Time passed with your knowledge, everything just clicked, and the present moment was alive with a sense of perfect harmony, aliveness, and implicit order.Īccording to Dr. So what does a flow state look or feel like? Think about those moments when you became absorbed in something you were doing. In positive psychology, flow, also known as zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Wikipedia defines Flow in the following way. Cotler is also the cofounder of something called the Flow Genome Project, the organization who produced the immersive flow state video below. The concept of flow states became popular after psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote a book on the topic in 1990 called Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.Ī recent book called The Rise Of Superman by Steven Cotler has stoked a resurgence of interest in flow states and how individuals are harnessing this extraordinary state of being to do amazing- superhuman-things. Have you ever experienced a flow state? If you’re interested in unlocking the deeper formula underlying human purpose, meaning, and happiness, understanding the dynamics that help us experience flow in our lives is key. But if you do something that you love that also has a moderate level of challenge, it’s likely to keep the task exciting for you and therefore engage you deeply.In two hours in flow I can accomplish tremendous things! ~Sir Richard Branson On the other hand, if you do something that you find extremely difficult, you’re likely to become frustrated and keep yourself from entering flow. If you do something that is too simple to you, you’re probably going to become bored quickly, and boredom and flow is incompatible. Challenge Yourself… A Little People are most likely to achieve flow when they’re doing something that is a bit challenging.If you set yourself on a mission at the outset, and it is something that you're excited about achieving, you’re likely to find yourself deeply immersed in that mission. Once you have carved out the time, give yourself a clear purpose for how you are going to use that time. Have Clear Goals One of the most efficient flow preventers is a lack of clarity.Plan to set aside at least 90 minutes, and ideally full two hours. It’s commonly believed that, when conditions are right, it takes about 15 minutes to achieve a flow state and that you don’t really hit your peak closer to 45 minutes. Give Yourself Enough Time Make sure you have a block of time set aside to enter flow.So, put everything else aside and concentrate completely on what you’re doing. It can take you up to 20 minutes to reconnect with what you’re doing after you’ve been distracted from doing it. Eliminate Distraction If you’re going to find yourself in a flow state, eliminating distraction is absolutely essential.But another cycle can be waiting just around the corner. All kinds of positive chemicals have been running through your brain while you’re in flow, and now that high is ending. Often, this is accomplished by feeling somewhat let down. Consolidation In this final stage you pull together everything you accomplished during the flow stage.Flow This is the state that Kotler describes as “the superman experience.” This is the flow state that you’ve hopefully experienced at various points of your life, where you’re doing your absolute best work and it almost seems to be happening automatically.This break helps you relax and is decided differently from a distraction such as moving on to another task or checking sport scores. It is an essential step, as it keeps you from burning out over the struggle you’ve just been through. Relaxation This is the break you take before fully diving into flow.Warning: This often feels like a struggle and, in fact, the opposite of flow. Struggle This is when you’re digging deep to access whatever it is that you need to reach the flow state.Reports have suggested that flow can make you as much as five times more productive. In his brilliant book, Flow: The psychology of optimal experience psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” To Csikszentmihalyi, flow is an experience of “optimal experience.” It's sure that there were times when you were so completely immersed in what you were doing that nothing else seemed to matter. “To put it another way: flow is the telephone booth where Clark Kent changes clothes, the place from where Superman emerges.” Steven Kotler
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