How to Create Flow Experiences PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 24 May 2010 22:18
In last week’s business leadership tip I explored the concept of Working at Your Peak with Flow. This week I would like to discuss how to create flow experiences. Essentially, our quality of life largely depends on two factors:
 
1. How we experience work, and
2. How we experience other people.

Focusing on the workplace, all jobs have routine components that can become boring and unexciting. The key is to remain alert for opportunities to make them interesting.
 
To develop flow experiences:
 
1.   Set clear goals: Self-directing people choose goals and directions that fit their purpose. Although some work goals are chosen for us, we can always adopt them internally. This feeling of ownership means you’re more strongly dedicated to your goals.  Actions are reliable and internally controlled.

When we adopt goals as our own, we can more easily modify our actions when the reasons behind them no longer make sense or serve our best interests.
 
2.   Become immersed in the activity: Once ourgoals are clearly defined and we’ve decided on a plan of action, we can become deeply involved with whatever we have chosen to do.  All of our attention and focus are invested in the relevant tasks. For this to work successfully, we must learn to balance opportunities for action with the skills we possess. 

Goals should never be unrealistic or unattainable, nor should they be trivial and without complexity. Consider developing your ability to concentrate and focus by limiting possible distractions.  Avoid the temptation of multi-tasking, which has proved to be fallible and unreliable.  

Only by taking the necessary time to focus on one thing at a time, with deliberation, can we achieve the flow experience.
 
3.   Pay attention to what’s happening: Periods of focused concentration set the stage for productive work activities.  Maintain concentration with constant inputs of attention.  Athletes know all too well that a momentary lapse of attention can spell complete defeat.  A surgeon whose mind wanders can lose a patient.
 
Busy work environments and large rooms with incomplete cubicle dividers create negative conditions for many people. To make matters worse, we are continually interrupted — if we allow it — by email, phones, the internet and other technologies.

Most of us will not face an athletic field or operating room at work, but we do have spreadsheets, computer screens, flow charts and other data on which to focus. Our own minds may be the greatest source of distraction, with self-consciousness looming as a perpetual trap.
 
The moment we shift our attention from the task at hand and allow our minds to wander to our egos — how we’re doing, how we’re perceived by others — we lose focus and cease to enjoy natural flow. Work becomes harder and less spontaneous.
 
 4.   Learn to enjoy immediate experiences: Focus on the present, and be “in the moment.” Avoid worrying about others’ reactions or future outcomes. Only then can you do your best work.
 
Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
 

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