The Truth About "The Zone"

Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter

TED

Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Body Stuff we’re excited to introduce TED’s newest podcast, Good Sport, hosted by veteran sports producer Jody Avirgan. What can sports teach us about life – and each other? Good Sport brings you invigorating stories from on and off the field to argue that sports are as powerful and compelling a lens as any to understand the world – from what happens when you age out of a sport, to how we do or don't nurture talent, to analyzing how sports arguments have become the mode for all arguments. Good Sport launched on February 8th and you can find it anywhere you’re listening to this. TED Audio Collective+ subscribers on Apple Podcasts can hear the whole season early and ad-free.

When it comes to sports, is there anything more evocative –and elusive– than “the zone”? That mythical place an athlete goes to where focus is laser-sharp, nothing can go wrong, and time just vanishes. In this episode, Jody talks to NBA All-Star great Steph Curry about what “the zone” means for him – and whether or not it even exists. Then Jody works on his mental game with sports psychologist Dr. Nicole Detling, and follows Olympic biathlete Clare Egan in a step-by-step guide on how to foster mental resilience after failure. Transcripts for Good Sport are available at go.ted.com/GStranscripts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective
0:08.7	In sports, there's a lot of talk about a magical place called the Zone.
0:15.5	You've probably heard of it.
0:16.9	That place where everything clicks, where no matter the weather or the crowd or the sweat
0:21.5	in your eyes, nothing can break your focus, where you just do everything perfectly.
0:27.0	You sink every shot, nothing can stop you.
0:30.6	Now when I think about the Zone, when I picture someone in the Zone, I picture Steph Curry.
0:36.4	Do you believe in the Zone?
0:38.8	I do believe in the Zone because it's the one time that everything kind of goes autopilot.
0:47.5	Well if the greatest NBA shooter of all time says the legend is real, that the Zone is
0:52.1	real, it's more than just a legend.
0:55.0	There's just synergy with everything that you're trying to do and even your intentions
0:59.6	have been validated by the atmosphere around you where it seems like everything else is
1:04.0	going right at the same time you kind of get lost in that moment.
1:08.3	I love that phrase, your intentions are validated by the atmosphere around you.
1:13.0	I suppose if I were hitting every shot in the NBA finals in front of a roaring crowd,
1:17.7	I'd probably feel like my intentions were validated by the atmosphere as well.
1:23.1	Well look, here's the thing about the Zone, almost by definition, it is special and fleeting
1:29.2	and you can't force it.
1:31.2	You can't control any of that, it's just for me, when it goes away, it's the reflection
1:38.2	on the feeling you just had, I think it's just a natural experience.
1:44.4	You can recognize when it's gone, but chasing after it is almost a guarantee that you won't
	...

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