movement. I just need to point the vehicle in a certain direction and let my automatic programming take over. My mind keeps track of road conditions, lane changes and traffic movement, as well a speed and location of heavier vehicles.

Since I am usually running to a deadline to get to wherever I am going, there is a sense of urgency, a certain level of stress to arrive on time.

When I drive this way, I feel very skillful. It is testing my abilities to the max.  And timing my moves gives me a sense of controlling time. It feels effortless and it seems I have all the time needed to fit myself into the traffic pattern.

In a Nut Shell

1) Become focused on a task that you do well because you have practiced it over and over. This will become a habitual program and will run automatically and unconsciously when you need it.

2) Assign a sense of urgency to completing the task. This creates stress which forces your mind into an altered state of awareness.

3) Remain focused on the 5 to 9 things that can change at any time weighing them in your mind. Everything else will  fade into your peripheral senses.

When your are fully and solely aware of achieving that specific goal,  all the extra unnecessary information in your environment will fall out of focus and you will seem to be effortlessly in your task you will be in "The Zone."