Introduction:
in this post, I’ll go over how to enter the flow or zone in chess during our past chess games.
A state of total focus and concentration, where one is completely engaged in one’s job, is referred to as “The Zone.”
Players who have entered the zone frequently describe ‘losing track of time’, ‘noticing tiny details they’d usually miss’, or having a ‘feeling about something’ that turned out to be true without being able to explain the reason behind their feelings.
Let’s now define the necessary procedures for regularly entering the zone (yes, it is a state we can command and attain with practice):
Pick your Strongest Shoot
Identify the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors that characterize your peak performance when you’re doing your best. To regularly achieve your best results, you must first clarify it.
Mentally Get Ready
You can simply do a mental warm-up before you begin a practice. This could be going over strategic ideas again, imagining a winning play, or practicing yoga. The idea is to focus more intently and rid your mind of any other distractions so that you may enter the game prepared and with clarity.
Control Your Emotions
Create solutions for tilt, worry, and other unfavorable feelings that can cause you to lose focus. Identify stress and put strategies in place to maintain balance and focus under pressure.
Set Project Goals
Set goals for each session that are process-oriented rather than just focused on outcomes, like winning or making money. These could mean exercising patience, spotting opponents well, or adjusting one’s strategy. You may sustain a high level of play and feel a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction by concentrating on the activity, which will keep you motivated and interested.
Use Metrics for Success
Monitor your performance across different states of mind. Study your performance in different emotional situations and how it affects your results. You can use this to spot patterns and make changes.
Continuous Learning
Even when you’re not playing, keep your interest in the game by studying and analyzing it. This keeps your mind alert to its complexities and your abilities fresh.
Maintain Your Physical Health
Mental performance is affected by physical health. Enough sleep, a healthy diet, and regular exercise can all help you stay alert and think clearly for a longer amount of time.
Thinking Back and Making Changes
Consider how well you performed mentally after each session. Think about what went well, what didn’t, and how you can get better at getting into and staying in the zone. Make the required changes to your planning, attitude, and tactics.
The Impact Of Energy On Our Skill To Enter The Zone
At a basic level, we can see that different people will need different amounts of energy to reach a state of relaxation or pleasure while they are “in the zone.” Your perfect “energy level” can only be determined by personal experience and observation.
The Relationship Between Challenge and Skill
It is also clear how our capacity to enter the zone is affected by our imagined level of challenge and our capacity to meet it. We are likely to withdraw and avoid the zone if something looks too simple, but we run the risk of becoming overwhelmed if we are ready for the task.
Once more, the secret is finding a balance between pushing ourselves to face the new task and adding fresh challenges to a situation we already know to make it more interesting.
Conclusion
The Best book “The Mental Game Of Poker 2” by Jared Tendler, which delves much deeper into the subject of entering the zone, receives credit for this approach. Since both poker and chess are mind sports, it makes sense that the “mental game” aspects of both disciplines would connect greatly.