May the Flow be with you!
Many have heard the phrase 'in the zone' in relation to an athlete or a work related project. We know this as an all consuming state, zoning in not necessarily on the end goal but the fluid path on which we embark. We have bore witness to this thing called flow and the fruit it bares countless times. Like seeing an Olympic athlete achieve paradigm shifting, human performance. Not all of us are Olympic athletes, but that does not mean we cannot achieve the same cognitive experience.
"The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”. – Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
But what exactly is a state of 'flow'?
Putting ourselves in a state of optimal consciousness, a relaxed high performance mind or the technical term, flow.
Our nervous system is capable of processing about 110 bits per second, it roughly takes 60 bits to listen to someone speak and understand what it is they are saying. Ever tried to listen to two people talking at once? Feels like brain overload! Have you ever entered in a passionate discussion with someone tit for tat, ping for pong and then all of a sudden it's 2 hours later? I'm sure you can recount the feeling each experience has brought you. The latter just happens to be an example of flow.
Here is a breakdown of what encompasses a flow state;
Being completely focused on the 'task' at hand
Feeling a sense of elation
Great inner clarity
Knowing that the activity is a doable
A sense of serenity or lack of self consciousness
A feeling of timelessness
People from all walks of life, occupations and hobbies experience this daily. From a dancer to a businessman all are able to tap in and float down this river. This goes to show that the task at hand is not necessarily what will trigger this flow state, but your approach might.
Make sure what you are doing is challenging enough. Too much? You are likely to become frustrated Too little? You'll probably end up bored.
Set up your environment to be free of distractions, setting boundaries allows you to stay focused. Try music with a repetitive beat or being outside letting the ambient noise be a soundtrack.
Use the proper 'tools' and keep them handy, you might lose momentum if you go off searching for something.
Don't multi-task! Those 110 bits per second need to be dedicated to what's in front of you.
All these combined lead to intrinsic innovation, remember the Olympic athlete we talked about?Their training, set up and challenge/skill balance was just right to overcome the difficulty or pass the benchmark.
Training, repetition and practice will drop you off at the right spot to meet the challenge at hand!
It is important for us to give the time and space to things that matter most in our life, the things that make us happy, help us express creativity or push us beyond our realm of personal expectation.