Monday, February 15, 2010

Where's Your Zone?



Thanks to President's Day, my wife and I were able to spend some time together and enjoy a few events of the Winter Olympic Games. As we turned on the television we were immediately captivated by a high-adrenaline, high-risk, and high-speed event called Snowboard cross.

These athletes are gliding down the slope at 30 mph making turns, adjusting to moguls, and landing jumps, trying to be the first one to cross the finish line. Oh yea, and if that isn't difficult enough, they must do this while maneuvering through three additional snowboarders who are racing down the course at the same time!

After seeing a number of snowboarders perform their qualifying run down the less-than-favorable course, we were introduced to the defending Gold Medalist, Seth Wescott. It was fascinating for me to hear the broadcasters comment on how relaxed Wescott is before each run.

Wescott's state of relaxation is known in the sport psychology world as his Zone of Optimal Functioning (ZOF), or in other words, the state of arousal he performs his best. Think about your top performances, did you play best when you were pumped up, or did you perform at the top of your game when you were relaxed like Wescott?

Becoming aware of your ZOF and putting yourself there, as Seth Wescott does, puts you in a position to experience peak performance.
To get in the zone you need to know where it is and how to get there.

1 comment:

  1. Little did I know that Wescott would go on to win Gold for the second time in a row!

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