Tag Archives: The Zone

The Role of Attention in the Zone

Volume 2, Issue 15

Our nonprofit organization,The Human Effectiveness Institute, may be unique among nonprofit foundations in providing people with heuristics specifically designed to increase individual experience of the Observer and Flow (Zone) states of consciousness. Books that contain ancient scriptural texts from India, and other psychotechnologies derived from these teachings or rediscovered experientially, also offer such advice, since the samadhi, satori and zazen states are neurological levels within Flow.

In recent posts we have looked at Flow from many different points of view, including the relation to Flow of values, motivations, attachments, matching of skills and challenges, doing something for its own sake not for outcomes, and striving for Flow in the work one does best. In this post we will consider how attention is central to both Observer and Flow states.

ADD and ADHD are two modern symptomologies of Acceleritis, which undoubtedly also existed in the past but were never so prevalent as to warrant being named and studied. With the world culture veering wildly as information overload overwhelms our cortical abilities, our attention tends to be diffuse, unfocused, and constantly hopping from one distraction to another — conditions inimical to Flow.

A terrific book given to me recently by my great new friend and partner in Playshops, Richard Zackon, The Taboo of Subjectivity, by Alan Wallace — which recounts with such authenticity one feels as if Wallace is the reincarnation of William James — describes how James analyzes the most advanced “mystical” contemplative state he himself achieved as being one of alert vivid attention. Furthermore, the state was free of subjective constructs, conceptual thinking, and the singlepointed focus was on the nature of the experience of consciousness itself, thus utterly transcending the usual experience of mindand its incessant chatter. James thus demystified this state by explaining its differentness in purely scientific terms.

So long as one is not master of one’s own attention, none of the other suggestions we have provided or can provide will bear fruit in the way of Flow state. This is why so many of the Eastern traditions start with, and continuously emphasize, concentration training. Such training is no longer optional in the racing world of information overflow in which we now live, it is something we all need almost as much as we need love.

We cannot cover the subject of concentration training fully in this one post. A few key secrets of achieving concentration in current real world conditions will have to suffice for a start:

Focus 100% on one thing at a time.
Be present in the moment.
Do not rush — go no faster than you can with a rational and appropriate degree of perfectionism for the challenge you are facing.

In order to focus on one thing at a time you need:

To ruthlessly block off distractions.
As distracting but important ideas arise, jot them down on a side notepad and put them totally out of your mind until later. At the end of each day, integrate the list of waiting thoughts in priority order in a single list (or a personal list and a core business list). This will enable you to turn away from distracting thoughts without your mind tugging at your sleeve, fearing that important time limits are being exceeded on one or more of these items. Indeed, get done the side-notes in their own needed timeframes.

More on attention in future posts. This one dimension is one of the most important overlooked matters in world culture circa 2012.

Best to all,

Bill

PS – Gian Fulgoni was kind to tweet our last post – Click here.

The Force Is Conscious

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Volume 2, Issue 11

In his inspired space epic film series Star Wars, George Lucas postulates a religion based on the notion that a single Force pervades all of spacetime, and can be used by adepts in combat and other situations. It imparts powers of telekinesis (the ability to move matter with the mind), prescience/precognition (knowing the future), remote sensing/clairvoyance (the ability to see things beyond the field of vision), and the ability to shoot bolts of energy from the fingertips.

In Lucas’ cosmology, the Force also has a Dark Side that can seduce you into using these powers for selfish benefits; however, this turns your eyes red and ruins your complexion.

When the first Star Wars movie came out on May 25, 1977, I had just two years earlier formulated my vision of reality which I refer to as The Theory of the Conscious Universe. I was keenly interested in the similarity between Lucas’ vision of the Force and my own theory. One of the key differences is that Lucas does not convey that the Force is conscious. In my theory, the universe is a self-aware field of consciousness.

There is no scientific reason why this cannot be the case.

In fact my theory makes it understandable why the world’s leading theoretical physicist of our times, the late John Wheeler, stated that we observers (consciousness) co-create reality, and that “bits (information) precede “its” (physical objects/energy fields)”. Why shouldn’t our consciousness co-create reality, if we are part of the One Consciousness that created reality in the first place? And why should we be surprised that information plans precede the creation of bits of matter/energy, since consciousness and sometimes conscious planning precede all human inventions including the words we speak — if everything is just one big consciousness?

We know that fields exist — electromagnetic, gravitic, the strong nuclear force that holds atoms together, the weak nuclear force that mediates particle decay. Why should consciousness not be a field?

The other key difference between Lucas’ Force and my theory is that I postulate the One Consciousness lives through us — what we take to be our identity is a sub-identity of the One Consciousness.

One reason I have conviction this theory may actually be the truth is that whenever I am most deeply immersed in acting for the good of all, the incidence of my slipping into Flow state, aka the Zone, is increased.

