However you want to phrase it, it's time to put all that delightful (but perhaps dry) theory into practice. It's time to get flowing!
Pick an activity. Any activity. Doing the dishes. Writing a report for work. Going for a run. Pick something that requires a measure of skill, that lasts for at least ten minutes and (for now) something you can't be interrupted at.
And now we'll get you flowing in that activity. I'm going to use "attending a Yoga class" as an example.
From last time, there were six elements necessary to trigger a flow state. I'm going to look at them now in the context of an actual activity (the Yoga class) and show how you might need to apply the items to get yourself into the zone.
1. Intense concentration in the now
When you start your activity/begin your class, you need to have your attention entirely focussed on what you're doing. No thinking about what you'll have for dinner, or your plans for the weekend or the argument you had last week and the perfect retort you should have used.
Allow nothing but what you're working on. This is where developing a meditation practice can be handy, to help you gain the skill of pushing distractions away until you're ready to attend to them.
In a Yoga class, as you enter perhaps it would help to bring your thoughts into the present by concentrating as you unroll your mat and take off your shoes. (As you remove your shoes, leave your worries at the door too). For work, perhaps it is coming in to your desk and setting a cuppa by the keyboard. Little rituals to get your mind attentive on the right things.
2. A joining of your actions with your awareness
You can't be trying to do one thing with your mind and another with your body. Make sure you are comfortably able to complete your task: for Yoga this means wearing the right kind of clothing and being mindful of any injuries. For a desk job this might mean ensuring the ergonomics at your desk are correct.
But most of all it means combining your mind and body together. It's easy to get purely mental and forget about our bodies when we are seated at a computer. Likewise, we can leave our mind behind when doing something very physical, like Yoga. The two aspects don't just need to work together, they need to be one single whole. Don't let your mind wander if you're doing something physical. Pay attention to your body if you're doing a mental task.
3. The absence of self-consciousness
You would think this might be obvious. It's really not! If you're fretting about what you look like, how you're performing, what other people think of you, whether you're doing it right... you're splitting your awareness. Instead of just paying attention to your task, you're trying to do your task AND watch yourself at the same time. Talk about brain strain!
Don't worry about any observers. You don't care what they think anyway: you're doing your best and that's all anyone can ever do.
4. The sense of control over the situation
Nothing like feeling helpless to destroy a sense of flow. In many activities, you won't have total control over what you're doing. (In Yoga you might have been instructed on what pose to do next. In work you've been told what report needs to be done) Concentrate on what you do have control over: when you take your breaks, how you begin, what style you'd like to add to your work.
5. The distortion of the sense of time.
Nobody who feels flow ever looks at the clock, wondering why the hands are moving so slowly. If you find yourself clock-watching, you aren't in the zone: you're bored. Find ways to address the boredom by applying greater skill to your activity. This might mean pushing harder, breathing deeper. It might mean concentrating on selecting exactly the right words, or improving your typing speed, or typing accuracy, or seeing how fast you can complete the task.
6. The sense of the activity being intrinsically rewarding.
Even if you're being paid to work, the trick is not to focus on that as the only reason you're doing something. Find something that inherently motivates you, so that you can feel that sense of accomplishment and pride. Obviously my Yoga example is trivial here as the reasons for taking a strengthening/stretching class are clear. For work it might be more difficult. Perhaps you want to take pride in your good work. Perhaps you enjoy working in your team and you've developed a rapport. Perhaps your job lets you travel. Whatever it is, it is personal to you and you need to find your reason.
What makes you turn up, day after day? What makes you feel good at the end of the day?
. . . . .
So the next time you tackle an activity and you want to feel like you'd like to get some Flow happening, think about the items above. Flow can come and go, but once you've tasted it, you know you want to get back to it. A state where you are able to do your best work? Absolutely fabulous!
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