FLOW - The Psychology of Optimal Experience
INTRODUCTION
“The most beautiful moments always seemed to accelerate and slip beyond one’s grasp just when you want to hold onto them for as long as possible.”
It’s curious, when you think about it, how time flies when you’re having fun-when you’re playing games, having an interesting conversation, enjoying what you’re doing. You do it for 5 minutes and then, looking at the clock you suddenly realize that those 5 minutes were actually 3 hours.
And yet during moments of boredom, when we most need to skip those 3 hours as if they were 5 minutes, we can feel the weight of each one of those minutes passing by.
Of course, this is not exclusive to our leisure time; we can experience it at the office as well. Some days it feels like you sit down to work and the next thing you know it’s time to leave, while other days can last an eternity.
During those moments of intense concentration we are so absorbed in what we are doing that more than losing our perception of time that we forget about ourselves, our problems at home, our hunger or thirst. We are generally being more productive than usual, and although during the activity we are in a semi-unconscious state, in looking back on it we are left with a general sense of well-being.
So what happens during those moments? Why does it feel the way it does? And if it is such a positive experience, how do we get more of it? Is it in our control?
In 1975, the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi named this peculiar experience FLOW state. In his initial quest to discover what makes a life worth living, Mihály started interviewing people trying to answer the question: when do we feel the happiest? The answers he collected, even though they were from very different people in completely different environment and disciplines, were remarkably similar; This state can be referred to as “being in the zone”, “losing yourself” or “runners high”. They all involved being in a state of flow.
Flow is described as a state of mind in which we feel our best and perform our best; we are so involved in what we are doing that we no longer have the mental energy to be aware of anything else. We no longer feel hunger, pain, or other bodily needs. We are so caught up in the task at hand that our conscious self seems to disappear, and we disappear from existence along with it, at least for a little while.
DISSECTING FLOW STATES
Consciousness Reordered
“A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening ‘outside,’ just by changing the contents of consciousness.”
They say that the natural state of our mind is like that of a distracted monkey, following the first colorful thought that catches our attention, jumping all over the place. Although at first this might sound fun and entertaining, it also comes with some drawbacks and down sides.
There is a goal we want to reach, a task we want to accomplish. Even if we decided that this goal is of primary importance, we cannot help but hear the call of options B and C distracting and pulling our attention away from the main objective: Facebook notification, the vibrating phone in my pocket, a new email, it might be important! We indulge in the distraction, checking the Facebook account for just a second, stay there longer than we should and then go back to work, usually with a light sense of guilt that stays with us. Even more, the presence alone of these thoughts creates mental tension, and just resisting them requires using mental energies that we are not putting to use in the way we would like.
In short, being in a flow state is quite the opposite. When in flow, every thought and piece of information is aligned with the task at hand. If our goals are clear, we have a sense of how we are doing, and our abilities and skills are being pushed to the edge of our capacities, then we become fully immersed in what is in front of us.
In this mental zone, thoughts B and C no longer catch our attention; their very existence is fully ignored, and the internal tension they bring with them leaves us.
Consciousness is ordered and put to use so that there is no room for second-guessing, worrying, or self-awareness, and judgment of others and ourselves is suspended.
There is simply no energy left over to think about all this other “stuff”, or anything else that is unrelated to what matters.
The conditions of Flow
Activities themselves do not contain more or fewer chances of entering a flow state; this is a mental state, after all, and as such, it is independent of what we are doing. Any activity has the potential to produce a state of flow in the same way that it can induce boredom; we tend to identify the feeling of flow with the athlete or the artist that completely loses him/herself in the work, but we could just as easily find the same experience walking down the street with the right mindset.
