![]() However, science has proven that some people are more likely to reach flow than others.Īccording to a landmark study, the ability to achieve flow is primarily determined by personality, not intelligence. When many of these factors combine, your chances of achieving flow increase significantly.Įveryone has the potential to achieve a flow state - the only requirements are sufficient mastery of the task, strong internal motivation, and uninterrupted time to focus. Extrinsic motivations, such as rewards or punishments, can actually hinder flow. To achieve flow, you need to be intrinsically motivated from within. Your conscious and subconscious minds work seamlessly together in flow to make your actions effortless and automatic. You can concentrate more on the work rather than the passing time. Time seems to slow down or stop as you get engrossed in your actions. This lets you focus on the task rather than yourself. You should be able to effortlessly and naturally perform your activity without feeling like you’re struggling or pushing yourself. When you aren't distracted by worry or self-doubt, you can devote all your attention to the task. Flow is more likely to occur when you feel confident and capable. Multitasking divides your attention and prevents flow, which decreases your productivity. The key to achieving flow is focusing your full attention on the task. Concentration focused on one thing only.The task itself should provide you with clear feedback right away to reinforce your progress toward your goal. Clarity provides a sense of direction and helps you measure progress. Clear objectives tell you what needs to be done and how to do it. Ideally, the task difficulty should be just beyond your abilities, so that it is challenging but still attainable. A simple task will bore you, while a very difficult one far beyond your skill level will frustrate you. Flow is likely to result when most of these nine components are present, but not all are required: What are the characteristics of a flow state?Īccording to Csíkszentmihályi, achieving flow state requires the presence of certain conditions. In this state, there’s no judgment or self-consciousness, just euphoria and happiness that results in more creativity and efficiency.Īs Csíkszentmihályi described in his 2004 TED Talk, "There's this focus that, once it becomes intense, leads to a sense of ecstasy, a sense of clarity: you know exactly what you want to do from one moment to the other." No external reward is involved - you're just doing it for its own sake. ![]() This state of mind has been described as "in the zone" or "in the groove." When you're in flow, you're fully immersed in your activity without feeling any effort. We may even lose track of who we are and what we're doing. ![]() We don't seem to notice our surroundings as if time has slowed down or even stopped. We enter the flow state when we're so absorbed in something that we completely forget about everything else around us. His study called this state "flow" because many participants said the experience felt like flowing along a river.Ĭsíkszentmihályi's research showed that people's happiness isn’t derived from leisure activities or relaxation but from intense moments of engagement called flow. Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, known as the father of positive psychology, first described the concept of flow in his groundbreaking 1990 book, " Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience." Although Csíkszentmihályi wasn't the first to recognize this mental state, he was the first to name it. In this article, we'll explore the concept of flow and discover how to get into a flow state using a few simple tricks. But did you know we can also achieve it on purpose? Learning new things and achieving our goals can be easier and more enjoyable with the flow. Or perhaps you were working on a chapter of your memoir, gazing at the screen with a smile as your mind filled with images of a favorite moment long ago.Īs we played our favorite piece on the piano, performed improv on stage with our theater troupes, or coded the last bits of an exciting update to our app, there was one thing that united us: We were all experiencing flow - that magical transformation of time when we’re completely immersed in the moment.Īs shown in the scenarios above, we can naturally slip into a flow state. Maybe you were playing the guitar on your back porch, your eyes closed and the crickets chirping along to the beat as you enjoyed the summer air. When was the last time you felt passionately engaged in a project or activity?
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