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Is it just the fact that you happened to be at the tail of your performance distribution? I used to play billiards regularly and on some days I would excel and

by erfgh 4y ago

Is it just the fact that you happened to be at the tail of your performance distribution? I used to play billiards regularly and on some days I would excel and surprise myself with how good I played. I then realized that the number of those days were roughly equal with the number of the days I surprised myself with how badly I played. Then I realized that my performance is a normal distribution and I stopped being surprised.

nine_k 4y ago
The interesting part here is that is about whole games, entire days if elevated performance, not just a few very lucky shots every game. This means it's a state of mind / brain / CNS that can be entered and sustained for many hours. An ability to do that on demand, or at least predictably, would be of a huge practical interest. The ability to avoid the opposite, low-performance state, equally so.
- kukkeliskuu 4y ago
  My experience is that it is not possible enter such a flow state on demand. The state is beyond "my" control. There appears to be "a part" (not necessarily a physical part) of us that we think is "me" that wants to control, i.e. micromanage, and "on demand" means that this part would decide, i.e. able to control the flow state. However, the state seems to happen when this part lets go of the need to control things, and seems to disappear when this part tries to control things. The whole discussion is too long for here, but I recommend book Inner Game of Tennis for details.
awb 4y ago
I've played both billiards and soccer regularly and have experienced both sensations. With billiards, when I'm "in the zone", it feels like the early stages of an out of body experience where my mind starts to feel slightly decoupled from my body and I know that my body knows what to do to make the shot. I can then "tune out" and trust my body. With soccer, I'll be running at high speed and my mind knows I want to cut inside and nutmeg the defender (pass the ball throw a small gap in their legs and collect it on the other side). Then suddenly, it just happens. Something notices the tiny window of opportunity and just executes the move. The process of consciously analyzing the rapid feet movement, the speed of the ball, the field, the distance to the goal, the position of the other defenders, etc. is just too slow. This process feels faster and often I feel almost surprised that I just did it. After I collect the ball on the other side, things slow back down to normal speed and sometimes I'll laugh in disbelief. If I had to explain the process of either to someone else, I'd struggle because it seems like a deeper, innate physical knowledge rather than something I can formulate and explain at an intellectual level. In that sense, it feels similar to walking. You don't explain to someone how to walk, they just practice it over and over until they can do it without thinking. So, it's kind of like that but with more complex movements, plus the serotonin boost of accomplishing a goal.

by erfgh 4y ago

nine_k 4y ago

The interesting part here is that is about whole games, entire days if elevated performance, not just a few very lucky shots every game. This means it's a state of mind / brain / CNS that can be entered and sustained for many hours. An ability to do that on demand, or at least predictably, would be of a huge practical interest. The ability to avoid the opposite, low-performance state, equally so.

kukkeliskuu 4y ago
My experience is that it is not possible enter such a flow state on demand. The state is beyond "my" control. There appears to be "a part" (not necessarily a physical part) of us that we think is "me" that wants to control, i.e. micromanage, and "on demand" means that this part would decide, i.e. able to control the flow state. However, the state seems to happen when this part lets go of the need to control things, and seems to disappear when this part tries to control things. The whole discussion is too long for here, but I recommend book Inner Game of Tennis for details.

awb 4y ago

I've played both billiards and soccer regularly and have experienced both sensations. With billiards, when I'm "in the zone", it feels like the early stages of an out of body experience where my mind starts to feel slightly decoupled from my body and I know that my body knows what to do to make the shot. I can then "tune out" and trust my body. With soccer, I'll be running at high speed and my mind knows I want to cut inside and nutmeg the defender (pass the ball throw a small gap in their legs and collect it on the other side). Then suddenly, it just happens. Something notices the tiny window of opportunity and just executes the move. The process of consciously analyzing the rapid feet movement, the speed of the ball, the field, the distance to the goal, the position of the other defenders, etc. is just too slow. This process feels faster and often I feel almost surprised that I just did it. After I collect the ball on the other side, things slow back down to normal speed and sometimes I'll laugh in disbelief. If I had to explain the process of either to someone else, I'd struggle because it seems like a deeper, innate physical knowledge rather than something I can formulate and explain at an intellectual level. In that sense, it feels similar to walking. You don't explain to someone how to walk, they just practice it over and over until they can do it without thinking. So, it's kind of like that but with more complex movements, plus the serotonin boost of accomplishing a goal.