The zone, also referred to as the flow state in sports, is where you find yourself completely in the moment, playing your best, and your game feels effortless.
You are locked in and playing at your peak.
When you play in the zone, this is where you find yourself performing up to your full potential.
Every athlete wants to play in the zone. When you’re in the zone, the game feels natural.
So, how can you get yourself in the zone more often?
Well, it’s not as straightforward as flipping a switch or even applying a certain tool.
The zone is elusive.
But there are a few key principles of playing in the zone you can follow, that make getting into the zone during competition more of a reality.
What I’ve done below is outline all three principles of playing in the zone, along with a way you can apply the principle to your game.
Zone Principle #1: Be Present
When you play in the zone, your mind is present. You aren’t worried about the past and stressing over the future.
You are present when you play.
Competing with a mind in the present moment is dangerous…for your opponent.
When you are present, your mind is locked in to what you’re doing. This leads to elevated levels of play.
When we look at the zone in sports, we notice the idea of being fully focused on what you’re doing. There’s a sense of being one with your actions. This is also true when describing the flow state.
While we can’t force the zone to happen, we can get close to being in the zone by focusing on keeping our attention centered in the present moment.
The more present you are with your attention, the more likely you are to play in the zone.
Many mental game challenges stem from a mind lost in the past or future. This is where you develop fear, anxiety, perfectionism, and other unhelpful patterns of thinking.
Being present keeps these challenges from controlling you and your game.
Being present is all about your attention. Of course your body is in the present moment, but what about your thoughts?
Are your thoughts centered on what’s happening right now, or the previous play? Are you focused on the current play, or how the game will go and what your stats will look like or what your coaches will think of you?
Being present in sports means your thinking and focus is centered on what you’re doing.
Example of Being Present Leading to Playing in the Zone
There was a runner I worked with who struggled during his races. That all changed when he worked on getting himself more present with his thinking.
After he and I discussed the idea of being present and not thinking so much about the past or future, he noticed a huge difference in his next race.
Before the race began he used a breathing exercise to center his attention in the present moment. Then, as the race began, he continued to focus on himself and worked to stay in the moment.
As a result, his race went smoother and he found himself running in the zone. He finished the day with a personal best on the course.
How to Be Present While You Compete
In the example above, the runner used breathing to ground himself in the present moment before the race. Then, as the race began, he worked to keep his attention on himself.
We are going to take the same approach to help you compete with a present mind.
What you want to do first is use a breathing exercise before the game begins. This will ground you in the present moment. Starting a game with a present mind makes it much easier to compete with a present mind as the game unfolds.
The breathing exercise I recommend is a simple mindfulness meditation practice.
What you do is close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, centering your attention on your breathing. Then, continue to take deep breaths and focus on your breath for five minutes. I suggest setting a timer for yourself.
As you breathe, pay attention to when your mind drifts and bring it back onto your breath.
Performing this breathing exercise pregame will ground you in the moment and help get your mind present.
As the game begins, your job is to keep your mind present. There are a couple ways you can do so.
If you play a sport where you wait – such as baseball, softball, golf, tennis (between points), etc. I suggest focusing on your breathing. Become conscious of your breath throughout the game.
If you’re a runner, basketball player, soccer player, or play another fast paced sport where there isn’t a lot of waiting, you can still choose your breath, you will just be breathing heavier.
In that case, you could also focus on a controllable objective that will center your mind in the present moment.
The more present you are, the closer you get to being in the zone. To get yourself present, use a breathing exercise pre game, along with focusing on yourself to keep your mind present throughout the competition.
Zone Principle #2: Positive Thinking
When you play in the zone, do you notice yourself having a lot of negative thoughts? Are you getting down on yourself and frustrated over every little thing?
Or is your mind positive?
Athletes who compete in the zone have positive minds. Their thinking – when they do notice it – is positive.
Now why did I say it like that…when they do notice their thinking?
Because one of the key characteristics of playing in the zone or flow state is not thinking. You’re just playing.
This is where your mind goes blank in a good way. You are so into the game and in the moment that you’re not conscious of what you’re thinking.
That’s a beautiful state to be in…but unfortunately one we cannot force.
Turning the mind off is difficult, if not impossible. Trying to silence your thoughts while playing will do more harm than good. When your mind goes blank naturally, that’s great and is a lucky occurrence. But not an occurrence we can count on or try to force to happen again.
What we can do, however, is keep your thinking positive until you slip into the zone state automatically.
There is something known as the thought-feeling-action cycle that describes the intricate relationship between our thoughts, feelings, and actions on the field or court.
In short, this cycle refers to the idea that your thoughts create feelings and your thoughts and feelings generate specific types of actions, feeding back into certain types of thoughts.
This is why you find yourself feeling afraid to make mistakes and playing scared when you think about not wanting to mess up.
