My definition for "Being in the Zone"

nathandumoulin said:
Unfortunately I have to disagree with most of these points. Being in the zone is subjective and has nothing to do with your skill level or amount of knowledge. After all, a C-player can be in the zone, not just a professional. It's the individual's level of focus, determination, and coordination with his body, that as a result, lets the individual play better and more controlled than usual, regardless of skill.

It also has nothing to do with solving your personal issues outside of pool. Being in the zone is having the focus necessary to simply ignore them and concentrate on the table.
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I agree, especially with the focus & determination parts. Well said.

Best Wishes to All,
 
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Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi identify the following six factors as encompassing an experience of flow.

  • intense and focused concentration on the present moment merging of action and awareness
  • a loss of reflective self-consciousness
  • a sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
  • a distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience of time is altered
  • experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience

Those aspects can appear independently of each other, but only in combination they constitute a so-called flow experience.

Flow (psychology)
 
naji said:
Hello all,
I responded to a post recently, and thought this might be good for a new thread subject:


My definition for "Being in the Zone" means:


1. You won your 1st game, 2nd, and no pressure any more, you do not hear people say "He is in the zone when he looses a match, it seems this phrase is reserved for winners only

2. You are holding cue butt lightly, your wrist is fluid, you are following through and staying down on almost every shot therefore, your CB speed is almost perfect due to muscle memory.

3. You know every little secret about the game advance knowledge as well as applying it, and you figured out the table cloth well. Additionally, most shots on table seem to align with almost all your check list items that "you are aware of". (Some check list items, we are not aware that effect a shot which is major reason for us not being consistent at times).

4. You are at your favorite pool hall, playing your best "fish", on the table you love the most, favorite CB, and game you like, surrounded by your best fans

5. No outside distraction, no guilt feelings, you taken care of work, family and everyone you deal with; health is good, slept very well last night, happy about life at least that day, all of these are BIG factors in freeing your memory bank which in turn and automatically allocates freed memory to what you are doing weather pool, play music, play chess, giving a speech..etc. Having free memory in the conscious mind helps in decisions making so you select better patterns more often, which way to shoot some shots, and seem to help on keeping your winning $$, or match and not let it all go away.

6. Sorry, luck on your side more % than opponent; balls seem to favor you more " always luck sides with winners" (you cannot be lucky and loose)

7. If you cannot "Be in the Zone" all the times or 99% of times, back to the drawing board and start figure out what did you do wrong, which check list item missed, when exactly things started to go wrong, keep record of it, and trust your inner feeling, and go out and prove what you came up with in money game, if it works great, if not keep trying..

8. Other issues i am sure..


Best of luck
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in my case the occasional zone or playing better pool was ...

absolutely never a thought of anything happening BEHIND the cueball

all time and attention going to what's about to happen in FRONT of the cueball

trusting your stroke (behind) and mentally staying in the game (front)

good advice for any player regardless of their skill level looking for their very own individual 'zone'

thinkin' you'll at least play a touch better pool :)

jmo
 
I have always had pretty good results thinking that each ball was the money ball. Totally focused and quiet.

When you do this you cant hear or see anything going on around you.

John
 
One Pocket John said:
I have always had pretty good results thinking that each ball was the money ball. Totally focused and quiet.

When you do this you cant hear or see anything going on around you.

John
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John,

I agree. When I'm in the zone I see nothing but the table & hear nothing but the table sounds & my opponent. My eyes never leave the table & my cue never leaves my hand. You could scream that my car is being stolen & my son is getting beaten up by 3 guys & I would not you. Now if you grabbed me first I might hear you.:wink:

Best Wishes to All,
 
ENGLISH! said:
John,

I agree. When I'm in the zone I see nothing but the table & hear nothing but the table sounds & my opponent. My eyes never leave the table & my cue never leaves my hand. You could scream that my car is being stolen & my son is getting beaten up by 3 guys & I would not you. Now if you grabbed me first I might hear you.:wink:

Best Wishes to All,
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Ha, Ha, Ha

I hear ya.

I have had guys I was playing stop me from going to the head string to get ready to break and say "John, the games over, you won". That's how zoned out I get sometimes. I know people are around and I hear sounds but none of it makes any sense. Hard to explain.

I couldn't tell what was going on. I was just shooting pool.

When music comes on over the juke box and I like the song my pool shooting rhythm follows the music. I like Eric Clapton.

Feels good to feel good.

John
 
billy said:
:)

never cease to amaze me ...
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too much?

it is just that he has now figured so much out about pool, i wanna give him a chance to use it.

he is very slippery though. i am gonna see if the mods can change his name to najingerbread man.
 
Black-Balled said:
too much?

it is just that he has now figured so much out about pool, i wanna give him a chance to use it.

he is very slippery though. i am gonna see if the mods can change his name to najingerbread man.
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You mean "slippery Naji" cannot wait for the rubber to meat the road!!
 
Its clear to me when I get into the zone. I dont have to struggle to gain position, the cue just seems to flow and go where ever I need it to. The shots fall dead center, and overall fight within myself to stay poised isnt even there. It just seems to flow. I wish i could can it, and get it when I need it most, but sadly I dont seem to get into the zone very often these days.
 
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