I've been coding for nearly 30 years and to me "the zone" is most easily described as Meditation. I meditate often and in my early years I worked hard to maste

I've been coding for nearly 30 years and to me "the zone" is most easily described as Meditation. I meditate often and in my early years I worked hard to master the process as I tend to be a bit hyper active and easy to distract (see I'm reading HN right now lol). If you add the same sort of discipline to your "the zone" quests as suggested in a number of good teachings on meditation I think you will find that it is actually fairly obtainable. I do agree with the post that it's not magical and that we can control it. That said a lot can make it hard to enter "the zone" some call it writer's block etc. When I hit those times I usually just give up and find other things to do for a bit to relax and let my mind clear up. Your environment can only effect it as much as you allow. I've been in the zone many times in an airplane between JFK and LAX and in an airport terminal, in car rides while my wife drives us on a long ride etc. It's really about discipline and training your mind to let go of distractions.