The cycle also shows us the importance of positive thinking while playing and how positive thinking leads to increased performance.
But it also leads to more focused play, which is where we see it have such a strong impact on playing in the zone.
Negative thinking typically stems from mistakes or worries about the future. Both of which take you out of the present. And as we just discussed, being present is key to playing in the zone.
Example of How Positive Thinking Helps You Play in the Zone
There was a tennis player I worked with who struggled with a lot of sports performance anxiety before matches. Her anxiety grew to the point where she considered quitting the sport she loved.
She had lost the passion to play.
The first mental skill she and I focused on was reframing her thinking.
Before matches, she thought a lot about what could go wrong. During matches, she focused on mistakes and thought about how far she still had to go to win.
None of which I would consider positive thinking.
We worked to shift her thinking and as a result, her anxiety decreased and play drastically improved.
As our work progressed, and in check in calls since we’ve completed our 12-week program, the one skill she always pointed out that helped her play well was her thinking.
The more positive her mindset, the more focused and in the moment she played. As a result, the closer she got to being in the zone, without having to force herself to get into the zone.
How You Can Use Positive Thinking for Yourself
Positive thinking means thinking in a way that positively impacts your performance. It is not always about sunshine and rainbows and saying everything will be okay.
Sometimes you need to be hard on yourself and tell yourself to lock in, bounce back, and refocus!
But not in that typical, self-critical way. In a productive way. In a way that positively impacts your play.
That is the goal of positive thinking.
Now, the way you can make use of this principle for yourself is by creating a self-talk routine.
A self-talk routine is a list of simple statements you read to yourself on a daily basis and before games. What this does is program your mind to think positively.
Reading the list before games primes your mind for positive thinking. Look at it as a warm up for your mind.
Zone Principle #3: Playing Freely
You have to let go in order to play in the zone.
When you try to force things to happen during competition, this seldom goes well. In fact, forcing is a fast track to underperforming.
Letting go, on the other hand, allows you to play freely. And playing freely is the third key principle to playing in the zone.
What do you think of when you read the term, play freely?
Do you think of playing loose and relaxed? Playing without care or worry? Playing without fear?
All of that is absolutely true.
But what stands out to me even above all of those is the idea of playing with trust.
When athletes experience a lot of fear and anxiety, the natural tendency is to try and control the outcome. They try to make something good happen. That rarely works.
Trying to control the outcome only invites tension into your game. And tense players are not free players.
Confident players, on the other hand, are loose players. And confidence is only present when there is trust.
When you trust in yourself and your skills, you’re able to let go and play freely during games. You trust in your preparation and your muscle memory and you simply play.
There is no way to play in the zone state if you’re trying to force a good game. As long as you aim to control the outcome, you keep yourself from the zone.
As soon as you let go and allow yourself to play freely, the doors to the zone state open up for you.
Example of How Playing Freely Helps You Play in the Zone
Pitchers in baseball experience a lot of pressure. All eyes are on them every single pitch. They control the game. As a result, it’s easy for them to try and control the outcome of each pitch, as well.
But the more they try to control the outcome of each pitch, the more wild they get. They try to over-control and guide the baseball, causing their accuracy to go down.
This type of over-control can also lead to decreased velocity and pitches that don’t break as much.
And all of that is what one pitcher experienced before he and I worked together.
We focused on getting him to let go of his need to control and instead allow himself to pitch freely.
He focused heavily on preparation throughout the week. We used this as a point of trust for him. Instead of trying to control each pitch, he put even more emphasis on controlling his preparation.
Then, the night before the game and right before the game began, he used visualization to mentally rehearse himself on the mound. He also performed this visualization between innings while in the dugout.
Relying on preparation and using visualization to increase confidence gave him the trust he needed to let go and throw freely. As a result, his effectiveness on the mound skyrocketed.
How You Can Use Playing Freely for Yourself
To play freely, you must trust in yourself and your skills. This requires confidence. Confidence we will look for in preparation.
The first tip I have for you is to be sure you are preparing as much as possible.
This involves all forms of preparation: physical, mental, fitness, diet, study, all of it!
The more prepared you are, the more you can fall back on that preparation as a point of trust.
The second tip I have is visualization. That’s the tool the baseball player saw the most success with.
Visualization involves imagining yourself playing. You go through and mentally rehearse the game and see yourself performing your skills.
It is a fantastic tool to build confidence. Confidence that helps you let go, trust, and play freely come game time.
Final Thoughts
You cannot force the zone state.
By trying to force yourself into the zone, you introduce tension into your game. Tension that does nothing but causes you to underperform.
What you can do, however, is focus on developing the three key principles of the zone state:
- Being Present
- Positive Thinking
- Playing Freely
By focusing on these three principles, you prime your mind to play in the zone, without having to force it to happen.
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.
