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ACHIEVING THE FLOW OF GREAT PERFORMANCE

   by Tom Terez

On August 22, 1741, George Frideric Handel shut the door, sat
down at his keyboard, picked up a quill, and began to compose.
Twenty-four days and nights later, he emerged with 260 ink-filled
pages, some of them streaked from his own tears. The result
came fully to life on April 13, 1742, at Dublin's New Music Hall,
with the debut of the majestic oratorio now known to the world
as "Messiah."

Recalling the creation of his two-and-a-half-hour masterpiece,
Handel told a friend, "Whether I was in the body or out of my
body when I wrote it, I know not." He worked nonstop, frequently
skipping meals. The effort so captured his heart that he often
wept as the music flowed. After composing the section known
as the "Hallelujah Chorus," he wrote in his journal, "I think I did
see all Heaven before me and the great God Himself."

What exactly happened in that room during those three weeks
and three days in 1741? How did Handel create such a magnifi-
cent work in so little time? Are there things we can do in our own 
lives to create our own Messiah equivalents on a smaller scale?

Part of the answer lies in a concept called "flow." Made famous
in his book by that name, author and psychologist Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi explains: "The best moments usually occur when
a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary
effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."

Early in his research, Csikszentmihalyi studied photos of visual
artists at work. The photos had been taken at three-minute
intervals, allowing him to be a fly on their studio walls -- a bit like
watching Handel in his composing room. All the photos showed a
stunning degree of involvement and absorption, with the artists
intensely and exclusively focused on their work. The mental noise
and distractions that afflict many of us appeared to be absent.

Csikszentmihalyi looked beyond the art studio and found that this
phenomenon exists elsewhere -- among rock climbers, dancers,
chess players, athletes, composers, musicians, and others. In
fact, wherever he found peak performance, Csikszentmihalyi
found "flow."

Athletes refer to it as "being in the zone." Basketball champions
have left their best games saying that the basket somehow
seemed to widen in diameter just for them. Baseball great Ted
Williams reported after multi-hit games that he could see the
seams on incoming fastballs. Gymnastics standout Carol Johnson
once said that the balance beam would seemingly grow wider for
her on days when everything came together -- to such a degree
that "any worry of falling off disappeared."

Was Handel "in the zone" when he wrote Messiah? Pelé would likely
think so. The Brazilian soccer star often experienced "flow" in
his Messiah-quality performances on the soccer field. It's a
"euphoria," he said. "I felt I could run all day without tiring, that
I could dribble through any of their teams or all of them, that I
could almost pass through them physically. I felt I could not be
hurt."

Perhaps you'd like to run all day without tiring and achieve results
like Handel or Pelé. If so, the good news is that you can. The bad
news is that flow can't be turned on like water from a faucet. In
fact, thinking too hard about putting yourself "in the zone" is
probably the worst way to go about it. That's because the best
performance is largely an unconscious proposition -- something
that emerges from deep within us.

But there are things you can do to create the right conditions.
For starters, you need to like what you're doing; if you don't,
you'll never achieve flow. Try to stretch yourself, striving for
a performance that is above your skill level but still within the
realm of doability. Make a habit of this "stretch" process, always
aspiring to a higher level as your performance improves. Remove
all removable distractions -- so turn off that cell phone and stop
the multi-tasking.

As your work unfolds, stay in touch with the emotional feedback
you're getting from yourself. Monitor progress, enjoy the glow
of achievement, and roll it back in so you can achieve even more.
This is vital if you're working on a big project that will span
several weeks or more.

If it seems like a lot of work, go back to Handel. In the first half
of 1741, the 56-year-old composer thought his best days were
behind him. Chased by creditors, suffering from rheumatism, and
coming off of two poorly received operas, he was planning to
pack up and return to his native Germany. Then he received a
letter with inspired lyrics. The writer was seeking music for his
words and felt that only Handel could do the job. That's when he
picked up the quill and worked miracles.

What about you? Are you staying open to opportunity while exer-
cising a Handel-like work ethic? Are you creating the conditions
to turn work into "flow." Are you transforming those mundane
tasks into a meaningful mission? Are you doing ordinary things in
extraordinary ways?

These are the questions that can turn ordinary notes on a page
into beautiful music.

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