Focus VI : Flowing through life
What the Science of Optimal Experience has to tell us about our daily life, our work and finding purpose. An Introduction.
The State of Flow
Do you remember the last time you were working on a project and completely immersed in the task? You felt like everything you did just worked out, despite being extremely difficult and challenging? You felt like thoughts and ideas just appeared right in front of you exactly when they were needed and all the while you completely lost your sense of time in this state of fulfilment?
This is what behavioural psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi termed Flow, because the word Flow most closely resembles the fleeting sensation of being in this state of consciousness. Flow, however, is not merely a state of high productivity, where we optimize our output quantity and quality. Rather, I would like to argue, is it an optimal experience or the optimal state of consciousness for our human brain. And it is one that can be practiced.
How so? Let us quickly look at the meaning of consciousness in this context and start from there with our analysis of Flow.
Our Window of Reality
Consciousness is one of if not the most mysterious concept about the human being, because it is itself the essence of being. For how would we be alive, if we were not conscious about it? The content of our consciousness and subconsciousness is our reality, not more and not less. With a human mind, the reality we know can never be more than what enters our consciousness. It follows then, that our sensations, emotions and thoughts must also be a product of the contents of our consciousness. Where happiness, or more generally a sensation of well-being and contentedness, is described by a state of order. Order in the things we perceive, because they are aligned with our model of the world. Order in the ideas we have, because they propell us on our track towards our vision and goal. Order in our thoughts, because they don’t bother too much about the past or future and are helpful in the moment. You might not have experienced or conceptualized happiness this way, but try to focus on the difference between the days and moments when you are happy and the moments when you are worried, sad or simply confused. The sad end of the spectrum is what Mihaly C. (be honest, you didn’t remember his last name anyway) calls Psychic Entropy, a state of disorder or even chaos. More people can naturally relate with this state, because our moment of sadness and worry seem so much more present and unfortunately so much more frequent. We know what makes us sad, but cannot reliably say what makes us happy and will do so again. We all know the feeling when our thoughts chase each other around our head, we lose control of the paths these thoughts take. We don’t see solutions, only problems hiding problems. The longer we think, the worse it gets, because we can’t seem to introduce order and sense in the chaos.
The Guardian of Consciousness
Knowing about the fragile nature of our consciousness, it seems natural to ask: If the content our consciousness defines our state of being, how do we control what gets in? This is the better question to ask rather than trying to order the mess of things already in their. It’s the difference between struggling to organize an avalanche of things rushing towards us and not having anything to organize.
Attention is the guarding of our consciousness, and it is a very human ability. Attention is when we focus the bright light of consciousness on one specific object, task or sensation. It is beyond question, that the human mind is capable of extraordinary things, just because of laser-focused attention. It’s also a human tendency, though, to let our mind drift away and be distracted. Some say this used to be an instinct critical to survival, for only the human who is ‘distracted’ by the enclosing lion would survive. The lions that chase us these days look more like little discs with bright, flickering pictures on them.
A key component of the Flow experience, if not the foundation of it, is attention. In a Flow state you are focused so purely on something that you even forget about the fact that you are focusing. This seeming paradox is what makes Flow such a natural state. It is beyond intention and will power.
We have elaborated on how to practice attention in another arcticle, for this one we just leave at that: Attention is the guardian of our consciousness and the entrance to Flow.
We don’t stumble over Flow
The idea of this article is not to introduce you to Flow. You’ve probably experienced it before. The core message is that Flow is not something that we stumble into coincidentally. We can cultivate Flow or, more specifically, the circumstances that let Flow flourish.
I assume that for anyone who was there before, the lack of motivation to get to the optimal experience isn’t what get’s in the way. Even without considering the worldly benefits that good performance yields, most people would agree that Flow is desirable in and for itself. What most people lack, thus, is not motivation, but the knowledge about the concept and it’s best practices.
So this is exactly what I want to give you here.
Flow is not something that we stumble into. It can be practiced and perfected.
Conditions of Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has presented his incredibly detailed and comprehensive study of Flow in his book of the same name. Although I will list the core concepts here, don’t hesitate to read the book to find a myriad of fascinating examples, stories and applications of Flow.
I want to split the conditions of Flow into the ones required to support it, the preconditions so to say. And the ones that result or that characterise the experience. Have in mind that this list is neither imperative nor sufficient, this is just what most people reported.
