Articles

Excellence

In 1989 after Notre Dame won the National Football title, the New York Times ran an interview with Lou Holtz focusing on his personal steps to success. Winning the national title marked Holtz's accomplishing number eighty something of his one hundred and some odd goals. Most people set goals, but what distinguished Holtz from the pack was his vision, his ability to both set his sights ahead, see what he wanted to achieve, and then follow through to see each end result. Such success stories inspire many of us to practice our own goal setting behaviors.

I mention this story because I have been contemplating, as one interested in the process of success, the concept of being in the zone. You may have experienced those moments when everything is clicking, when you feel right on. This state has been studied in athletes by sports psychologists such as Shane Murphy, who refers to it as the achievement zone. Mihaly Csikszentmilhalyi, in studying creativity, has termed the state of optimal experience when we are open and peaked as flow. Discussion of the peak state is certainly not new to psychology. Abraham Maslow, in researching self-actualization and peak experiences described moments during the creative process when the whole experience is experienced as bliss, ecstasy, rapture, exaltation.

In these competitive days we may be outpacing ourselves in our work efforts and attempts at success. Most of us work extremely hard. We want to stay in that steady state of flow when we know we are at our all time best. Yet when we take a critical look at our professional skills and seriously rate ourselves, there is usually an area that we want to be better at, that we want to further develop.

The zone has been described by Murphy as a special place where performance is exceptional and consistent, automatic and flowing. An athlete is able to ignore the pressure and let his or her body deliver the performance that has been learned so well. Competition is fun and exciting. Not only athletes, but all of us can work to achieve this wondrous state by spending some of our energy preparing for those more competitive moments. By taking the necessary steps to experience the zone we can create more moments in our lives when we are in this optimal state.

Consider your work world and the particular events that unravel you more than you would like. Is it making a presentation to a particular audience or dealing with an incredibly intense day of decision making from all fronts? By taking a careful look at the sequence of events you experience when you feel on top, when you are handling it smoothly, gracefully and effectively, you can better prepare yourself to reach that state again when it counts most. It may be at a competitive level that you have not yet attained.

Here are some suggestions for reaching that state of excellence more frequently in your work life:

To maximize your chances for experiencing this state of heightened performance, designate time and energy each day to focus on what you want to achieve. 

Make your goals specific, positive, and behavior oriented, rather than results focused. For instance, if you want to become an effective presenter, one who inspires credibility and action, break this up into a list of smaller behavioral goals you would like to accomplish.

Consider your strengths and weak points in this event (presentations) and specific behaviors that you know will help you to approximate the target. For example, perhaps you are prone to speak quickly because of your anxiety, and to lose your train of thought. You can list behaviors that will make you more adept with the material, allowing a smoother delivery.

Begin by committing to take the time to write down your presentation in a well researched manner. 

Give yourself adequate time and push yourself when you become bored or befuddled because in doing so you will become stronger and more confident in your platform. 

Plan rehearsing your presentation several times before the expected delivery. Rehearsing will allow you to become more comfortable with the words and give you the opportunity to anticipate possible responses and objections that may arise. Envision your audience and see yourself mastering the event with the confidence, resolve and effectiveness that you desire. It may help to notice how other effective speakers handle themselves.

During your rehearsals and visualization process make sure you are breathing calmly. When we are under pressure and anxious we are more likely to hold our breath which physiologically increases the body's level of arousal and can work against your attempts to be calm and grounded. Make sure that you are giving adequate time to relaxation attempts in your life. Do you take time out to still your thoughts and practice muscle relaxation, meditation or deep breathing?

Designate other time to use your imagination to visualize or experience yourself being successful in that event. Feel your body, as an athlete would rising to take your position to begin your performance. Stay focused. Begin to state your thoughts without allowing any doubts or possible self sabotaging thoughts to undermine your performance. Go through the sequence that might occur if you lose your train of thought. Feel yourself taking a moment to breathe, mentally locate your place in your notes and continue calmly and confidently.

Continuously reassess your progress. Note your improvements and continue to raise the beam, to push yourself further. Take a moment to breathe in your success, to give yourself a pat on the back, to acknowledge your ability to persevere, to stride into areas more daunting, to have that desire for excellence and the discipline to stay focused on the goal.

It is usually helpful to seek assistance, input, when analyzing oneself. We are often too close to the object of study and need more objective input. It often takes two to accurately see one. Seek out friends and colleagues to see how they deal with such events and ask for suggestions on how you can improve, what you should target.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Csikszentmaihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperCollins.

Murphy, S. (1996). The achievement zone. New York: G