Most people misunderstand engineering in a tech company. The most common preconception is that it can just be packed inside processes and create predictable results.
To some extent this is true, but this obfuscates what truly defined what we call tech today.
When we talk about tech companies, we think about the like of Apple & Google. Companies which redefined society. Now if this was a matter of process to get there, why isn't it everyone doing it? By now, said process would be widely known. Yet, we live in this constant redefinition and rediscovery about how to work.
This is because, the people who build market defining companies aren't just following a process. They are working in the zone.
I realized the importance of the zone years before I even had a name for it. I adopted 'the zone' because it's a topic many others have covered, often in other contexts. (You should read 'trading in the zone' whatever your field is).
The zone refers to that state of mind one can be in during which, everything you are trying to achieve comes to you effortlessly. You enter a phase of hyper focus, time passes incredibly fast, you become hyper productive. You keep thinking about the problem you face, you're basically hyper working on it without the feeling of burden. The closest thing you can look at to appreciate it is the movie Limitless but in reality, there isn't a magic pill that gets you there (as far as I know).
Instead, there are many things one can do to control getting in, staying in and getting out of the zone.
The first thing is to understand how you function.
There are countless dimensions to oneself. They can be on an emotional state, physical state or intellectual state.
The most important you want to take away is the tendencies you can have and figuring out a way - the fastest way - to get out of the negative ones.
For instance, you could be a hyper meticulous individual. The other side of that coin is that you could exhibit borderline OCD behavior that give you tunnel vision. Maybe you get in such state when you're stressed and maybe exercising resets you for a day or two.
Or maybe you're an anxious person, and you get stressed out when something avoidable goes wrong. Once in that state your judgement is clouded, your focus is limited. Maybe reading a book for 30min resets you and allows you to get back on your tracks.
These things are what you must understand about yourself.
This is personal work. No one else can do it but yourself, but some people can help you get a glimpse of how you function. This usually requires a few things:
1/ An open mind. You can look at it all as binary state with a gradient of applications. This means that having an open mind is simply not rejecting all feedback. It's normal to have a difficulty processing criticism, comments and contrary beliefs. Just keep that door open. Revisit these moments. Remind yourself, you could be completely wrong.
2/ Honesty on both sides. If you are going at this alone, chances are, you'll either take a long time to understand yourself or you'll simply fail. So assuming you have someone that acts as a sounding board, you must have a completely honest relationship. This is usually harder for both sides. On your end, because of #1. On the end of the other person, because it is always easier to avoid honesty to preserve peace. I've embraced honesty in a pretty brutal way, so I can tell you first hand that the cost of it is that many people think of me as either arrogant or being an asshole. Those who get to know me, realize I'm all about this point and the positive impact it has outside this context.
3/ Repetition and practice. Since we aren't talking about whether you are a chocolate type of person, you can imagine that understanding truly how you function requires trial and error. In the first year of my software engineering school, we were told people had different peak time to work during the day. I tend to be a night owl. I get a burst of energy after 10pm. To validate that though, I practiced working different schedules. This gave me the confidence on where is my sweet spot but also the skills on how to adapt to work with other people's prime time. This is just one dimensional example out of countless one.
Being self-aware is an honest conversation with yourself. It's neither false modesty nor embracing everything and anything you may be under your identity.
You really don't need to involve anyone else, but you need to be honest with yourself. You can't fix or control something you don't understand and if you're consistently trying to tell yourself a story, it will only distract you from progressing. Again, not an easy thing to do, and you'd need to really want to improve to engage in this journey.
The zone wouldn't be the zone if it was the default state of any individual. It is precisely because it takes effort to be in it that you have to work on yourself to own it. Especially, you're fighting the default stance you are naturally poised to pursue. I'd love to call it the blerch in reference to a famous comic, but to make it more relatable I often talk about animal documentary.
More precisely, how wild cats tend to spend most of their day relaxing and only hunting when hungry. In my very personal, observed - but in no way scientifically proven way -, this is to me the default state.
Our default state is to avoid effort. I think it stems from natural selection as effort is energy and loosing energy to no gain can be a dangerous endeavour.
When it comes to the zone though, it's basically impossible to get into it without some initial effort. It's once inside that the effort almost disappears.
So to get in the zone, it requires you to make the decision that isn't what you would normally do.
Let's say you are mentally drained, and you know that running helps you. It's pouring outside, you want to cover yourself in bed. Make the difficult decision, force yourself out, clear your mind, get yourself one step closer to the zone.
Let's say you're a night owl, you have work you want to get done, but your friend are asking you to come for a drink. Make the difficult decision, let it go, use your natural burst of energy to get closer to the zone.
Of course these examples are simple. It's hard to draw big generality in a content that's consumable. This is an effort that's best mentored one to one.