Roger Federer and Novak Ddjokovic are masters of playing in the zone. They maintain a laser-like attention for hours at a stretch. It’s all about where they focus that attention – which is the same skill needed of a solutions-focused practitioner. Our choice of where we put our attention is what makes the difference.
Now, nobody knows what they do when they play in the zone. Because when they are in the zone they have no bandwidth left over to think about being in the zone. As soon as they switch attention to what’s it like to be in the zone, they’ve left the zone they were hoping to find out more about.
You can reflect before or after on what is was like in the zone, just as you can preview or remember anything else. But just as the memory of pain does not hurt in the same way as the original pain, so a recall of zoning is not itself an identical zone experience.
And you can recreate the conditions that help you get into the zone – noticing what works.
Perhaps the exception is a philosopher whose experience of being in the zone occurs when thinking about being in the zone. We could always ask one for their insights..
Now, nobody knows what they do when they play in the zone. Because when they are in the zone they have no bandwidth left over to think about being in the zone. As soon as they switch attention to what’s it like to be in the zone, they’ve left the zone they were hoping to find out more about.
You can reflect before or after on what is was like in the zone, just as you can preview or remember anything else. But just as the memory of pain does not hurt in the same way as the original pain, so a recall of zoning is not itself an identical zone experience.
And you can recreate the conditions that help you get into the zone – noticing what works.
Perhaps the exception is a philosopher whose experience of being in the zone occurs when thinking about being in the zone. We could always ask one for their insights..
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