Thanks for the pointer - looks like an interesting read.

I’ve been thinking about how to know when you’re flowing, in life at least. I wrote a bit about it in Using “Follow the energy” to refine your personal development experiments, if you’re interested.

I’ve heard of flow before, but always dismissed it as an ideal, theoretical state people never experienced. I know (or knew) that I never had expereinced it.

Fast forward 5 or so years. On this blog, I read the 8 components of flow according to Csikszentmihalyi, and realise that I indeed have achieved flow at times - when playing videogames, the activity I gave up on years ago because it seemed so pointless to devote hours and hours to it.

Not fair - I want to be productive too… ;)

Here’s the hell of it: once you get into The Flow…don’t forget to SMILE!

If you’re around other people, they might otherwise think you’re ready break someone’s head off. At least this is often the case for me.

let it flow!

I covered Csikszentmihalyi’s secret recently somewhere in my blog. How big of a secret? Didn’t Dogen say: “All know the way … few actually walk it.” ? - - maybe, actually it was Bodhidharma.

Here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/gochess

Best regards, -gochess

[…] Flow: How action and awareness get things done | 43 Folders […]

[…] The latest tidbit over there now is on the subject of Flow: the mental state of concentration that occurs when action and awareness combine to “get things done.” Go ahead, click on over there. It’s a fascinating read. I love the eight enumerated elements articulated by Csikszentmihalyi, as quoted by Merlin. As Csikszentmihalyi sees it, there are components of an experience of flow that can be specifically enumerated; he presents eight: […]

[…] Flow: How action and awareness get things done is a nice summary of something that’s not easy to describe, but one that you could experience.  You could think of it as “In the Zone”, but the most complete way of finding it is through meditation. […]

As a hopefully useful aside [but not a distraction from Flow] Martin Seligman has written a few books [ Learned Optimism and Authentic Happiness ] that reference the work of Csikszentmihalyi [I believe they have worked together] Added together I think they’re a formidable body of work that enables us to reach our full potential, through awareness of what makes us tick and aligning careers/jobs to our own inner compass rather than imposing alien systems to make us more like the job we’re in.

Please, do not read this book. While it has wonderful concepts it is horribly written and poorly produced. It is work to read. Not a fun read at all, and not worth the work considering there are a thousand other gurus out there that can tell you the same thing without the need to drone on and on and impose jargon on the reader. I would rather read a textbook cover to cover. If you read this book I promise that you will finish the first chapter and flip through it looking for good points. Other than the occasional flip through for core concepts, this is not a worthwhile book.

I would risk to say (not to be rude) that Merlin Mann has, aperntly, not truely read the whole book. If he did he would agree with the above statement.

Apply the concepts, that Mr. Mann posted, skip the book and save yourself a real disapointment.

I have to say that I agree with aguy. The ideas in the book are great; some of the examples are interesting, but those few nuggets are surrounded by pages and pages of droning.

This sounds a lot like the hyperfocusing people with ADD (like me) sometimes experience. I can occasionally spend hours upon hours working on a project, but not realize the passage of time. The project is my one and only master. This can be a great fun, but only when one doesn’t have commitments outside of said project.

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I’ve not read the book yet. My thoughts on flow are fairly simple, when you are in the zone and work is flowing, it’s like a runners high. Time goes by and things happen in the office yet you are oblivious. Just like running a marathon and numerous things are going on yet you are just moving through life. If your project is organized in such a way that allows you to reach milestones without distraction you will find a rhythm and your flow. So the key is organization.

Csikszentmihalyi is too a good writer!!! Read the story of Joe the autotelic worker on pp147-149. Also I suggest you play the Talking Heads in the background “If your work isn’t what you love/then something isn’t right” while reading it. Buon Lavoro!

I’m certain if I could learn how to pronounce Csikszentmihalyi I would achieve flow.

Csikszentmihalyi: chick-sent-me-high-ee

GTD Freeze…

I woke up this morning with a light heart and a clear head. I did my weekly review yesterday and I’m on top of all the things I need to do. Of course, I still need to actually do the……

Thanks Jim.

[It’ll also make a good mantra.]

Always good to get some more food for thought on how to accomplish things for those of us who seem to be accomplishing challenged.

Lord knows I need to get some flow in my flow.

‘Flow’ can be a tough read in parts but Csikszentmihalyi is after all one of the leading academics on this field. I’m underaking a doctorate in creative industries and his work underpins a lot of my thinking. His other book “Creativity” is also excellent. For a different take on the ‘flow’ state have a look at Twyla Tharp’s book ‘The Creative Habit’. She describes the sense of timelessness and utter focus beautifully in the chapter ‘Ruts and Grooves’.

‘Flow’ is such a complicated subject. Here’s my 2 cents worth, apologies if it gets heavy …

I recently had a big debate with family members about the worth of this concept. One member, quite perceptively, pointed out that ‘flow’ is arguably devoid of moral underpinnings - that it’s ability to make claims about how to live a good life is challenged by the idea that some of history’s most evil people were probably immensely absorbed in their work. Indeed, Csikszentmihalyi acknowledges this point in his work and then goes on to shakily suggest that ‘flow’ needs to be coupled with integrity etc.

Another one said that it was problematic because most people work in environments today where it is simply impossible to achieve flow. The dominance of open-plan work stations seems to positively stop flow, along with email. I know, I know we can set our systems up to only check email at certain intervals but I also know that if I don’t respond to certain people or certain issues at certain times, I’m toast …

I say this while being a big fan of the concept - everyone has experienced it and once it’s achieved it leads to great feelings of happiness and contentment. Seligman is really good on this stuff - the idea that self-absorption creates all sorts of misery for modern people. But, like with GTD, a mechanistic system of personal productivity can sometimes blind you to some of the bigger issues. I guess that’s where Covey et al can be useful. I really admire peoples’ attempts to combine the two and, for money, I’ve found GTD much, much more helpful than habits guff.

I like the title of this article. It means something much less complicated for me. The flow of the breath, awareness of it whilst in action and hey presto, you are enjoying what you are doing. Love your breath, your breath gives you the flow, so love it!

[…] 43Folders […]

I own (err…..and have read) Csikszentmihalyi’s original Flow book (The psychology of….), Creativity, and The Evolving Self. I think the concept, and the books are an excellent meditation on all sorts of things, productivity being one…but with a dash of contentment thrown in… They are wise in many ways, depending on what you were hoping to get out of them perhaps?

I found the above books entertaining enough, and pretty easy to read. The Evolving Self takes a meta look at humans in general, and gives away Csikszentmihalyi’s ethical stance on a a world outside of the individual — (not unreasonable).

FLOW: Perhaps just another word for Mindfulness? ;)

I also have a book called: Writing in Flow, by Susan K. Perry — which, based on Csikszentmihalyi’s concept, goes on to interview writers and poets etc about Flow in their working habits. Fairly intimate. Interesting if one is interested in the creative process. (Out of print now though?)

How about this zen koan to illustrate a state similar to flow?

[…] Not many people - particularly my darling wife - understand why I don’t answer her when she’s talking to me. It’s because my brain is in a state of Flow. I found an article about here. […]

Nice synthesis.

A sense of urgency helps me get into a state of flow. Knowing what I’m doing is important is also critical.

I was in a state of flow last week Monday, and the morning disappeared before my eyes, but the stack of work did too.

Now if I can only get that in pill form …

:-)

Something that also helps with flow is having tools that work well together. If you have two things you are depenedent on that do not interoperate properly, it is a jarring distraction to make the change between one and the other. Does anyone have examples of tool sets that break them out of their flow?