My friend Con Georgiou talks about the amazing experience when one works in a state of flow and guru Anthony Robbins always talk about how you can control your state!
Flow is a state one should strive for to achieve maximum satisfaction and success! - but how?
Flow happens when you are fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.
The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task.
So what is a secret to achieve flow? ....
Uninterrupted focus without interruptions - that you can focus on the task at hand.
Below is a great graph I saw that shows that to achieve the state of flow you need to be an expert in what you do (great skill) .... With significant challenge.
Depending on the level of challenge (c) and the level of skill (s), high (h) , medium (m and low (l) - Your state tends to go from
- Anxiety (hc/ls) / Relaxation (lc/hs)
- Worry (mc/ls) / Control (mc/hs)
- Boredom (lc/ms) / Arousal (hc/ms)
- Apathy (lc/ls) / Flow (hs/hc)
Some questions you should ask.....
Which moments produce feelings of “flow”?
Where were you?
What were you working on?
Who were you with?
Are certain times of day more flow-friendly than others?
How could you restructure your day based on your findings?
How might you increase the number of optimal experiences and reduce the moments when you felt disengaged or distracted?
If you have continuos interruptions - will that effect your flow?
Here's the aha moment !!
You can control your state by choosing your skill, choosing your challenge - and being in the right environment!!!