The Universities of Chicago and Milan have been studying this since the 1980s - what athletes call being “in the zone” is what modern psychology calls being in “Flow”.
Over the last decade, cognitive psychology and neuroscience have established what you need to do to train yourself to be “in the zone”.
And what they’ve established is stunning - when you train your mind to be in Flow it completely restructures the brain’s key neural components. You rewire your brain.
Every morning you need to spend some time developing your innate ability to pay attention to the reality of the moment, without thinking about it! And, during every day, you need to stop to “check in” with yourself. This develops self-awareness - the key to being in the zone.