The “right mindset” in this case implies three major conditions that we need to meet to enter a flow experience:
- CLEAR GOALS : the objective of our actions, or where we are going, is clear in our head and we judge this goal to be reachable. Sometimes if the goal is distant or entails a lot of work, it helps to subdivide your macro-goal into micro-objectives that you can achieve more comfortably;
- IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK : every action we take towards our goal needs to generate a reasonably quick feedback loop so we can adjust our course of action in the right direction. If the feedback we get is too slow (hours or maybe days pass) then the mind will move on to something else and we lose whatever focus we had;
- CHALLENGE/SKILLS BALANCE : one of the main conditions of flow is that we need to push to the edge of our range of competence (real or perceived) enough to stretch, but not so much that we snap under pressure. If the challenge is too great for our current level of skills we will most likely come to experience a sense of anxiety. On the other hand, if our skills are too high in respect to the challenge at hand we don’t need to put all of our attention on what we are doing and so the mind will more easily start to wonder. The sweet spot is what we are aiming for.
HIGH PERFORMANCE : THE FLOW CYCLE
“Suddenly normal wasn’t good enough.”
If all that we’ve been talking about sounds too beautiful to pass over, why are we not always trying to push the limits of our potential? Why is staying on the couch watching TV so appealing?
It turns out that getting to a flow state is not that easy; to push our limits is uncomfortable, it’s risky. What if we fail?
Other alternatives are more accessible and even though they might not be as rewarding, there are days when we consider the trade-off with the low effort and the easy access they provide to be worth it.
Flow is defined as a state of consciousness when we feel our best and perform our best. This means that our best work is also done when we are in the zone, and being in the zone is not always easy. Flow isn’t simply a light bulb that we can turn on and off; every flow experience follows a cycle.
1 - STRUGGLE
There are two main types of struggle. The first one comes from a beginner’s mind. The freeing of the mind that comes from the automated side of flow will not be as strong in the beginning stages of learning a craft. There are rules and templates that you need to learn and that’s a very conscious effort you need to do, this is where a lot of people might give up. As a general rule, this period of struggle entails some tedium and it is generally unpleasant. You need to master the internal discipline to move past this initial phase. The rewards will be there for you on the other side; the better you master your craft, the higher will be your sense of ecstasy in flow. Even different flow states have different shades; both the beginner and the master can enter this state, but the experience will deepen based directly on your level of skills and the automatic behavior and thinking you developed in your practice.
The second type of struggle is present even when we reach a certain level of proficiency. It is similar to the first type but more temporary. It’s the willingness to take away the distractions and comforts and go to work. If it’s something physical it can simply be to take your bag and leave the house to go to the gym; if it is more intellectual, it can be turning off everything else and start concentrating on what you have to do. Creating the initial structure of the new project and doing research can also fall into this category. In both cases we need time to consciously load up in our working memory the information we need to complete the task. This phase could even include the setting of goals and of micro-goals needed to achieve those.
2 - RELEASE
The conscious mind is very limited in its capacity to hold and elaborate on information. It is by nature very energy-inefficient. The consciously focused attention that we build in the first phase needs now to be followed by a period of relaxation. Take a break, go for a walk, take your mind off the problem somehow (the only thing not to do is watch TV, as it actually blocks the opportunity to get into a flow state).
The purpose of taking a break is that of transferring the mental processes beneath the conscious level, utilizing the nearly unlimited memory of the unconscious, and promoting the kind of free association of ideas that we can’t get consciously, where the connections we make are so linear.
3 - FLOW
Our brain is the most energy-hungry organ in the body, and this is even considering the fact that it is always trying to save energy.
Contrary to what we might think, when in a flow state the brain is not more active, but less active. It is an efficiency exchange. We’re exchanging energy that we normally use in higher cognitive skills for heightened attention and awareness. We deactivate some parts of the brain in order to redistribute energy where we need the most. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different experiences; so, depending on which part of the brain shuts down while in flow, it changes the kind of feelings we have.
The technical term for this is transient hypofrontality, transient meaning temporary, hypo meaning below or a little of, and frontality referring to the prefrontal cortex.
On a quick note, the prefrontal cortex is home to our high-cognitive skills, our sense of morality, our inner critic and self-monitoring voice, and our perception of time.
