In the zone

When you are working on portfolios or presentations, do you sometimes get “in the zone?” The zone is that perfect place that allows you to completely and totally focus on the job at hand. In a sense, the world vanishes and it’s just you and the work.  

I like a bit of soft jazz in the background to keep outside sounds at bay. The jazz can’t be too jazzy; it’s got to be smooth.   

Sometimes I get the zone effect when I’m writing, but not as often as it happens with deep portfolio work. But, even better than portfolio work, the best zone place, at least for me, is doing worksheets. I still use Lotus 1-2-3 because of the slash menu, which gets me deep, deep into the worksheet without having to think about what my hands are doing. I loved worksheets from the beginning, back when we had 8-inch floppies and mini-computers. Remember VisiCalc?  I even graded students using VisiCalc. When Lotus came along, I was its No. 1 fan. I’m sure Excel is better. However, it no longer has the option of the slash menu, and besides, if I want to directly embed a worksheet in a Word document or e-mail, Lotus looks lots better.     

I like being in the zone, maybe sometimes too much. 

Have a sensational week and enjoy your own zone, but don’t overdo it, okay?