Athletes talk about it. Scientists worry about it. Oh, wait, that’s the Ozone. Ever hear of “The Zone?”

When I drove for UPS I sometimes hit the zone. I’d follow the prescribed procedures with little thought. Some drivers would say ‘the packages fell off my truck.’ There were days, or hours within a day, when I’d level up to 25 or 30 stops per hour, a good number for me.

You know what I mean. The synapses are snapping, all cylinders are firing, and it was as if you traveled through a portal.

Creatives talk about the zone as well.

The reason I am bringing this up is because the last however long I haven’t zoned out much. Life got clunky. Patterns were disrupted. Little distractions were all it took to lead me down rabbit holes. Not one rabbit hole either, a plethora of whack-a-mole holes which piddled away time.

Here’s a cliché for ya. “One thing led to another.” Things shouldn’t be leading. I should be leading, right?

One cannot force ‘The Zone’, but a way to create space for more zone-like activity is structure. Sounds counter intuitive. For example, If I didn’t have methods for delivery, there’d be little chance of getting ‘er done sufficiently.

Ask a musician or athlete how they have these timeless, often outside of the box experiences. Fundamentals, classical training, drawing inside the lines, as it were, give them the muscle memory to go beyond.

Good writing grows through fundamentals. There is a myriad of basic tools available including ethical use of AI. But the Muse’s influence cannot help me if I don’t use the grammatical rails laid down from the ages.

Thanks for listening to me ramble and process. Ever been in a zone?