Deactivating some parts of the prefrontal cortex is the reason why you literally “lose” yourself in the task. The way the brain elaborates your sense of self is by drawing a line between what is “you” and the rest of the universe; this is how you feel your feet even when you are not looking at them and how you can navigate the world without bumping into every obstacle. When this part of the brain is knocked out and that line suddenly disappears, the rest of your processing brain then concludes (it has to conclude) that there is no difference between you and whatever it is that you are paying attention to. This is when people describe a flow state like being “one with the music”, or “one with the body”, or “one with the wave”, even “one with the universe” if you want to take it that far.
During those moments of hypofrontality our inner critic is also shutting down, and this is very liberating.
On the neurochemical side of the brain, during a flow experience, a cascade of feel-good neurotransmitters and chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins are released. This cocktail of pleasure is what makes flow one of the most sought-after and addictive states on earth, and is why we sometimes give up the comfort and safety of a better-paying job in search of novelty and to realize our potential. In extreme adventure sport, unfortunately, people can die in the same chase of bigger, higher, faster.
One of the other pleasures that comes from flow is the sense of control and competence we feel during the experience. Even though we know very well that we cannot control the outside world, the feeling comes more from the faith we have in our ability to work around the problem and adapting on the fly.
This feel-good state, of course, cannot last forever. Those chemicals will eventually be depleted, and we need time to restore them.
4 - RECOVERY
Every high has a low. Flow is an energy intense state to maintain; every stress (even the good kind of stress) needs a recovery period. This part can be tough. We no longer feel at the top of the world, we are back in daily life, most of the feel-good chemicals have been drained from our system and what we are left with is usually unpleasant.
You need time and an emotionally safe place to heal, refresh, and return to a healthier state before jumping back into action. This is part of the process, and it is important to acknowledge it. Build self-discipline to not let yourself be dragged down by dark emotions and thoughts, or attribute to them a greater meaning or cause than they actually have. Also, don’t try to fight it; the recovery is as important as working hard, giving you the opportunity to be in the shape to do your best work.
Everybody recognizes and praises working hard but we don’t usually pay as much attention to recovery because the benefits of it are not as obvious or visible.
Quality stress is followed by quality recovery. Remember that you grow your muscles on rest days.
DISTRACTIONS: ANCIENT BRAINS IN MODERN TIMES
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
Imagine being one of the human creatures living in the middle of the forest around ten thousand years ago, doing whatever people were doing in their free time back then. You’re crafting your own spear or building a tent with your mind gently engaged in your actions. Then suddenly a sound comes from the trees and you automatically stop whatever you’re doing to pay attention to this new stimulus. Where is it coming from? Should you be worried about it? Maybe it’s a predator, or it might potentially be dinner. Probably just somebody from the tribe, or a falling branch. Anyway, it seems to be gone now. Back to the task at hand. What was I doing here?
Even if in this example no threat was present, the quick reaction and the pattern of thinking might have very well saved your life on another occasion. Now let’s examine a similar example in a modern context.
You’re sitting at the desk working on your project. You start to get into it when you hear the phone vibrating near your hand, the screen lighting up with the icon of a new text. You want to just ignore it and keep working, but inevitably the thought sneaks up on you: “What if it’s important? Maybe it’s urgent. I’ll just check it very quickly and then go back to work.”
It is true that the world we build is evolving fast but unfortunately our brains do not have the necessary time to adjust and evolve. We might not be chased by tigers anymore, but our system of response is still the same; we are still hard-wired in the same way even though our environment is completely different, and this can create problems.
It’s nice to talk about flow, “the zone”, those moments of full immersion and peak performance but more realistically some days we spend much of our energy just trying to fight distractions.
Distractions are basically everywhere, and we are hard-wired to jump from one to the other. Distractions are also fun; they are easy and entertaining most of the time, but if we completely honest with ourselves they leave us very unfulfilled at the end of the day.
Flow follows focus, and learning to focus is a skill. I’m going to write that again: “learning to focus is a skill”. That means that no one is born focused; it is something that you need to practice deliberately. Just knowing that you need to focus is not enough, unfortunately, just like knowing that you need to exercise does not count as actual time spent at the gym.
Focus is something that everybody needs to invest time in. Why? Simple. Because we do our best work when we are in the zone. Because your work needs it to be the best work you can do, and because what you’re doing is important to you. This is probably why you started it to begin with.
