It’s great to be ‘in the zone’ — while working, exercising and creating art. Here’s how to get there.

By mile 10 of my first half-marathon, the persistent, frigid drizzle had forced my fingers into a clenched C shape. The thrill of running alongside thousands of people after weeks of solo training had mellowed into a quiet, somewhat dull drive toward the finish line. Then, without warning or conscious effort, my body started moving faster. The hard pavement felt like a supportive mattress. A sense of elegance freed me from my clumsy body. I was — there is no other way to put it — at one with the cityscape around me. I was in the zone.

In the 1960s, psychologist Abraham Maslow became the first academic to write about what he called “peak experiences,” moments of elation that come from pushing ourselves in challenging tasks. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called it “flow,” and his extensive studies, beginning in the late 1960s, eventually drew interest from researchers around the world. Psychologists have since amassed a wealth of data and insights on flow, also known as “being in the zone”: what it is, how it works and why it matters. The research has created a road map for all the runners — and artists, chess players, rock climbers, etc. — who seek the exhilaration you feel when completely absorbed in the pursuit of something difficult. And that road map points to one direction: The best way to reach flow is to forget you’re trying to get there.

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