Flow
Hiking in the woods, writing, programming, and rock-climbing. What do these activities have in common? They are all things that people regularly describe as being activities likely to result in “being in the flow” also described as “being in the zone” by athletes. When we are fully engaged and in control of an activity, we sometimes feel that time passes more quickly and we are immersed in that activity excluding everything else. Furthermore, people regularly describe these experiences as some of the best of their lives.
(From: Interfaces for staying in the flow, Benjamin B. Bederson, 2004)
Flow is a state of being where one experiences joy. Flow rather than happiness leads to excellence in life. In flow you operate at full capacity. Sports, games, singing, and playing a musical instrument provide goals and feedback structures that make flow more likely. However, flow can be found in almost any activity.
Flow is a subjective state and experience. A certain activity can bring one person into flow and another into anxiety, frustration or boredom. Flow depends on the perceived challenges. It has to stretch existing skills, but has to be attainable (not too hard) and challenging (not too easy). Then it ends up in the flow zone. Immediate feedback on the progress is another condition for flow.
Being “in flow” has the following characteristics.
- Intense and focused concentration on what one is doing in the present moment
- Merging of action and awareness
- Loss of reflexive self-consciousness
- A sense that one can control one’s actions
- Distortion of temporal experience (time flies)
- Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding.
(From: 'Finding the Flow' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and 'The Concept of Flow' by Jeanne Nakamura and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Research shows that flow is both a precondition and a result of success. Both of them need attainable goals and tasks, steps, focus, feedback and a growth mindset.
