Manage your pace to maintain flow

Flow. When we have it, we want it to never end. When we don’t have it, it seems so far away. If we know what it takes to create flow, we can harness it for endless productivity. But maybe it’s a question of managing flow rather than just creating it.

Pacing is doing something steadily and consistently over a stretch of time. It actually has an interesting connotation since we often associate pacing with being nervous or anxious. We pace as an active form of being able to get ourselves back to where we want to be.

As stated earlier, you either have flow or you don’t. When you manage flow, you can sustain it by limiting its effectiveness for an as-needed basis. How can one do this in practice? It comes down to discipline, focus, and accountability, the 3 tenets of Catalist.

Let’s say you’re in the zone. You could probably do a 4 hour session of coding/writing/ideating/etc. uninterrupted and get a ton done. However can you guarantee that your work after this period will be just as productive? Is it even worth asking?

By taking a break every on a regular basis (e.g. 5 minutes every 25 minutes a la Pomodoro technique), you can perhaps sustain that flow for even longer. You are giving yourself a breather to evaluate the work you have done and forecast what you need to do. It is a mindful process that avoids burnout and even unnecessary work.

Breaks are even more significant when you aren’t in the zone. It can be difficult to push yourself for 8 hours when you know you are not able to be productive. 25 minutes though? That’s doable and everyone has enough discipline to get through that.

By accomplishing tasks bit by bit, your productivity gains momentum rather than just intermittent velocity. You can now leverage this on a daily basis to perform closer to your peak for longer.

Track your pacing towards both breaks and your tasks with Catalist