My Blog

Peak performance. Optimal performance. Flow. The Zone.

A time when an athlete's performance is exceptional, consistent, automatic. When he or she is able to ignore outside pressures and allow his or her body to deliver what the body has been trained to do. An experience that, at times, can feel almost transcendent.

Have you been in The Zone? Have you had a peak experience? Is there a way to develop skills that would allow you to experience more Flow?

Peak performance is a topic that has fascinated athletes and sports psychologists alike. Over 20 years ago, Charles Garfield wrote the book Peak Performance: Mental Training Techniques of the World's Greatest Athletes, and set-off the study of an experience that is hard to obtain and even harder to describe. The state of superior functioning, whether it be called peak performance, flow, or being in The Zone, is one that, once experienced, is addictive. You want more.

This experience is not restricted to certain sports or certain athletes (e.g., runners who experience "runner's high;" tennis players who are in The Zone). Researchers Janet Young and Michelle Pain found that the zone or flow state is a universal phenomenon across sports.They found that an experience of "total concentration and involvement, control, a unity of mind and body and a sense of personal fulfilment at an optimal level of performance" can be experienced by athletes in many sports.

1. Optimal pre-competitive preparation plans: Being optimally prepared before a competition was an important factor in helping flow. This included adhering to a regular pre-performance mental prep routine (e.g, visualizing a routine, mentally going through the event, listening to music).


2. Optimal physical preparation: Seems obvious. Keep in mind, though, that being physically prepared also included being well rested.


3. Confidence and positive thinking: This included eliminating negative thinking and focusing only on positive performance attributes, trusting one's abilities, and having fun.


4. Optimal arousal prior to competition: Depending on your makeup, this could include relaxation (for athletes prone to getting over-excited prior to competition) or getting energized.


5. Performance feeling good: This dimension referred to an athlete's feelings during his or her warmup. Good physical preparation in warm-up was associated with the necessary mental preparation needed for flow states to occur.


6. Motivation to perform: This consisted of an athlete's possession of clear goals and high motivation, usually internal.


7. Focus: One of the studies participants summed it up this way, "I have to be focused and totally aware of everything that is going on around me." When this happens, an athlete's performance feels almost automatic.


8. Optimal environmental conditions: Not only good conditions but an awareness of these good conditions (eg. a scenic run to which we pay attention).


9. Positive coach/team interactions. This can be broadened for athletes that participate in individual sports or are non-coached to include positive social support.

These nine dimensions were the themes that athletes in the Russel study gave most often in describing what promoted flow states. This is not to say that if athletes have less than all nine they wont "flow" anymore than having all nine guarantees a peak experience -- but having all nine certainly wouldn't hurt.

So then, is it really possible to train yourself to have peak experiences? That question formed the the basis of a recent article by Robert Harmison in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. In it, Harmison examined the phenomenon of peak performance and how athletes can increase their awareness of their ideal performance state. He maintained that athletes first need to discover for themselves the ideal conditions they need to achieve a flow state. He concludes that

athletes can benefit from becoming more aware of the ideal performance state that is specific to them and their situation and developing the necessary psychological and adversity-coping skills and strategies to achieve and maintain this mental and emotional state for peak performance. This requires a great deal of proficiency on the athletes' part regarding their execution of mental skills and strategies such as relaxation, attention control, and imagery.

So what is the best way to have a peak experience? Physical and mental preparation! Whether you call it flow, the zone, or peak performance, this state that most athletes strive for is much more than just a fluke. It is the result of hard physical and mental preparation resulting in an ideal mind/body state that is worth every bit of effort.

All this talk about peak performance leads me to the Sportsminded Survey for this month: Have you had a peak experience? Scroll down the right hand column of this blog and add your answer to our tally.

Or better yet (well, maybe not better; hopefully you'll do both), post a comment describing your sports-related peak experience. Be sure to include enough details to help those reading it get a full-picture of what it was like, what you were doing at the time, and what you did (or didn't) do to reach that state. I can't wait to read your comments. These experiences are always interesting to read and often times most inspiring.

References:

Harrison, R. J. (2006). Peak performance in sport: Identifying ideal performance states and developing athletes' psychological skills. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37, 233-243.

Russel, W. D. (2002). An examination of flow state occurrence in college athletes. Journal of Sports Behavior, 24 (1), 83-106.

Young, J.A. & Pain, M. D. (1999). The Zone: Evidence of a universal phenomenon for athletes across sports. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 1(3). http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol1Iss3/Empirical_Zone.htm