System Dynamics and the Zone

The peak performance community is filled with behavioral approaches in which the zone state is seen as a composite of behavioral components that must be synthesized into a unified behavioral state. But behaviorists all agree that the zone, a flow state, being a selfless state, cannot be reproduced through self will. Self cannot produce a behavioral state in which the loss of self-consciousness is a behavioral component. So the conclusion made by behaviorists is that you cannot make the zone happen on purpose.

The Parallel Mode Process, however, is not a behavioral approach, although behavior is obviously involved. Instead, the Parallel Mode Process is a system dynamics approach to the zone, meaning an approach to creating the zone through the creation of the underlying system dynamics of the human visual/cognitive/motor (VCM) operating system when it is in its peak performance state

By reproducing the underlying VCM dynamics of the human peak performance state you also reproduce the underlying input/processing/output (IPO) interface of the peak performance state, and it is this IPO interface between operating system and environment that creates the temporal dimension of the present that is the underlying temporal dimension of flow and the zone. In short, reproduce the interface that creates the present temporal dimension and you reproduce the human peak performance state.

So what we’re really talking about when we refer to the zone is a higher-order IPO interface between the human VCM operating system and its environment; a higher-order connection between us as human beings and our environment.

Learning how to make this higher-order connection is what the PMP teaches you, and it is this higher-order connection that is causal to both the higher-level of performance that you experience when you are in the zone as well as the “flow state” that you experience when you are in the zone.

Higher level performance + flow state = the zone. The basic equation of peak performance.

The question is how do you combine higher level performance and flow simultaneously? The traditional approach is to improve performance by improving a player’s technique and then to improve the chances of creating a flow state through various mental toughness and behavior modification exercises. Off-court visualization of your best performance; off-court visualization of the perfect technique; off-court relaxation exercises prior to competition. All very healthy off-court procedures that are meant to promote the possibility of the flow state occurring during competition.

But remember, conventional wisdom says you cannot make the zone happen on purpose, so all of these mental gymnastics are designed to help you get into a mind-set that is conducive to the zone, but once you step onto the court there is no guarantee that the zone will happen; no guarantee that you will perform at a higher level. The only guarantee you have is that your VCM operating system will be interfacing with the elements and dimensions of the tennis environment, and the quality of that IPO interface will determine the quality of your performance.

Unlike traditional performance models that address performance and behavior as separate issues, the PMP Model addresses the underlying IPO interface that is causal to both performance and behavior simultaneously. By learning to change from your normal mode of connecting to the environment, which is a serial interface, to your most efficient and accurate mode of connecting to that same environment, which is a parallel interface, you will be learning to change from the IPO connection that is causal to your normal performance state to the IPO connection that is causal to your peak performance state.

System dynamics: a new approach to the human peak performance state.