I have not detected anything like a Dark Side of the Force. When I am in a dark selfish mood I never find myself in Flow state. In my Theory of Holosentience I hypothesize that dark moods are part of EOP, which is the opposite end of the performance spectrum from Flow.

Why not experiment for yourself with “wearing” this point of view of what the universe is, to see if it has any effect on your daily life, and your experience of the Flow state?

Best to all,

Bill

What Is A Friend?

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Volume 2, Issue 10

Being a friend to everyone is conducive to the Zone

Flow state, aka the Zone, is behind the purpose of The Human Effectiveness Institute. In last week’s post we focused on the internal maintenance of a good mood as a precursor to the autotelic (doing it for its own sake not for outcome) Flow state. Self-management of attitude for maximum performance was the point of that post. In this post, we focus on the external world and the ways in which it can be leveraged to help you and your team into Flow.

How do personal interactions lead to — or away from — the Zone?

When someone frustrates you or otherwise pulls you out of your good mood, investigate first how you played along with the event so that it was both of you causing the bad mood. This construct will get you quickly to the levers you can pull to effectively work on that relationship. And the best way to carry out such a long-term plan (relationships are not short-term situations) is as a friend, not as an enemy nor as a distant party.

Resist the temptation to demonize the other person. Realize they got to where they are through a series of events that were perhaps unfortunate and be glad your corresponding events left you with more visibility and perhaps less closed-mindedness. Be open to all possibilities including that your behavior was the progenitor of the events you did not enjoy.

Resist the temptation to teach other people — that is not what they want. If they want your advice, they’ll ask for it. What they want the most from you is simply and truly to be their friend. So what does that mean?

Warm, good feelings (love) — from the heart;
You tell them the truth — in a way that helps not hurts;
You want them to succeed — even if they succeed ahead of you;
You share fairly with them;
You encourage them;
You help them see the brighter side. People want to be in a good mood — bring yours and they will join you — that is leadership.
Help them find creative outlets that might have higher probability of success than their current time use.

So being a friend really entails a lot. It is the optimal underpinning to any relationship, including relationships with relatives. It helps make the Zone happen for you, your friends, and sometimes among whole teams of people.

Best to all,
Bill

PS — Ed Keller and Brad Fay of KellerFay have just come out with their new book THE FACE-TO-FACE BOOK: WHY REAL RELATIONSHIPS RULE IN A DIGITAL MARKETPLACE. The revelation of the book is that face-to-face conversations still rule in terms of volume and in terms of credibility, despite all the press about social media. The practical application is about how to use not only social media but everything else that has been proven to work to drive positive conversations including face-to-face. The book includes case studies naming brand names such as Kraft and General Mills. Learn what works. KellerFay not only talks the talk but walks the walk as proven by the way they are marketing the book on Facebook, for example, where you can get a free excerpt at http://on.fb.me/IPgVLE; Win a Free Copy http://on.fb.me/IqzisA. The book is available on Amazon, BN.com, and 800ceoread.

Creating Joy

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Volume 2, Issue 9

The more you enjoy yourself the more likely you are to shift into the Zone, bringing your friends with you

We continue to report on behaviors we have found to be correlated with Flow state over decades of making such observations. Flow, aka the Zone, closely resembles a supernatural experience because everything seems to be doing itself perfectly. To expand on our discussion from last post, we are considering the implications of the fact that Flow is prompted by autotelic behavior — that is, you are engaged in the behavior for its own sake, not in your quest for something else, some desired outcome. You are outcome-free and then Flow arises if your challenge slope is perfectly matched to your skills.

Joy and enjoyment are closely linked to autotelic behaviors. One doesn’t do something one hates for its own sake. This implies that you tend to be in a pretty jolly mood prior to the onset of Flow experiences. And in turn if the outcome you want is to be in the Zone more often, then it makes sense to keep yourself in a pretty good mood at all times. Besides, life is more fun that way.

Internally here are some steps you can take:

Non-acceptance of non-joy — “it’s simply unacceptable” is the attitude you maintain, and then work it out however you work it out. You remember it is not logical to maintain negative moods because they transmit negativity and thus reduce your effectiveness and influence. This involves a test of your will power.
Compared to what? In this step, you appreciate the current phase of your life by comparing it to how bad it could be. Gratitude to the universe for your life is conducive to Flow state for some reason, and that correlation has led me to my Theory of the Conscious Universe.
Enjoy the creative challenges. Take the long view with regard to problematic and vexatious relationship situations. Make a study of the relationship loop and put off decisive action until the recon and assimilation has been completed. You will actually see why X always happens, and how you can reduce the probability of X. Then you begin a patient series of trials to engage with the creative challenge of that particular relationship loop, which may recur in more than one relationship. Accept that each such problematic relationship has been handed to you as a creative challenge to rise above over goodly amounts of time. Make it a project.

Externally, other people may tend to bring you down. But most of them will be willing to get into a good mood if you start it. That’s why positivity is so much more effective than negativity.

Best to all,

Bill