Required
- Challenge & Skill.
The task or activity you perform has to be difficult and challenging all the while being trainable as a skill. Just doing impossible things, won’t yield Flow. Neither will doing stuff that is easy for you. There is a delicate sweet spot on the chart of challenge and skill which yields Flow. - Merging Action & Awareness
You have to be in a position to act inside that activity. Passivity does not result in Flow. Also, your moments of full awareness have to merge with the action to manipulate the world around you or the task at hand. On the other hand, performing difficult things unaware won’t yield the excepted results. (If it’s possible at all?) - Clear Goals (& Rules)
The activity has to have a clear definition of done, as in: a goal. Together with that goal usually comes some sort of feedback. You have to know how well you are doing, ideally in a instantaneous feedback loop. Most sports have that intrinsically, but puzzles also fall into that sort of category and with them most of the work that makes a knowledge worker valuable.
Rules are a little add on which usually arise naturally. There has to be some constraint as to how you are to achieve your goal.
Characteristic
- Autotelic
The task at hand becomes autotelic. That means you do the task for the sake of doing it, not because of some ulterior motive or with some agenda in mind. While this is difficult to imagine for working environments it is clearly the case for sports or play, but more on that later. - Loss of Self
While in a state of Flow your attention is so laser-focused and you are so fully immersed in the activity, that there is simply no space for a concept of Self in your consciousness. While this sounds disturbing at first it is a supremely relaxing and fulfilling state, where the worries and struggles of the Self simply don’t exist. - Transformation of time
People often describe that they lose their sense of time in a Flow state. That works in both directions. Some report that hours of work pass withing what feels like a few minutes while others say that a few minutes of pleasurable activity felt like an eternity with all it’s great features.
The Habitat of Flow
It is crucial to mention in addition to the points above, that Flow is not restricted to the areas where we can easily imagine such a feeling or have experienced it ourselves. Not only sports and play can offer opportunity for Flow, but also our work and interactions with friends. Whenever we can make out some of the conditions mentioned above, Flow is possible.
The Struggles of Flow.
Knowing the benefits and supreme quality of Flow experiences, which are called optimal experiences for a good reason, it remains a question why it is not more prevalent in our society. There are two main reasons for that, which I want to highlight quickly. The first is our culture which puts bounds to the range of things we consider desirable and doable. That is, our culture and society impose some sort of qualitative assessment on everything we do. In our western society, however, these mainstream directions don’t really support Flow. Our work culture is seemingly built around busyness, meetings and pushy deadlines. Our leisure culture is built around passive entertainment and short sighted pleasure. Where these traits come from is a discussion for a different topic as it would cover a few articles.
The second opponent to Flow is, surprisingly, the Self. We’ve grown to accustomed to being constantly fed with information, whether actively or passively that many of us fear silence. We fear the thoughts and feelings that bubble up if for a moment we are not distracted with something to do, something to see, something to feel. Since Flow requires long phases of silence for attention to narrow on a very specific task, this is a psychic barrier that builds up and makes starting so difficult sometimes. Also, as mentioned in the article on meditation, we have to unlearn our distraction habits through deliberate practice which is hard work
Let it Flow
Despite the few last critical words there is nothing that holds you as an individual from approaching the method of Flow. The benefits are manifold, but unique for every person. For me, Flow has become an essential part of my life. Starting in the world of movement it became a pool of infinite creativity and energy which can be accessed almost at will. From there it expanded to my studies, to learning and to writing. Flow for me is one of those ideas that, once they settle in your mind, will validate themselves over and over again. It is one of the basic principles of being.
The basic concept should now be clearer. You have the necessary tools to recognize Flow when it occurs, to facilitate it in your environment (Deep Work) and to spread the joy (Friendship). The only thing that can hold you back is your commitment, your motivation and your focus.
Let it flow!
Take-Aways
- Flow is desirable, because it gives you access to an unknown pool of creativity, energy and motivation to live, work and play. Much more, though, is it an autotelic experience, which means it is desirable for its own sake. You will know once you have been there.
- Flow is accessible, trainable and repeatable. It is not a coincidence
- Flow occurrences are diverse, but the main conditions are well studied.
- Our culture / society does not facilitate Flow naturally, you have to pave your own way to get there.
Further Reading
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- So good they can’t ignore you by Cal Newport (The deliberate practice outlined in the book resembles a form of flow, even if it is not called so)
