Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

Sometimes on the basketball court or on the football field, you enter this place called 'The Zone.' You're not supposed to acknowledge when you're in 'The Zone,' but when you are, you simply cannot be stopped.

Sometimes I don't know what takes me over during a game. Sometimes I just feel I have moved to a different place and I can make the pass, score the goal or go past my marker at will.

Anything you do has a still point. When you are in that still point, you can perform maximally.

You do it for the highs, when you're totally engrossed and everything's flowing and whatever you want, you get. It's like magic. That's why you play the game. That's what it's for. That's why you work.

It's a fine balance for an athlete in enjoying the moment and being really satisfied, say, with a run, and with your day, and knowing you can make it better in the future.

Top athletes understand that to play at their best, they must alternate periods of intense performance with periods of strategic renewal.

More than specific memories of achievements, for me I remember the feeling you get when you were just at your very best - when you felt like you were floating across the court and could put the ball wherever you wanted.

And there is a time where you can be beyond yourself. You can be better than your technique. You can be better than most of your usual ideas. And this is a whole other category that you can get into.

I'm playing pretty good now, but my ranking doesn't say that. I'm number two.

When I feel like I'm doing my best work, there is a bit of a freedom, a bit of flight that you're not so much losing yourself but you're sort of in the zone.

It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance.

An opera singer is like an athlete before a match. An athlete cannot overdo anything. In order to perform at the highest possible level, you need to refrain from activities so as to be able to express this power.

You always know when something works it's a result of everything firing on all cylinders.

Data not only measures progress—it inspires it. Once you start measuring problems, people are more inclined to take action to fix them, because nobody wants to end up at the bottom of a list of rankings.

Players perform best when their minds are clear.

I want to become the best I can be and be at my best for a good number of years.

No matter what, the entrepreneur must strive to be above average and, at the same time, understand what is driving those averages they are seeking to beat. Take the time to understand and test the metrics you are using, and then you can not only set the average, you can exceed it.

I do know when my body is ready or when it's going to perform best for me.

It's just important that you plan your week with food and everything to try and be on your highest level on a matchday.

I am way more accurate than my completion percentage shows.

I wake up, and I'm in the zone... My performance is the continuation of my life.

As an athlete there are times in your career where, during a game, any decision you make seems to be the right one. The bowler bowls where you want, you don't have to think and you are so 'in the zone' that you are not aware of anything else around you.

In any sport, you're at your best when you're playing without thinking too much.

A lot of marathon runners access flow state. That's why it's so addictive: because they just get into this state where they're just completely one - they are in complete oneness. That's what happens to me when I play music and, I suppose, a lot of other people, too, which is why we do it.

When you feel like you are performing at your best, it's a beautiful feeling.