June 19, 2008 at 8:46 am
I agree with Steve's definition. I think one aspect of the Zone is that you are making progress on a problem, which is almost like bio-feedback and gains momentum. I think that's why it is so satisfying when you "come out of the Zone" and realize how much progress you've made.
Working in cubicles does make it hard to get/stay in the Zone. I'll put on headphones and listen to music - in my case, classical/instrumental to get back into the Zone, but once I'm there, I don't need white noise. Also, I am definitely a morning person. I used to get up at 4:15 am, and get 2 solid hours of Zone before I got the kids up, off to school and left for the office! (Now, I get up at 5:30 and out the door to beat the morning rush hour, and get settled in my cubicle before other people start to show up.)
June 19, 2008 at 8:55 am
In my thinking Brandon has it spot on. I think a lot has been mentioned here about being able to concentrate, but not being in the zone. I also work better when there are no distractions and I can concentrate. But being in the zone is when the distractions aren't distracting. Some would call that being able to concentrate, but I think it is more than that. I think focusing is a lost art. We, myself include think the interrupts are more important than the task at hand. How many of us ignore the cell and talk with the person in front of us? How many of us are texting someone else while talking with our friends? We live in an ADHD world but most of us do not have ADHD.
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Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.
June 19, 2008 at 9:22 am
I have quite a bit of experience being "in the zone". For me, it's more like yoga. When someone is deep in yoga, minor distractions do not affect the concentration. The zone is like I am in an opaque, sound-proofed bubble. I can work right through people talking next to me or telephones ringing. It's more than concentration. It's kind of a Zen thing.
I don't really remember what has happened while I was in the zone. I have to think about it to recall what I accomplished. I get into the zone more easily with headphones playing music (anything from Arthur Fiedler to the Zombies) and if my calendar is clear of meetings. If I know a meeting is coming, I can't get into the zone or I will miss the meeting.
I never know when I will go into the zone. I don't plan for it. It just seems to happen. I realize when I come out of it that I was in it. Maybe it's more like self-hypnosis than yoga. I tend to feel very relaxed afterwards.
The longest I was in the zone was 5 hours. It started about 1:00PM after lunch and I didn't get out of it until 6:00PM. I was writing code that needed to be completed by the next day.
There are times when I could stay longer if I didn't have to use the rest room. My family says I'm a freak but I will be showing them this thread to show them that I'm not alone. 😀
June 19, 2008 at 9:22 am
"In the Zone": when I realize that I have a headache because lunch time was several hours ago - but I accomplished more than usual in the hours that slipped by.
June 19, 2008 at 10:02 am
How does one get to the zone? Peter told us it is
"Second to the right, and straight on till morning"
:):):):):)
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
June 19, 2008 at 10:12 am
Thanks, but this wasn't me. It's Tim Mitchell who wrote it, so send the kudos his way.
I think the Zone is learned, but it's self-learned and over time. I started running in college to get into shape for rugby. Hated every step, dreaded it, looked at my watch every 10s, and more. As I became more comfortable (and in better shape), and started to stretch my distances, I started to enjoy it. Then one day I realized I'd run a half mile or so and didn't remember it. I'd zoned out into something else and just been moving.
Since then, if I run for 3-4 weeks straight (I'm a little inconsistent), I find myself getting into the zone. The same thing happened a few years later when I started swimming a lot, and when I did a lot of development. You concentrate, but you learn to drift away as you get more comfortable in the project. I think it's a combination of familiarity, experience, and concentration that puts you there. There are times now I'll be writing and realize I've missed a bunch of songs or talk on the radio and it's 3 hours later.
Tim did a great job describing it and I think you can get yourself into the zone often, it takes work, practice, and concentration. It might not always work, but the more it does, the more you get done.
June 19, 2008 at 10:31 am
That is an interesting parallel Steve is making with sports. I used to play professional tennis back in my home country and college in the US. I stopped after college, and found myself incapable of focusing for long period of times because of the lack of energy spent outside of work.
