The cognitive antecedents and motivational consequences of the feeling of being in the zone

The feeling of being in the zone (related to “flow”) is marked by an elevated yet effortless sense of concentration. Prior research suggests that feelings of being in the zone are strongest when the demand posed by a task matches one’s level of ability (i.e., the balance hypothesis). In the present article, we tested this hypothesis using a novel experimental paradigm. By collecting numerous zone judgments for each participant, we were able to examine intra-individual sources of variance that explain why people often feel more or less in-the-zone on the same task from one moment to the next. The results of two experiments provide support for what we have termed the balance-plus hypothesis, which posits that zone experiences are strongest (Experiments 1–2) and have the greatest motivational force (Experiment 2) when the balance between task demand and ability is accompanied by positive assessments of one’s own performance.