Flow is a technical term used to describe experiences when you engage in activities where you experience a high level of proficiency and creativity and in which time seems to stand still. It’s definitely one of those things that you can’t really understand until you experience. Words to describe it do no justice.
Flow is obviously experienced in different situations for different people.
Some find flow while repairing their car, tinkering it, adding parts to it. Others find it in writing. Others find it in composing music. Yet others find it in painting. Still others in dancing.
Everyone has experienced it in their lives but may not have understood the treasure it contains.
It’s essential to identify where you get into flow because chances are, whatever that activity is, is a great clue as to what kind of work would be best suited for you.
That’s the hidden treasure of flow.
To get a better concept of this idea, I think it would help for me to describe the experiences in which I get into flow.
For me, it seems I get into flow in 3 areas of my life.
1. Brainstorming answers to tough questions via writing
2. Having deep intellectually stimulating conversations with my mastermind group
3. Lifting weights
And I’ll toss reading in there too.
That’s about it.
These are the activities in which time becomes irrelevant for me and creativity is flowing like a river in and all around me. These are also the activities I look forward to doing.
For me, and by looking at other people’s experiences, it seems 3 factors intersect to create this experience of flow.
An activity you look forward to engaging in, an activity that proves to be reasonably challenging, and an activity that you deem yourself adequately equipped to handle.
I think it’s essential that all 3 are in play at the same time to experience flow.
Without looking forward to doing whatever it is you do that you think gets you into flow, you lose that “magic” touch.
Enthusiasm, energy, passion are great mind ingredients that help contribute to the mental state of flow. Without those kinds of stimulants, it’s hard to take your mind to a different level.
Furthermore, if the activity isn’t reasonably challenging, it lends to boredom, which is another emotion that will “deflate” your mental experience.
And if you think you can’t handle the challenge, doubt starts to creep in and you focus more on worry that you won’t be able to meet the challenge than in actually trying to solve it.
Notice how all these negative emotions of boredom, apathy, worry, and anxiety put a stomp to this wonderful experience of flow.
We need those 3 factors working together to produce the right positive mental emotions conducive to flow.
Whenever I start brainstorming an article, I start off with a topic that’s reasonably challenging. I know I can brainstorm some ideas on it because I’ve brainstormed so many times and I have knowledge about the topic itself. I look forward to it because I know something is always going to POP during my brainstorming sessions, something that will unlock this door which will lead to that door which will lead to that idea and so on and so on. I love looking for that “logic trail”.
And it’s when I do this that I seem to step into this trance. It’s really hard to describe. I’m very focused. I’m not wildly passionate with my fist pumping in the air every 5 seconds. I have more of a sly grin on my face and a furrowed brow at the same time. My hand furiously writes down thought after thought after thought so I don’t lose them. I pause time to time to see what I wrote and when I’m done, it’s as if the bubble around me starts to collapse and I become aware of “reality” once more and I have to say, it’s a bit of a letdown initially.
The funny thing is literally after 30 seconds of finishing writing, I’m looking back and I can barely make out some of what I wrote. Since I wrote so fast, some of my writing is illegible and I can’t seem to remember what that was even though I was writing it literally 40 seconds earlier.
Another experience where I get into flow is weightlifting. I usually increase my weight by 5 pounds on all my exercises every 3-4 weeks, a bit slow by most standards, but one I prefer. I look forward to that “increase day” more so than days where I lift the same amount weight. Those days are nice too, but the days where the exercises increases by 5 are the days I live for.
I know it sounds very silly to some people, but to other gym rats, you get what I’m talking about and it’s in those days, where I feel flow the most.
I can’t wait to hit the gym I’m as giddy as a school girl. I’m chomping at the bit. I know I can handle it because I’ve trained for it and I know I’ll be red in the face and huffing and puffing after it.
And even though there’s a clock in the weight room, I still can’t really tell how much time I spent in the gym. Literally. It’s like I can’t remember what time I started, or when I ended. It’s also the time in which I get creative sparks every once in a while on what to do with some issues that have been on my mind.
Discussing deep ideas with my mastermind group is pretty much the same experience I get with writing, except I’m speaking and bouncing ideas off of different people. It’s definitely an activity I look forward to, feel equipped to handle and find reasonably challenging. The “logic trail” is what I look for as well through our discussions and it’s so great to see how everyone in the group experiences flow and can’t believe the time that has passed during our discussions, the various ideas that evolve and come about, some that even sound insanely ridiculous to a person eavesdropping.
Flow is an elusive experience that we sometimes miss and fail to recognize, but what we know is when we’re engaged in it, we somehow become our best selves without even knowing it. We activate our full potential and take our mental capabilities to the next level. It’s as close to genius as you can get.
Look at those 3 areas, see where they intersect, and you might find the best area of work for you. Chances are, where you experience flow, is where you’ll find what you love to do.
