Читать книгу Sports Psychology For Dummies - Leif H. Smith - Страница 32

Many athletes and people ask us how they can get into the “zone” or flow state, where most of the top performances occur. This is when athletes seem to perform without thinking. You might see athletes appear to be “in the zone” when you watch them on ESPN or maybe even at a local high school game. Yes, it is possible for everyone and anyone to be in the zone. And not just in athletics. You can be “in the zone” when it comes to playing music, doing a presentation, being at a job interview, or simply having a wonderful session with an athlete. The fact of the matter is that we do not “consciously” find the zone, even though we all know what it is. Think about a time when you performed out of your mind — typically some words to describe it include feeling like you were in slow motion, or that time stopped, and that you knew things were coming together. We have all been there — albeit not as often as we would like!

The reality is that most athletes accidentally slip get into the zone. If you think about the zone as a subconscious state — or a state where no conscious thoughts are occurring — then your body is simply doing what you have trained it to do. The zone isn’t your ideal performance mindset. It is the result of you training and developing your ideal performance mindset. When you practice these mental skills consistently, you learn to develop your ideal performance mindset much more consistently. And when this happens, your odds of slipping into the zone or flow state of mind increase dramatically!