In the zone
 

A sports term...I've been there, all too briefly, playing pool. There have been rare times when I just couldn't miss, the cue ball ending up where I wanted it. A fight could break out elsewhere in the room, and all I'd have seen was what's on my table. Hard to describe the emotional state during these times...not nervous, not happy or sad, but only the shots mattered...nothing else.

A golfer talking about Jack Nicholas in this short video sums it well:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TvvQNaUJpyc" title="The MENTAL GAME of Jack Nicklaus, Golf with Mike Malaska" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Anybody else here who has been "in the zone"?

I've been in the zone skiing, cycling, running and on dirt bikes. Not often but enough to remember the feeling.

You think you've finally cracked the code but the next day when you get back on the skis, you're the uncoordinated, unathletic doofus from hicksville, just like always.

The greats can seemingly do it like turning on a faucet.

Aye, there's the rub...sports announcers talk of concentration, but it's more than that. The video above pretty much nailed it.

Yes. Not just sports. I am a career salesman. When I am in the zone it is ridiculous what happens.

Also skiing, dirt biking, fly fishing.

Weirdest? When you haven’t caught anything fly fishing but as you cast you just know that you will catch. And you do. I have zero explanation for that one.

One time stands out .... back in college ... I was swishing long range 3 pointers like Steph Curry ... even several feet outside of my normal range ... I simply could NOT miss!

I was without a doubt the best player in our "Coliseum" that day ....

I was the ONLY player in the gym that day too ;) ... (and was just a mediocre intramural player) who loved to practice & played all the time .... a gym rat .... errr... a gym mouse :(.

But I did excel at taking tests .... speed reading and always finishing way before others... acing standardized tests, etc. Placing in the 99 percentile (always) was easy peasy .... but taking tests is a skill that just came naturally .... hence I never practiced that crap.

I was gonna be a 5'11", no-jumping NBA star .... or not :D

I’ve been in the zone a couple times. The most memorable was while playing in a trio jazz band (drums, bass guitar, cornet). Our gigs were usually blues/jazz standards so we got pretty good at reading each other. Anyways, this one time we were all synced up. It just happened and we all knew it. We traded fours, did solos. The communication was like telepathy. It was a beautiful thing. We all three just broke out in laughter and high-fives when we finally closed out the jam.

I’ll never forget it.

Yes indeed...and its the most amazing thing! I feel weightless...disappear into my (large format film) camera, often in environments including pounding surf which occasionally sees me completely drenched (photo by my wife a couple of year ago):

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1709731789.jpg

...but if and when I can keep myself upright and my equipment more or less dry - I can realize some nice results (40x60 darkroom print from 5x7 negative):

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1709731914.jpg

Not a sports guy, but I've been there....

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ballmer_peak.png