Environmental triggers can help you focus. Taking risks is one example; when something is on the line it will be easier to pay attention to it. This risk doesn’t need to be physical; emotional risks will work just as well. Using a little bit of fear can be a useful tool to keep you more active and attentive.
On a more practical daily side, there are some general guidelines to keep in mind to find more focus and reduce distractions:
- INCREASE AWARENESS: being mindful is always the first step towards self-improvement. Your mind will naturally want to wander. Try to catch it when it does, and without judgment bring your attention back to where it is supposed to be. The goal here is not to “not get distracted”, but to come back from it, and mindfulness practices like meditation can help a lot. You can also count the times you check your email or Facebook during the day. Can you check them one less time tomorrow?
- DECREASE ACCESSIBILITY: the best way to ignore something is to take it out of your senses. Decide what you need to have to do your work and take away all the rest. If there are papers you don’t need put them in the drawer; the same is true for your phone. It’s easier to resist temptation when it’s not right in front of us.
- DECREASE BOREDOM: doing hard work has always a chance of being boring, even when that work is meaningful. Boredom is a generally unpleasant feeling that we try to avoid, and it’s easier than ever when we’re bored to fall in distractions to alleviate the negative feeling. A couple of ways to fight boredom on a big task: break it down into smaller goals, and give yourself deadlines to reach these micro-goals. Having smaller goals will make it easier to know exactly what you need to do, and the deadlines help you keep yourself challenged. Also, take breaks! A purposeful five-minute break is better than doing poor work because you’re exhausted. Schedule it beforehand and try to stick to it.
- DECREASE ANXIETY: Taking away social connectivity can be painful. What if it’s important, right? Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) can make you uncomfortable, but realistically most things can wait an hour or two. For the remaining 5% of it, let people know early that you’re busy and that you’ll get back to them in a short while. This way they’ll know and will be more likely to accept a delayed answer.
Finally: do the work! Remember that just knowing all of this will only count for so much; you have to put it into practice.
A LIFE OF EUDAIMONIA
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle claimed that every living thing has inside itself the willingness to grow, like a seed has the willingness and potential to become a tree. The definition of a successful life in this view comes from adhering as much as possible to the potential that each life has, each one growing and developing in its original and unique way. This is what a life of eudaimonia is. Eudaimonia is a Greek word that doesn’t have a simple translation, but can be thought about as happiness, well-being, or flourishing.
Following Aristotle the same reasoning can be applied to humans. The success or flourishing of a life is the ultimate goal we are all trying to reach by closing the gap between what we are capable of right now and our unique future potential. The way to live a eudaimonistic life, for Aristotle, is by practicing areté, meaning “virtue” or “excellence”.
A life of eudaimonia is not a life of leisure and laziness; it is a life of striving and pushing your abilities to the edge, creating new challenges for yourself and overcoming them. A good life is not an easy life. It means that more than once you will fall on your face and fail. It means having the courage to do the right thing when that is the hard thing to do. In a eudaimonistic life, you never reach the summit; you constantly move forward, challenging yourself to be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be. If you choose to live this way, flow is definitely one way to get there.
QUOTES
“Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.”
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
The autotelic experience
Because of the good feeling we have during flow, this state has a way to push the activity into being intrinsically rewarding.
Bibliography
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow : The psychology of optimal experience.
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihaly. (1997) Finding Flow : The Psychology Of Engagement With Everyday Life.
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihaly. (1999). Flow in Sport.
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihaly. (2003). Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning.
Gazzaley, Adam. Rosen, Larry. (2016). The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World.
Holiday, Ryan. (2017). Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts.
Kotler, Steven. (2014) The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance.
Kotler, Steven. (2017). Stealing Fire.
