Getting Into the "Zone"

Effortless ... clicking on all cylinders ... everything is falling into place ... it's athletic, but it's also spiritual. Some call it being in the "zone," others hitting the "sweet spot." Every athlete -- every person, for that matter -- has experienced this almost indescribable feeling and tried to hang onto the precious wisp of peak performance as long as possible.

Certainly, as well, every athlete or weekend warrior has experienced the opposite. Skier Alison Gannett recounts her experience: "It all boils down to one thing, the "sweet spot." Whether it's on skis, surfboard, mountain bike, kayak, or within the body, as in yoga or running, when we find that perfect place, there is a magic where everything become easier."

Wouldn't it be great if you could summon this feeling anytime you wanted -- or at least, more often? You can, says Richard Keefe, PhD, associate professor of medical psychology at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "Being on the sweet spot is a compelling experience," he says. "Excellent performance, yet a feeling of effortlessness. Your engagement with what you are doing is so strong and powerful, you can't even describe it."

So Keefe decided to describe it anyway. In his book, On the Sweet Spot: Stalking the Effortless Present, Keefe advances the theory that in all aspects of life, not just sports, operating at a peak, with spiritual discipline, can bring great enjoyment to life. There is a way to make these sweet spot experiences more frequent, he says.

Stalking the Sweet Spot

Are people missing something here? Are humans designed to perform like this all the time and have we gotten in our own way somehow? Keefe says no. "If we were this focused all the time, we'd get into trouble," he says. "It's like the confluence of forces that come together to escape a sabertooth tiger. It's for special occasions."

Sadly, Keefe cannot supply 30 steps to getting into the sweet spot. But he says the key elements to summoning this state more often are:

• Remembering similar feelings of everything coming together spectacularly.
• Practicing the activity or sport a lot so good moves are self-programmed.
• Deliberately shutting down all the "cross talk" in your brain that is making you supervigilant to fear, doubt, and distraction.

Some ways of doing the latter include: Relaxation techniques, meditation, and some types of psychotherapy, all aimed at weeding out unnecessary brain activity during a sport or task.

"Meditation teaches you to bring back your wandering attention," Keefe notes. "Say you are at the free throw line, people are screaming and yelling. Even the greatest athletes will attempt to try harder. You don't need to try harder. You just need to let what you have practiced and done in the past spring out of you."