In the zone”

Recently, I had the pleasure of being on “The Zone”. Personally, I must say that it was nice to be there. What is “The Zone”?

Well, you’ve heard of athletes talking about being in “The Zone,” that magical place where everything fits together. The physical and mental processes work in a coordinated way and everything happens perfectly. In any athletic and competitive sport, the professional athlete trains and works hard for those special moments. With a golfer, it is that moment when the posture of the body, the grip of the golf club, the position of the ball on the tee is correct. The golfer looks down the fairway and visualizes the flight path of the ball, the distance and where the ball is going to land. The golfer looks down at the ball and finds that split second of absolute peace and focus. The golfer swings the perfect arc and arm position, and then lowers the club toward the ball. The clubface hits the ball in the perfect position and the ball follows the same path that the golfer envisioned. This is what it’s like to be in “The Zone!”

The same can be applied to programming and writing. As a programmer, it’s that moment when everything starts to make sense. Here’s how it works: You have a tight schedule and are under pressure to deliver a full build of your software. You force yourself to stay focused on the tasks at hand. You have everything in position for productivity. Energy drink and snack next door. Your favorite code by playing the music at full volume in your headphones. The chair is in the perfect position for productivity and you have the right books and notes on your desk. You run all the proper software tools on your computer, and if you are lucky enough to have two monitors or computers, you have a browser on one screen for doing Google searches. You immerse yourself. It takes an hour or two to get really nervous. Then everything starts clicking! It has several open source modules at the same time. Global and local variables are all in your head, and you know what their current values ​​are as you go through your code. He comes up with a way to reduce 20 lines of code to 3, without affecting performance. And you have just discovered a new algorithm to obtain the desired functionality in your program. The music still resonates in your headphones but you don’t hear it anymore. Instead, variables, data, and formulas dance in your mind and out through your fingers. You write madly trying to keep up with the flow of ideas, fearing that the slightest interruption or pause will make the images disappear. And then it happens! You hit the wall! You find yourself staring at the screen for almost half an hour and nothing has been written. Your brain just gave up. You think you’ve only been working for a few hours, but then you realize you’ve just spent 18 hours straight at the computer.

So now you crash. You grab something to eat and then you go to bed. But 4-6 hours later, you wake up. As soon as you are awake, the ideas, variables, data and algorithms appear again. You can’t wait to sit down at the computer again and start generating code again. This rhythm continues, for days, until you finally reach your goal, or RL (real life) gets in the way and forces you to take a break. Or in the most serious cases, your body and mind scream “Enough!” and crash for 20 hours straight.
I can feel everyone nod in agreement. It is almost like a drug. You’re so wrapped up in creativity and the flow of coding that you forget about everything else. It’s a great way to forget about the RL. It can be really refreshing! But at a cost: family and friends forget who you are. You walk away from your desk for a break in nature and they look at you like you are from another planet. But then, not shaving, washing, and wearing the same clothes for days in a row is a huge factor in achieving that kind of look. Also, it is not healthy. Sitting in the same position for such long periods makes you prone to blood clots and other types of medical problems. Finding the right balance is the challenge.

My recent experience has been while working on a Java application for Blackberry devices. A very tight deadline, compounded by the fact that I was adding functionality to someone else’s code, and it was my first time working for the Blackberry platform. (Non-standard API! Argh!) But once I got into “The Zone”, it was great!

I don’t recommend going too often. As with any other addictive activity, too much can lead to personal, social, and physical problems. Find the right balance. Learn to walk away on a regular basis. Get up for a few minutes and take a short walk, at least once every two hours. Keep some healthy snacks on hand: apples, carrots, celery, and walnuts. (Yes, I like things crispy while programming.) If you are drinking energy drinks (I prefer anything from Hansen), make sure you have plenty of water to drink as well. But don’t overdo it on energy drinks! A bad case of shakes won’t help you write code! And if you are under a lot of pressure and stress, be sure to spend at least an hour a day doing some kind of exercise. You’ll be amazed at how increased blood flow in your body can help prepare your head for more programming, especially when you have a hard-to-overcome code problem. And for your close family and friends: be sure to let them know that you still love them and will be back in no time, and follow up on your commitments to them. My personal philosophy is faith, family, friends, finances, and then fun. (The finance part = work). Each one has his own.

So visiting “The Zone” is great. It’s geeky, nerdy, and today, even a little trendy. Just remember not to linger there and go for a breath every now and then.