You can approach problems with fresh eyes, and often come up with new solutions that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. This can lead to enhanced creativity and innovation, because you’re not limited by your usual ways of thinking. Your mind is open, and you’re free to explore new ideas and perspectives. When you’re in a flow state, you’re not just working harder you’re also working smarter. Instead, you’re fully present in the moment. You’re not thinking about what’s coming next, or worrying about what happened earlier in the day. When you’re in a flow state, you’re fully focused on the task at hand, and distractions are minimized. One of the most obvious benefits of a flow state is increased productivity. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But let’s dig a bit deeper into the benefits. This happens to be a superb cocktail of chemicals that helps us ignore distractions, block pain, make connections between ideas and concepts, and just generally feel good. He explains that the reason we feel this way is because flow generates five key performance-enhancing brain chemicals. This is the sweet spot.įlow researcher Steven Kotler gets into the science side of things. The “flow channel:” The task is difficult enough to make us stretch, but not hard enough to break us. The result? We feel “a sense of well-being, a sense of mastery, and a heightened sense of self-esteem.” In other words, when you do something that presents a challenge but is still within your level of ability. So how do you achieve a flow state of mind? How does flow state happen?Īccording to Csikszentmihalyi, flow happens when people are able to apply and use their skills to solve a problem at hand. Or, colloquially, known as being in the zone. ![]() In short: complete immersion and focus on an activity or task. ![]() The flow state definition, in Csikszentmihalyi’s own words, is “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.” He eventually introduced the term “flow state.” What is a flow state? In his research, he found that levels of happiness shift. Documented in his popular book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, he argues that happiness is not a rigid, unchanging state. An internal state of beingĬsikszentmihalyi’s studies resulted in this discovery: happiness is an internal state of being. After he attended a lecture by no one other than C arl Jung, Csikszentmihalyi decided to head to the United States to study psychology on his quest to find out what happiness really means to us humans. Having dabbled in philosophy after the war, he soon ventured into the field of psychology. He was particularly interested in what made people happy and content. Flow state at work: 4 ways to foster flow with Resource Guruĭoes the name Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ring a bell? The former World War II prisoner became interested in philosophy as a result of the adversities he faced in life.6 steps for getting into a flow state as a project team.
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