My wife got me into running and then I discovered ultra running. I have ran several 50K and 50 milers on trails (preparing for the first 100 milers later this year), running for up to 12 hours straight. In those conditions, you HAVE to get into the zone to make it through and you can find yourself covering miles without really thinking about it.
"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write
code that humans can understand." -Martin Fowler et al, Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, 1999
June 19, 2008 at 10:44 am
I think Brandon Danner makes a good point. When I am in the zone, I don't even notice I have emails in my inbox until I "come out", which might be at the end of the day, after others have gone -- which can be a bad thing, if they needed quick answers. If you are in a support position, you need to develop the skill of still being attuned to external cues, and be able to get into the Zone on demand. As others have said, it requires being able to focus and "see" only one thing.
June 19, 2008 at 11:22 am
This is a very interesting topic to me. Over the years I have found that I have a much more difficult time entering "The Zone" while programming. Then I read Echart Tolle's "A New Earth" and got a glimpse of how to get the mojo back.:)
June 19, 2008 at 11:59 am
There is a concept in psychology called "flow" that captures this phenomenon across many fields:
June 19, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Good stuff from everyone and enjoyed reading it. Here is my take on the "Zone". I believe it a place where we are at peace with ourselves and can really focus on what is important to us. It is not a place that one can go to on a whim but I must say that the more you visit it the easier it is to get to. As I think back to my days of playing competitive tennis it seemed as though I was in the zone all the time once I reached the quarterfinal matches and beyond. I remember the times I played my best I was not focused on my playing but on some ridiculous melody running through my mind at the time. This seemed to allow all the muscle memory and natural talent come through. Much like the more you code in a specific language or do any task the easier the task becomes and even though you appear to be focused on the task at hand I think we all will find that we drift off to a special place, different for each of us, and only truly focus on what is important and let the juices flow.
Like it or not that is my take on it.
June 19, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Steve, I know what you are talking about with running. The fitter I get the more I can get in the Zone while running. At the end of the run I don't feel as tired as when I don't get in the Zone. The funny thing is I have achieved the Zone at a client's while ill with the flu and talking to another person while programming. I have always been able to block out extraneous noise while reading (noisy brother and sister) and I guess this extends into other things that I do such as running and coding. To me the Zone is a very good head space where all stresses seem to disappear and you seem capable of anything. You don't doubt yourself but believe that you can achieve anything you would like to.
Cheers,
Nicole
Nicole Bowman
Nothing is forever.
June 19, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Ian Massi (6/19/2008)
For reference, my favourite Kevin Costner movies about baseball are:1) Field of Dreams
2) For Love of the Game
3) Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Yeah, I especially liked that last scene where Robin's Merry Men are playing the Sherriffs of Nottingham. Bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded, and Little John steps up to the plate. Oh wait, I'm thinking of "Bull Durham"... 😉
June 19, 2008 at 5:59 pm
The Zone is not a mystery, it is the Alpha brain state, and you can train yourself to achieve it.
June 20, 2008 at 7:38 am
One of the major complaints I get from people on a relatively regular basis, is that I'm "in The Zone" too far and too often.
Any time I find something strongly interesting, it's very, very easy to focus on it to the point of not noticing people talking to me, etc. I'll start some project in the morning, reach a point where I've finished an interesting part of it, think, "I wonder how long it is till lunch" as I realize that I'm hungry, look at my watch, and be amazed that it's 6 PM.
My wife calls me, "her very own absent minded genius", because of this.
It has advantages. I can get a tremendous amount done very rapidly when I focus like that. It has drawbacks as well, and not just skipped meals. From me, "just a minute, I just need to finish this one thing," can mean, "hold on for an hour or more, just stand there and wait for me". I've finished two-week projects in an afternoon sometimes, but that "afternoon" might have lasted from 1 PM to 1 AM the next day.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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