How is it possible to stay focused? How can we push our own performance beyond our own imagination? How to be completely satisfied with what we do?
With this article I am going to introduce you into the secrets of unlocking the “flow state”.
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"Be water, my friend."
Forgive me the catchy introduction, which sounded more like a motivational keynote speech than a scientific explanation. But if you are reading this, it worked, and you know it. And now you are smiling. Perfect start for an article about a concept of positive psychology.
Do you know the feeling of becoming completely “lost” in your current task? You start something and suddenly you realize, that several hours have passed, the work you have done looks amazing and your stomach tells you, that you were incredibly focused for eight hours straight – and forgot to eat at all.
Sounds familiar? Congratulations, you have achieved a mental state, which the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (this is probably the most unpronounceable surname I have ever seen) discovered and named in 1975 as “flow” (1).
During his dissertation he conducted a study with artists, who created art and measured their experiences. It happened, that at some point the lost any sense of their surroundings and were extremely focused on their tasked. When asked about their feelings, they described it similar to stream of water carrying them around, which made everything they did feel incredibly easy and enjoyable. Therefore, the name “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975).
Years later, in 1990, he finally published his most famous book Flow: The Psychology of Happiness (2) which contained most of the available research regarding this topic.
Let’s take a look, why the flow state is so special and which conditions have to be met in order to experience it.
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A matter of balance and focus
Like most amazing things in life, it is not always easy to get to them. The experience of the flow state is no exception to this rule. There has to be a very specific set of conditions in place to make the occurrence of flow likely. The balance between your own skills and the challenge of the task need to be in almost perfect harmony or uncomfortable situations are bound to happen.
The danger of becoming anxious, if the challenges are beyond your skill level is always there. As well as Damocles’ sword of boredom, if the challenges cannot keep up with your skills (Boniwell, 2012) (3). According to Csikszentmihalyi (I was never happier about the copy & paste feature), there are three necessary conditions to achieve a flow state (4):
- Clarity of goals
You know exactly what you want to achieve and how to do it.
- Immediate Feedback
You know exactly how you are doing at your task (e.g. winning or losing).
- Control
You know, you are in control of the situation and are able to deal with whatever comes next (the above-mentioned balance).
If these conditions are met, you are not far away from transitioning into a flow state. In their Handbook of Positive Psychology (2015) Snyder and Lopez are describing, how this mental state is actually defined:
- Merging of action and awareness
You are fully aware of what you are doing (you achieve your goals) and that is the only thing which matters.
- Loss of reflective self-consciousness
You lose the ability of being aware as yourself as a social actor. You are completely focused at the task beforehand.
- Distortion of temporal experience
Remember when I spoke about working eight hours straight without realizing it? That is, when you experience time passes by faster than normal.
- Autotelic behaviour
You do a certain task, because doing it is rewarding in itself. You can find joy in the process of pursuing an activity, the end goal is just an excuse. The journey is your goal.
Sounds awesome, right? And it holds true for a variety of different activities. This idea has proven itself in studies of art and science, aesthetic experiences, sport, writing and other activities (Snyder & Lopez, 2015).
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Attention is key
Yesterday I wrote about the disadvantages of multitasking and flow is another way to prove, how important focused attention can be.
As William James (5) famously put it:
My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind.
The ability of entering the flow state is therefore mainly connected of how well you are able to focus your attention. Clear goals, immediate feedback, well-balanced level of skill and challenge are your tools to get to this point. Especially the feeling of being in control is quite important to achieve this. If you feel unsecure, doubt your skills or fear the challenges ahead, you will ultimately feel more likely despair than flow. Over the decades of positive psychology research, it has been proven again and again (e.g. Ghani, 1994) (6) that the mechanism of control is quite important. You can maintain this control, if you set yourself achievable goals, which match your skills, so you do not get bored or disappointed. If you get up each day, knowing that whatever you do will bring you joy, because you chose to do it and you have the necessary skills to do it in the best possible way, you will feel satisfied.
If the things you do, are not able to shift you into a flow state, then they are probably the wrong things to do anyway. Find the work, which satisfies you while doing it, where the journey itself is more rewarding than its goal could ever be.
I know, I am closing with a motivational speech, but if my articles provide anything useful for your own life, than this is all I can ask for.
Feel always free to discuss my ideas and share your own thoughts about the things I’m writing about. Nobody is omniscient and if we all walk away a bit smarter than before, we’ll have achieved a lot.
Thanks for reading and stay focused.
Ego
Make sure, to check out #steemstem for more science related content.
References
(1) Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Beyond Boredom and Anxiety.1975. Jossey-Bass Publishers
(2) Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Happiness. 2013 (first 1990). Ebury Publishing
(3) Boniwell, Ilona. Positive Psychology in a Nutshell: The Science of Happiness. 2012. Open University Press
(4) Snyder, C. R.; Lopez, Shane J. Handbook of Positive Psychology. 2015. Oxford University Press
(5) James, William. The Principles of Psychology, Vol. 1. 2013. Cosimo Classics