‘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.