What can amaze viewers and performers alike is a rarefied “condition” that alights upon the performer at times, that is no respecter of persons, that comes to the lucky and the qualified alike, known as the Zone. A basketball star in high school and college, the ‘point man’ known as “The Whiz Kid”, my father described this unplanned and blessed condition that would suddenly manifest as he sprinted across the court, and experiencing the sense that he could make no wrong moves and miss no baskets. It was if time and space had congealed into some kinetic substance locking in success, grace, and a playing dynamic that far superseded any practice sessions. That is not to say practice sessions didn’t avail these moments, and perhaps make them possible. Perhaps it is not unlike what is known as ‘beginners luck’, when a certain level of precision that extends beyond any level of known expertise seems to come into play. I do not believe these moments have been conjured, and that they are lovely not only for what they allow, but for the fact that they alight when least expecting, and are full of grace and hope of something beyond what the natural realm can offer.
What might this have to do with perfectionism? Nothing, and everything. Perfectionism claims self-achievement. It is self-deserving, and self-promoted, and does not credit any source beyond itself. Therefore, the grace of the Zone defies perfectionism, it surpasses it both in form and in substance. Perhaps it can also teach us about what it should look like, that is, the antithesis of perfectionism.
Many performers of one sort or another, the two most obvious examples being athletes, musicians and entertainers all know something of this phenomena. The moments created by the presence of the Zone are what performers live to experience; there is nothing quite like it in feeling propelled headlong, at once both safely and wildly into the purest essence of one’s chosen activity. It is the pleasure of flight.
The irony of it all is that it isn’t really achievable by any standard algorithm, logical progression or linear process of any sort. The only way it can summoned is to show up and do the work, and thereby maximize the chances that such a blessed moment may come along like a summer rainstorm washing the heat away. If there were some formula to bring it about, it wouldn’t be the Zone. Perfectionism is based upon an almost religious fervor to bring about favor through one’s actions. The Zone however is pure favor that holds no condition over its recipient except perhaps that it is entertained by moving in accordance with what it will inspire its subject to. It is like the Muse that comes alongside to better an existing gift or capability with what is beyond any written scope of action or work.
So what conclusions can be drawn about this most elusive orientation? Just as “success favors the prepared,” there is probably a similar principle at work with the Zone. But that said, there is little that can be done to bring it about save the humility of working even when there seems little to show for it. Ecclesiastes 9:11 says: I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
‘Time and chance’ is an excellent descriptor for the Zone, and there is probably none better.
The end goal of performing, ideally, is to give one’s gift away to others. The gift stays within the giver, and yet, the more it is shared, the richer it becomes. It is like The Picture of Dorian Gray, except that in this case the gift within beautifies the giver the more it is relayed to others. Like a fruit tree producing year after year, part of the quality of what it produces is its longevity. The gift grows within, and can spark the same unction within another to similarly give what has been given. This cultivation is not always easy, is not always what one anticipates it will be. Like a map being drawn for the first time of an unfamiliar territory, where the bends in the road represent discovery and newfound places, so the preparing one’s gift to be shared creates an extraordinary context in which to experience and understand the divine hand at work in the curious orientation which is the Zone. It cannot be bottled up and put on a shelf, it cannot be harnessed like a plow horse or mimicked in any way. But its presence working in, through and around someone’s giftings is a great way to see faith strengthened and to walk by faith not by sight. The Zone doesn’t have eyes, but it can be seen, not for itself, but for the beauty it brings to action. It can be experienced for the person caught in its wind, and the results of it can easily be seen by those seated on the outside edges of the experience that engenders it. It doesn’t worry about risking self-exposure, something most perfectionists long to change about themselves. But it shows up like a friendly sort of person that makes no demands, simply wants to stay and to be for a time. “Be still and know that I am God” is a favorite line of mine in Psalms, urging readers to, as it says in some versions, to ‘cease striving.’ Striving is actually quite overrated. The need for calm, assertive action is all that is needful and at times even expected, depending on who is present for a given event that may be conducive to the introduction of the Zone, when we are all least expecting it!
Are there certain times or places where you find the Zone seems more likely to make an appearance?
It is amazing what kind of flow can take place when we are free to express ourselves. Probably the main reason so many people drink alcohol is to have the free feeling that makes one feel capable of anything. It is sad it takes a potentially destructive substance in order to feel oneself free of fear and the inhibitions that can drag us away not only from accomplishing our goals, but at the very least can make us miserable trying.
Who likes to have someone tugging on their sleeve, tapping them on the shoulder when an attempt is being made to focus? There can be few things as frustrating as getting into a flow, only to have someone or something cone along to chase away the thought that seemed to be leading to a breakthrough. Most often, we do it to ourselves: we interrupt our own flow by tripping ourselves up with a million mundane tasks leading to nowhere when we actually need to get to our work. We flee when we need to stay, and stay when we need to go. The rigors of a given project however are nothing in comparison to the strength we have inside to stave off the distractions. But it takes time to let the blessing of minimalism take over. By minimalism, I do not mean not having many things. But there is a sweet spot, a kind of intentional limiting of the raw materials that make up a day—a kind of “diet” of the multitudinous things that can get in the way of forward movement with a given calling or task. We have to choose to limit not only what we put our hands to, but our mind and heart as well. This will result in forward movement beyond what we could have imagined.
It will mean saying no to good things. It will confuse some people who don’t quite have a grasp on your new strategy, particularly if you’ve had a hard time saying “yes” to too many things in times past. Performance orientation can die a slow death: like all demons, it doesn’t want to leave, but wants to keep you under its lock and key and in bondage to a lesser experience of life. It may even allow you to see or experience some level of success in terms of what others perceive of you in terms of the praise or affirmations they may offer you. But you may be perfectly miserable on the inside, and not really capable of even receiving the encouragement that may be well-founded, because you are so locked up inside your own mind, and in particular, having made the conclusion that you are a hopeless loser that is simply never going to achieve what you’ve intended, you simply don’t have room in your ears left to entertain any other thought or viewpoint.
Again (refer to chapter on Phantom Captors), it is all about mindset. There is a calibration some of us received as children that we are not acceptable until we are not making any mistakes. This is a vicious way to go about things, when mistakes are probably the most fertile ground for learning that we have. If we are only allowed to “win,” how do we know why it is a win? Is a win not made sweeter after there are losses? It’s closely akin to gratefulness. While spending a month in Romania not long after the fall of the Ceaucescu regime, I worked with nationals who had grown up under the fear-based climate and culture of a country infested with secret police, forced to lie simply to maintain an existence. Families were required to have five children in order to bolster the failing economy, and it did not matter whether they could afford to feed them or not. Thus was borne the nightmare of the orphanages that took in these children whose parents did not want to surrender them, some of whom grew up never being lifted from their cribs, stunted by their severe limitations.
It is a horrible picture of a truth that nevertheless has a spiritual component. We are all stunted when we find ourselves limited by lies.