Getting Into the Zone for Business Success

Think about a time when everything in your practice flowed smoothly. You felt it just couldn’t get any better than this. Even unforeseen challenges didn’t affect the flow; it was all going as you planned.

Creating focus, clarity and presence of mind is akin to being “in the zone” when racing. All your training and preparation is being put to the test. Practice is over and now it is time to perform. You have done everything you can to prepare for this moment and you will do the best you can.

Being in the zone is unlike any other feeling. Satori, a Japanese term, is a zen state. Feeling relaxed while your focus is in the present and you experience clarity about the task at hand. (Albinson & Bull, 1990). Everything comes together as you had imagined. You wish you could contain it and tap into the experience over and over again.

Getting to this point is possible. You have not been given any obstacles you are unable to rise up to and overcome. Achieving your goal and experiencing success involves strategy, preparation and action.

According to Carl Lewis, an American Track Athlete, “My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win. Channel your energy. Focus.”
Begin with a plan and a strategy. What is the goal you are aiming for? Try to be as specific as possible about the end result. This is not the time to consider how you are going to achieve your goal.

Visualize the outcome. The more detail you have the better. Making it as real as possible helps you to create a positive mindset. Identify some concrete and measurable objectives, but also create a vibrant, visual story of your success. Stimulate all of your senses.

At this point decide on a goal that you know is attainable, but is also a little bit of a stretch. Setting a goal slightly beyond what you think is possible creates a positive stress. Enough to put you into action, but not so much you will feel it is impossible and don’t even want to try.

Being able to see yourself confidently achieving your goal is really important. Visualization is an excellent tool for your success. The greater your mindset for achievement, the greater your potential for success.

When I first started my practice, Mindset for Marketing Success, I listened to a telesummit which focused on marketing. There was so much information and most of it was new to me. I was stepping into a whole new world. This event was a turning point in my career.

I was inspired and knew I wanted to create a telesummit at some point. Instead of becoming overwhelmed with this goal and wondering how I was going to do it, I set an intention to do whatever was necessary to eventually reach my goal. There was so much I didn’t know how to do yet, but I knew it was all possible.

This led to the next stage which was planning. In order to have a telesummit I needed to become involved in social networking through Web 2.0, meeting people, learning the culture of each networking site and creating an online presence.
Becoming involved in the global community was initially daunting and took awhile to understand. Keeping my overall goal in mind, I began to develop smaller steps. Each one was an achievement in its own right.

There were mistakes along the way which I viewed as learning opportunities. I didn’t always understand why something got the response it did, or no response at all, but I continued to experiment. Small progressive steps were taking me closer to my goal.

Early last year I talked about my desire to have a telesummit with one of my associates. The timing was wrong and I still did not have enough of a foundation in place. The idea was placed on a backburner.

Over the past several months, I maintained a steady pace. Consistently taking action to strengthen the different aspects necessary to take my dream and turn it into a reality. During a strategy session, the telesummit was mentioned as part of an even bigger picture. This time I was ready to take action. I’ll admit I was a little overwhelmed at first, but that didn’t last too long.

Everything I had been doing prepared me for this point in time. I was ready to go. My strategy, planning and goals took on a new level of intensity. I started to become very clear and focused as a long-term goal was beginning to turn into a reality.

A lot of back-end work was necessary, but it was all achievable. Instead of worrying about perfection, my mindset was focused on implementation. I wanted to move forward. If something was not perfect I would fix it along the way.

Instead of doing it all myself and being a “lone ranger”, I decided to have a co-host for this event. By working with my partner, Pat Mussieux, I was able to divide the workload and multiply the benefits. We created a buddy system, having complimentary strengths.

According to Napoleon Hill, from Think and Grow Rich, the combining of two minds creates a third unique consciousness. We were able to brainstorm, throw around ideas and improve upon the original goal. The best part was the fun we were having while meeting new people, being creative and having a shared purpose.

Reaching the goal for the telesummit took planning, preparation and practice. I began with a BIG picture and chunked it down into smaller steps and achievable goals. Each accomplishment was exciting and fueled me to take the next step.

Visualization was important. I saw myself hosting a telesummit, rehearsing it over and over again in my mind. Learning occurred during each step of the process. I observed others and also learned from taking action.

Gradually all the pieces came together. The sum of the smaller steps helped me to reach my goal. Everything started with a dream and a possibility. Planning and practice prepared me for the event. When Pat and I did our first interview together, we were in the zone. We were relaxed, focused and went with the flow. Being in the zone is exhilarating. It has worked out to be better than I could have imagined. The telesummit began with an intention; desire to take a leap of faith and saying “yes” to each opportunity which appeared.