Grow and Evolve

Be in a flow!

What is flow and how can you experience it more often?

The term “flow” was coined by Dr Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1960s. In his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, he describes it as a highly focused mental state which facilitates productivity. In his research, he found that there was no correlation between money and happiness. Instead, the human brain is at its happiest when engaged in the meaningful pursuit of a goal.

When you are in a state of flow you are so involved in the activity that nothing else seems to matter. Concentration is so intense that no attention is left over to think anything and it becomes irreverent to worry about problems. Self-consciousness disappears and the sense of time becomes distorted.

It is that amazing feeling in which you are so immersed that you are not regretting what you did yesterday or stressing about what you will be doing tomorrow.

How to Achieve Flow?

It’s important to note that you can’t experience flow if distractions disrupt the experience. Thus, to experience this state, you have to stay away from the attention-robbers common in modern fast-paced life.

Also, the balance of perceived challenges and skills are important factors to be in the flow. On the one hand, when a challenge is bigger than your level of skills, you become anxious and stressed. On the other hand, when the level of skill exceeds the size of the challenge, you become bored and distracted.

Since the experience of this state is just in the middle, balance is essential. See diagram.

“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Csikszentmihalyi describes the following eight characteristics of flow:

1. Complete concentration on the task;
2. Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback;
3. Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down);
4. The experience is intrinsically rewarding;
5. Effortlessness and ease;
6. There is a balance between challenge and skills;
7. Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination;
8. There is a feeling of control over the task.

“Flow is important both because it makes the present instant more enjoyable, and because it builds the self-confidence that allows us to develop skills and make significant contributions to humankind.”

Be in the flow. Achieve mastery.

Be more. Do more.