Operating In the
“C-Zone”
Personal and
Professional Strategies for Professional Well-Being
and
Understanding the
C-Zone as a Component of Self-Assessment
Alan S. Wolkenstein, MSW, LCSW
Clinical Professor
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine
and Public Health (Ret.)
Senior Educator: Wolkenstein and Associates,
LLC
Mequon Wisconsin
Stress and the pressures of conflict are part of our
lives and do affect us in varying degrees.
At the same time, they can play a significant role in enhancing our
abilities to accomplish our best work within the multitudinous events of our
professional experiences. This session is not so much about stress, as it is
about raising our awareness of two models used in achieving peek performance-
regardless of our internal and outwardly induced stress and pressures, and our
emotional and physical responses to it. They are FLOW and the C- Zone.
Let us begin with
the concept of FLOW.
First introduced
in 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defined it as “A state in which people are
so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.”1 The
functional key to such a concept involves the use of visualization. We began to appreciate that regardless of
what we are confronted with in our life and work, that visualizing success is a
major step in achieving the outcomes and intentions we wish for, desire, and
seek. When successful, the experience is so emotionally enjoyable that people
will try to achieve it, sometimes at even great risk.
Let us talk about
visualization as one technique to consider in our efforts to achieve our
intentions. Athletes and coaches have long known the power of visualization:
the ability to “see,” in the minds’ eye, the flawless grand slam and other
tremendous achievements in sports. Likewise,
any process becomes smoother, more natural when it can be first “seen” in one’s
minds eye, and then achieved. Other
examples include, the hole in one, the perfect strike, completing the marathon,
making the last second basket, the ninety eight mile per mile fast ball, and
the superb “change up” in pitching.
These are all examples of the successful achievements of athletes, many
of whom have learned to visualize successful outcomes beforehand by learning
what skills are necessary for them to achieve, and then doing it by following
their visualizations of success. It can be-first see and then do. It requires that we reflect upon what tasks
and skills are needed to succeed, visualize using them to succeed, and then
completing the task. The pleasure of success is amazing. Once again- see and then do.
The same is quite true for those who care for others,
regardless of setting and title. What,
for you, does a nurturing client encounter look like? What will your body
posture look like? What will it feel like in your own body as you discuss, with
a frightened person, his or her problems and options? What would calmness,
understanding, courage, and the capacity to sit in compassionate silence
be like for you? What do you need to
succeed in these emotionally challenging encounters? What skills and tasks will lead to
accomplishment? Again, first see and then do
In addition to our visualization of successful
client/patient/resident encounters, and then achieving them, flow requires that
we anticipate a time after achieving
flow {and all its wonderful feelings}, in which we then have an emotional let
down. Soon after the lull, because flow is so pleasurable, we seek it again and
the process is repeated over and over.
Seek
flow
Achieve flow
Decreased pleasure and enjoyment
Bored
and frustrated
Desire
for flow resurfaces
Seek flow, again
Sounds pretty good in theory, but clinically it has the
potential for degrees of failure due to many barriers. Frequently, these
barriers are external and not of our choosing, but rather because of the
requirements for us to be where we are and perform to our best. There just are
times when we have to be in situations in which we must achieve,
regardless. You have now entered the C
Zone.
Let us reframe stress, conflicts, and pressures into the
refocused- key components of challenge, mastery {skills}, affect, and
thoughts.2
PANIC
ZONE DRONE ZONE C ZONE
Challenge
Challenge
Challenge
Mastery-skills Mastery-skills Mastery-skills
Affect
Affect Affect
Thought Thought Thought
|
PANIC ZONE
|
DRONE ZONE
|
C ZONE
|
|
Too
much challenge
Not enough mastery |
Not
enough challenge
Too much mastery |
Challenge
& Mastery Almost Equal, but not quite.
There
is a “stretch” for challenge
|
|
Over
committed
Over confident Out of Control |
Uncommitted
Under confident Over controlled |
Committed
Confident In Control |
|
Nervous
Scattered Hyper
Thought:
I Gotta Do It!
|
Lethargic
Sluggish Bored, Bored, Bored
Thought:
I Can’t Chance It! |
Calm
Focused Energized
Thought:
I Can Do It! |
Each performance zone listed will encompass a different
mastery-skills quotient, with a subsequent different affect and different type
of behavioral response. In other words, the perceived and anticipated
difficulty [stress} of a situation will determine the ability to do well and
handle the situation.
The Panic Zone will probably have you believing that
things are just out of your control. While in the Drone Zone, you will believe
there is just too little to effectively challenge you to do your best. While in
the C Zone, you will sense you are truly in your element. Your work will be busy, but rewarding and
almost effortless. Almost, effortless.
So, now, let us ask you to list on your 3x5 cards, the
last time you were in each of the three categories. Think and reflect about a
time in which you were in the Panic Zone, the Drone Zone and the C Zone. Now,
feel free to embellish, make experiences up, change things around to sound
better or to be just more like you, or simply to allow your answers to reflect
that humorous side of you, your playful side, or the serious side. So, how
about all three?
We will ask each of you to come up front and read your
three zone experiences, and when done, maybe we can all do it. This is an experiential session, so our
experiences are of great merit and value to the group process. Regardless, we
anticipate places and times when we had such similar patterns, and the
anticipated variances of this group. And that may simply be enough to complete
our time together: where we are alike and where we differ. We are into places
and experiences that ask much from us, or in the case of the Drone Zone, too
little is required of us. We seek the
pleasures of FLOW when we are truly in the C-Zone.
What you learn about yourself in these three experiences
is just another bit of information to help you in the process of understanding
yourself in a variety of important and difficult situations. This is about visualizing your goals to
increase the chances you will attain them. So, visualize them. Almost all of us
can do this. Your skills will increase
with practice. We all can improve. The more you use the visualization of
success, the better you become at it and the greater the possibility for
success.
Remember that when
successful persons are emotionally engaged with their every day
responsibilities, they are successful because they are in their personal C-
Zone the greatest percentage of time.
So, visualize, and then do it well. First see and then do. 3
Thank you for
participating in this reflective learning session,
Alan S. Wolkenstein, MSW, LCSW
References
1. Csikszentmihalyi, M.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row; 1990.
2.
Kriegel, R and Kriegel, M. The C Zone: Peak Performance Under Pressure.
New York: Fawcette Columbine; 1985.
3.
Naparstek, Belleruth. “Intuition, Imagery, and Healing.” AHP-The
Association for Humanistic Psychology. 2002.
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