Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting
    Celebrate with Gold®
    Tracing Diamond’s Origin
    Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas
    JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels
    GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter
    Registration opens for HardRock Summit 2022
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails
    The Retailer’s Perspective
    The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan
    10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III
    Kate’s star-studded style. What will the next trend be?
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part II
    Retailing in a post-PC world
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Communication
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting
    Celebrate with Gold®
    Tracing Diamond’s Origin
    Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas
    JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels
    GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter
    Registration opens for HardRock Summit 2022
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails
    The Retailer’s Perspective
    The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan
    10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III
    Kate’s star-studded style. What will the next trend be?
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part II
    Retailing in a post-PC world
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Communication
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Columnists

Living in the Zone Part II: Harnessing your peak performance

Mia Katrin by Mia Katrin
November 2, 2013
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The runner’s high. “Wired in.” Bringing your “A” game. Across sports, business, gaming, the arts, top players seek “the zone,” operating at peak capacity. It’s a phenomenon across cultures and throughout history. In this heightened state of intense focus yet relaxation, everything becomes effortless, intensely pleasurable, most effective. Time may seem to slow down.  We’re absorbed in the present, not thinking of results. The more we can perform at this level, the more successful we are. How can we optimize this capacity?

Find your zone

Step one is to recognize the experience. We’ve all had glimpses of being in the zone. Think back. Pinpoint your peak experiences. What do you most enjoy doing? What are you best at? What’s most effortless, fulfilling for you?

Peak experiences occur most often when you’re doing something you’re very good at and done many times before. They happen when you’re active, doing something you’re passionate about and that’s challenging. Can you remember times when running, cycling, playing golf or tennis when you felt in “the flow”? Or perhaps your niche is making presentations, writing, or other creative activity, organizing teams, or developing a business plan? When you’re highly skilled and experienced at an activity that’s natural for you, you can easily slip into running on autopilot, acting without acting. The nervous system myelin pathways are so established the subconscious mind takes over.

The “autotelic personality,” one conducive to peak experiences, has been described as the person who prefers high-action-opportunity, high skills situations that stimulate them and encourage growth. In such high challenge, high skills situations people are most likely to enter the “flow” state. Entrepreneurs are autotelic personalities. Naturally creative, they thrive on challenge, risk, growth.

Identify your peak experiences. The more you’re aware of your zone, the easier it is to cultivate.

Discover your personal triggers

Now that you’ve pinpointed the experience, consider what helps you achieve it. Each person is unique. Consider your environment. Some people like a very orderly, structured atmosphere. Others thrive on lively chaos. What makes you tick?

Consider your circadian rhythms. Are you a night owl, coming alive as the day grows? Or a morning person, doing your best when fresh and awake? Take note of when you tend to have peak experiences. You want to recreate them.

What inspires you? Maybe you thrive on listening to music, surrounding yourself with natural beauty. Perhaps listening to motivational speakers, inspiring quotes or success stories elevates you. Visualization techniques – mentally seeing your goals – may help. You want to find what best moves you into that sweet spot. 

Being in the zone is a mind-body experience.  Both are involved. It’s a state of synchronicity between inner and outer. Find what helps you move into the flow. Are you best when well rested? Does activity, getting the endorphins moving, facilitate flow? Does caffeine help or hinder?

A state of flow occurs most naturally when both our skill level and the level of challenge of the activity are high. If our skill and the challenge level are both low, apathy results. When our skill exceeds the challenge level, boredom ensues. A challenge higher than our perceived skill results in anxiety. High and well matched skills and challenges promote flow.             

Promote group flow    

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, the University of Chicago psychologist, in his book “Good Business: Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning” identifies three factors for stimulating “group flow” in the workplace: clear goals, immediate feedback, and a balance between opportunity and capacity. He applied these methods with Swedish police officers and found improved morale, greater happiness and increased performance.

If a worker’s job goals are not clear, flow is impaired. The worker must see how his task fits in with the larger organization plan. Similarly if job feedback is not immediate, the worker may lose motivation, restricting flow. When opportunity and capacity are well matched – high levels of both skill and challenge – flow is fostered.

To encourage group flow, create a lively, supportive workplace environment. Challenge, motivation, and group “gaming” type activities such as brainstorming and group problem solving in a positive emotional environment lead to “growth towards complexity,” finding work meaningful and fulfilling, which is a hallmark of group flow.


 

Mia Katrin is an award-winning couture jewelry designer specializing in beautiful necklaces of gems in gold and silver. Featured in over 50 top stores nationally, her Collections have been worn by A-List Hollywood celebrities. Mia exhibits at trade shows and produces and hosts live fashion shows. A trend-setting style spokesperson, she is available for lectures and seminars.  www.jeweljewel.com, info@jeweljewel.com, 877-JEWEL-MY (539-3569). Like and follow Mia on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiaKatrinforJEWELCOUTURELLC.

 

Mia Katrin

Mia Katrin

Mia Katrin’s new agency TheJewelersMarketer.com, helps propel your sales to the top through social media marketing and ecommerce. Free initial analysis and recommendations. mia@jeweljewel.com. Mia is an award-winning designer featured in over 100 top retail stores nationally. www.jeweljewel.com. She’s an industry spokesperson, a byline columnist, and a regular speaker at major trade events.

Related Posts

The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails

The Retailer’s Perspective

June 30, 2022

The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan

June 30, 2022

10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022

June 27, 2022
Motivating your sales staff

IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III

June 22, 2022

Latest News

Industry Events

Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas

July 4, 2022
Other News

JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels

July 4, 2022
On The Move

GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter

July 4, 2022

Other News

Registration opens for HardRock Summit 2022

NRF says economy is slowing but recession is unlikely in near term

American Gem Society targets negotiation skills for Confluence 2022

Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting

Celebrate with Gold®

Tracing Diamond’s Origin

Southern Jewelry News

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2022 Trade Shows
  • Media Kit
  • Contact

Get Social with Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Sponsored Content
  • Latest News
    • What’s New
    • Industry Events
    • Tradeshow News
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Furry Friends
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.