Have you felt so absorbed and deeply focused on a task that it feels like time has completely slowed down? You are beyond the point of distraction. Your senses are heightened. You may have heard it described as ‘being in the zone’. Welcome to your flow state!
Popularised by positive psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura flow state describes a feeling where under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.
“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; you get immediate feedback,” Csikszentmihalyi said in a 2004 TED Talk.
Csikszentmihalyi and Nakamura reached this conclusion by interviewing a variety of high-performing people including mountain climbers, chess players, surgeons, and ballet dancers. But how do you know when you are in flow?
You are completely focused on the task at hand
You forget about yourself, about others, and the world around you
You lose track of time
You feel happy and in control
You become creative and productive
Why is flow so important?
The ability to single-task (as opposed to multi-task) is one of the keys to true productivity. Not the kind of productivity where you knock off 10 items from your to-do list (although that can be very satisfying), where you’re switching between tasks all day long and keeping busy all the time.
True productivity is where you actually achieve your goals, where you accomplish important and long-lasting things. As a writer, that could mean writing one or two important and memorable articles rather than 20 or 50 unimportant ones that people will forget 5 minutes after reading them. It means getting key projects done rather than answering emails for hours on end, making a lot of phone calls, and attending never-ending meetings all day long. It means quality instead of quantity.
And once you’ve learned to focus on those kinds of important projects and tasks, Flow is how you get them done. You lose yourself in those important and challenging tasks, and instead of being constantly interrupted, you are able to focus on the tasks long enough to actually complete them. And by losing yourself in them, you enjoy yourself more. You reduce stress while increasing quality output. You get important stuff done instead of just getting things done. You achieve things rather than just keeping busy.
How to get into a flow state
In order to achieve a flow state, there are a few common conditions that you need to meet
You need to care about the task at hand
The task or job can’t be too easy or too difficult
The activity should be something you are good at
Your mindset should be focused on the journey and not the destination. An example would be a mountain climber who is focused on the climb instead of the view from the top of the mountain
But how to find that flow when you need it most? Here are 5 ways you can encourage your mind and body to reach a flow state.
Do something you love
Easy to say I know but this is the simplest way to get into a flow state. Doing something you love you satisfy your mind when it comes to combining something that’s challenging but doable and something you are good at.
Create a ritual
As you gear up for a state of concentration, create a series of actions that you do every single time as you are about to begin your task. This could be a meditation, a short walk, or a cup of coffee. No matter the activity, it will let your brain know what’s about to begin and that you are telling it to be ready to find that flow state.
Chose your most important task
Achieving a flow state is best accomplished whilst focusing on one major task that requires a significant amount of brainpower. Multitasking would create distractions that would make it impossible to achieve a flow state.
Identify your peak creative and productive times
Identify the times when your mind most naturally functions at speed. For many people, this might be in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Focusing on the main task of the day during these times will make finding a flow state much more likely.
Eliminate distractions
Focus on creating a peaceful environment with a minimum of distractions around you. Put your phone where you can’t see it or put it in flight mode. If you are working on a laptop maybe try using a website blocker so you are not tempted by social media or online shopping. Take time to identify the things that disturb you most often and try to minimise as many of them as possible when you really need to do deep work and access your flow state.
Comments