Ever found yourself solely absorbed in a task that you sort of lost track of time? Maybe you were doing assignments, making presentations, writing a report, painting a masterpiece, playing a piano, or even playing a video game. That feeling of being in the zone where hours feel like minutes, that’s what we are talking about!
When you are entirely absorbed in a task, you lose all your sense of time! You are so concentrated and everything smoothly falls into place. You are in the zone, a state of productivity. Well in a fancy term, it is the “Flow State” where productivity meets pleasure. But what exactly is the psychology behind the flow state? And more importantly how you can tap into it?
Let’s embark on a journey of unravelling the mystery of entering into a flow state, shall we? Have you watched the Pixar movie “Soul?” The movie highlights the importance of being in a flow state and how it helps you to aid in your passion. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’ll definitely recommend you to watch it.
In order to run through the psychological evidence to understand flow state, we must talk about the psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who coined the term “Flow” and described it as a state of complete immersion and enjoyment in an activity. How athletes glide over the field with ease, musicians lose themselves in tune, and artists dance with brushstrokes on canvas and so you can do it too, it’s your turn to join the flow-state club.
In his renowned book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience he invites us on a journey into the depths of human consciousness, where a sensation of effortlessness combines with a sense of tranquillity. When you are so engaged in the work that you are doing without feeling overwhelmed. Well, in his Ted Talk from 2008, he explained that being in a flow state is something out of the ordinary, you can achieve more with a greater experience, and you enter into an alternative reality that manifests what you are creating.
There are a few steps that you can take to increase your chance of being in flow: find a quiet place free from distracting noises or devices, break your task into specific segments that are easy to track and learn from, set clear end goals that are challenging but not frustrating, don’t just focus on reaching the flow that sort of distraction might just prevent you from finding it. The thing that stops you from going into the flow state is distraction. What’s really going on in your brain when you are avoiding a task? Find it.