Kucukuysal, B., Beyhan, E. (2011). Virtue ethics in Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics. International Journal of Human Sciences
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attentional_control
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-actualization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flourishing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaningful_life
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/#ThreLiveComp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress
Pictures:
Playing Bruch by KRAMEN
https://www.flickr.com/photos/114201259@N03/35373884602/
Game by mdlphotography :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-leo/4769669570/in/photolist-8gtNAf-G76dh-5TNXus-oLYXay-p2Gmis-rwutc5-dUBiC-eo4Pkt-7NBngU-4rUtvn-7a8A9Z-6DSVH-CnjNj-6QE5gy-bnTKCv-asFDtf-8tmS9-pPeKsc-dMaHzC-7Rcmbn-98XUZz-27Rtwet-cfVyYA-eZYEie-5RzyQ2-dtYCr-e5yrgk-55PbW-TQkKXt-5W1d8Y-GZwZTc-eciWSc-ZzzCMn-px1C7a-5uYy8y-4QVDCb-a3rBfN-g6GKmU-4MFnfz-6s5os1-DaBv8J-catnSS-6pWUNd-HEkcwf-6Pa3QD-ecPzuZ-8rw5Gr-6dMBUY-a9xqwo-4ugJ1K
MYA4247 by The Camp of Champions Snowboard & Ski Summer Camp
https://www.flickr.com/photos/campofchampions/5510044717/in/photolist-9oUqjZ-9oX9zu-9oUudd-9oTRf4-9oQv2P-9oWPba-9oUsU2-aEvpTg-dS8Too-8kHqm2-4PSLBx-bzTPuk-9baJnU-bBn4su-dZTWkP-5kHm1Z-68CgdD-qbuvSY-63ui2u-9oWE9U-63pZMX-4PX5Ad-9oW3Xy-9oTLra-9oRw3x-9oSD9a-9oU2Qt-iMhUXm-7CJyB2-7z5TXG-4PSMux-76g9eX-63udzG-6FGmME-aza8Jb-4Ea9L2-9oSg9a-f3xHnE-9oW8mA-9oWSDQ-aza8Ly-9oXQbZ-6eoWPL-4PX8U3-az8Sax-a5zYN8-a1pS3A-6KjQNF-qjebx7-9oTpui/
Running by Free Company Sports : https://www.flickr.com/photos/freecs/8510195170/in/photolist-dY1YwW-9unBRE-vsiXQo-atvPiP-ssweVX-UFPPq9-cN9peA-4RbppC-UV73XT-8HsJW-6dXEhR-223CxCs-XTs24A-8pYj9d-mo5N8K-2pXyT1-6En7fD-cfqDMf-4Ez7Fd-bfRuEa-XXbhZB-24MA9my-HT6iR-eBEW4Q-5txsEp-agjRMq-6zuu5K-3BeVq-cTiXqy-n76DDY-8zcTd3-Wuvosu-qNNyRo-dzG5az-a8v41V-2DGj3o-n74TNc-CJNrsj-7RYM87-VSZFfN-kAx4yt-ccC8HQ-cu9i9m-245EWe4-WLF45y-qUeLF8-4q5BuQ-bqUGsG-dm6WMa-acQ9Ca/
Skydive Dubai DZ Fazza adrecalina_54 By dreca adrecalina
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adrecalina/5293400031/in/photolist-94L4pM-3jgDoZ-3irABG-5GeGJC-BgdWq-3K7teV-5Go1JF-frSqtn-X6kza-5GsgCU-fs7Jj5-eJqZSe-frSdfk-frSbYi-5GeKBy-oWKib6-hh8yfQ-frSisZ-oa7iow-5B5eH2-5GnVoX-aoeDey-94L2wF-94NVzC-94L4Dv-apTRx5-apSVKH-frStvc-nJHAYc-fs7DGu-8n3Asm-fs7FXf-94KXvZ-5zNYmZ-fs7Dgo-6swPR4-X7mhx-k7Aya-9hUfg3-6KRtQS-frSyQZ-frSgPe-X756i-fs7Kbu-cvtbCJ-94P1s7-4s18jR-wYFD1-Xabdo-fs7LhJ
Panamanian artist at work by Fran Hogan :
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=6943&picture=the-artist-2
Performance chart by Yerkes and Dodson, Hebbian (Modified):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HebbianYerkesDodson.svg
https://www.photojoiner.net/ for the photo edit
https://www.draw.io/ for creating the charts