What is Flow?

What is Flow?

Wikipedia gives a great explanation on what flow means.

“Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.”

There are also other terms for this mental state that we often find ourselves in and these include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in a groove.

The positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identified nine factors as accompanying an experience to flow and here they are:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities).

2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness the merging of action and awareness.

4. Distorted sense of time, one’s subjective experience of time is altered.

5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).

6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).

7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.

8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

Of course, you don’t need all of these for flow to be experienced and take place.

The importance of this is to know what helps you “get in the zone” in aspects of your life so you can live success in every moment. Imagine if you could find out what things you do for flow to be experienced. You could do more in less time, you could strengthen relationships, and do better in your professions. You could live in every moment with more purpose and meaning. By doing this you can identify what is success for you and capture that with focus and power. I have been excited because the more aware I am of what flow is and what distracts flow, I have been able “to get in the zone” more often than before and I’ve done more in my life. When you have this happen, and it will, you will experience the power within I am speaking of and you’ll strive to reach your potential.