Musings at Altitude

For some reason, today I got a lot done…an inordinate amount of things done…and I really don’t know why.  I was able to write entire strategic account plans in a matter of minutes not hours.  I was able to contact numerous folks on my “to do” list in a very short period of time, and many of them seemed to respond in minutes and not hours or days.  I was able to follow up on things that I remembered needed following up, and for some reason the follow ups were both timely and important.  And I was able to find smiles in things that have most recently caused me severe frowns and in those smiles I was able to figure out things to do in those relationships or situations that would hopefully make things just a bit better and thus minimize or even eliminate the frowns.

But once again, I really don’t know why.  I’ve never really known why on some days (though rare they may be) absolutely everything clicks.  Regardless of the crisis, regardless of the action needing to be taken, regardless of the relationship that needs to be created or fixed, everything seems to flow so perfectly that when the day ends you just don’t want it to stop.  In fact, you want to capture and contain whatever that stimulation may be that stokes the right firing of the right cells that creates the right thoughts and the right movements to make that almost perfect action take place.

In basketball, you can get in a zone and every 3 pointer will go in, sometimes regardless of how awkwardly you shoot them.  In golf, you can have 3 or 4 holes where every shot just seems to be perfect and you put that one shot at the green within 3 feet of the flag.  In baseball, you can see the pitch all the way to the bat and it seems that the 90 mph fastball is coming at a super slow speed.  In some way, I’ve experienced each of these (of course, not at anywhere near a professional or even good amateur level).

But in business, being in the zone comes much less often and when it does it’s nirvana.  It’s something that I yearn to continue or, when it stops, to replicate as quickly as possible.  But I’ve never found the tripwire that launched the nirvana.  And maybe that’s a good thing.

There’s something very special about not knowing when it will come and there’s something magical and surprising when it hits.