The Pursuit of Flow and Why It is Important To Work and Personal Satisfaction

There is a scene in the movie “The Hustler” where Fast Eddie, played by Paul Newman, says: “It’s a great feeling, boy, it’s a real great feeling when you’re right and you KNOW you’re right. It’s like all of a sudden I got oil in my arm. The pool cue is a part of me… you don’t have to look, you just KNOW. You make shots that nobody’s ever made before.”

What the character is describing is being in a state of flow—that enthralled state, when your level of skill matches the level of the challenge. You become so engrossed in what you do that you forget to eat. You escape time. We’ve all been there. It’s what athletes call “being in the zone” and what musicians refer to as “being in the groove.”

The concept of flow is the brainchild of psychologist Mihali Csikszentmihalyi. In an interesting talk a few years ago, Csikszentmihalyi talks about the concept of flow and about his more recent book, Good Business: Flow and the Making of Meaning. In it he writes that success is being involved in an endeavor that helps others and, at the same time, makes you feel happy.

You can’t have just one of these things to be successful. As an inspiring example of flow in an organization he cites the vision of Masaru Ibuka, the co-founder of Sony: “To establish a place of work where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation, be aware of their mission to society, and work to their heart’s content.”

The literature on how to find happiness is abundant, especially so in the last few years. Perhaps one of the key components of happiness, is precisely the flow prescription Csikszentmihalyi gives us as a result of his massive research on what makes our life meaningful, on what helps us experience those “best moments,” which usually happen when we are physically or intellectually stretched to our limits “in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

How can we help ourselves achieve the coveted state of flow? Here are ten tips for harnessing this psychic energy:

1. Forget about multitasking. Constant multitasking, this modern-day malaise, is the enemy of flow. A 2006 Time Magazine article by Claudia Wallis and Sonja Steptoe cites several studies that show that interruptions at the beginning and the end of a task are most detrimental to performance. “Some of the world’s most creative and productive individuals simply refuse to subject their brains to excess data streams.” A large number of Winners of MacArthur genius grants share a striking similarity: they turn off their cell phones and iPods during transit time and devote that time to thinking.

2. Know that flow is an inside job. Wean yourself away from dependency on others’ approval and set your own inner standards of excellence instead.

3. Be crystal clear about what you want to accomplish and develop a single-purpose focus. Having a laser-like focus of attention on what matters most is a hallmark of successful people. Take a page from people like Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, who said: “I keep things focused. The speech I give every day is: ‘This is what we do. Is what we are doing consistent with that, and can it change the world?’”

4. Set micro milestones and celebrate small wins. At the outset of a project, set the smallest of milestones and celebrate all the small accomplishments along the way. In his most recent video clip, Tom Peters explains the crucial importance of this practice for energizing yourself and others.

5. Do whatever it takes to sharpen your skills. When the skill set is not adequate for the challenge of the task, we move away from flow and experience anxiety, a flow killer. It pays to devote maximum time to hone our skills for whatever it is we are undertaking.

6. Work on reducing your stress level. This will increase your chances of experiencing a flow state. A useful tool to consider is Heart Math’s emWave. This is a scientifically validated software program that shows you in real time the effect of your thoughts and emotions on your heart rhythm. It helps you train your brain to release stress which in turn will improve your ability to focus, a prerequisite for the flow state.

7. Cultivate mastery. Mastery is a desire to surpass oneself, always striving to improve and rise above mere adequacy. Take an inspiration from the late Dr. George Leonard, the foremost expert on the subject of mastery. His research has isolated five keys to mastery:

   1. Surrender to your passion. Mastery is a journey of joy and being willing to see how far you can go is a self-surpassing quality.

   2. Practice, practice, practice. This will make you good at anything you undertake.

   3. Get a guide: Don’t practice wrong.

   4. Visualize the outcome. Visualize it vividly and in detail to make it real and present in your consciousness.

   5. Play the edge: Go a bit further than you have gone before and maybe a little further than anyone else has gone before.

8. Practice leadership Aikido. If you are a leader, derive some inspiration from Eastern philosophies of management by considering the practice of Aikido in the context of leadership. The term Aikido roughly translates “as the way of the harmonious spirit”. It refers to the non-combative martial art in Japan.

   In his book, Leadership Aikido: 6 Business Practices that Can Turn Your Life Around, John O’Neil, shows how we can achieve inner calm and blend energy with a competitor to move us forward. The three-pronged strategy of adaptability, flexibility, and partnership is an unbeatable combination of personal mastery.

9. If you are in charge of others, set the conditions for them to experience flow in the workplace. Be particularly vigilant against boredom experienced by your people. Since we experience boredom when our skill set is higher than the challenge, find ways to enrich others’ job.

   While all jobs have routine components, know the percentage of time that people spend in that draining zone and look for means to increase their challenge. Incorporate the prescribed practices for increasing flow: Establish clear goals, especially short-term ones, set unequivocal expectations, give people control over the task, and, above all, give your people immediate feedback on how they are doing. All of these practices set the stage for creating flow experiences. Not only is it a benevolent initiative but it is a smart thing to do as it will increase the engagement of your people.

10. Get absorbed in something that is bigger than you. If you have limited control over the kind of work you are involved in, use some of your discretionary time to get interested in noble causes, pursuits that contribute something beneficial to society. Bertrand Russell said that the quickest way to make ourselves miserable is to focus on ourselves all the time. It was his love of mathematics that kept him energized.

The characteristic signs of being in a state of flow are that we feel joyful—even ecstatic—totally absorbed, and devoid of stress while using our skills to the utmost for the greater good. This is a mental state worth cultivating.

Bruna Martinuzzi is an expert in leadership and presentation skills. Her latest book The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow explains how to become the kind of person others want to follow.