Fountain of Flow!

It's flow,  let it go,  fire it up,  off we go! (No,  under no circumstances am I a poet)

In this ongoing series about Flow, I wrote last time about what Flow is and why it's so important to us. 

Do you have itchy fingers? Keen to get fired up with something amazing and tangible and delicious? 

Flow! Let's delve into actually how to get into a Flow state. 

Csikszentmihalyi declares that all of the following six factors need to be present in order for Flow to exist. 

1. Intense concentration in the now

2. A joining of your actions with your awareness
3. The absence of self-consciousness
4. The sense of control over the situation
5. The distortion of the sense of time.
6. The sense of the activity being intrinsically rewarding. 

All of which can seem overwhelming so I'll add more detail.

Intense concentration in the now
Focus utterly on what you're doing. Single task focus: don't let thoughts about other things impinge. They will distract you.

Join action with awareness
If your thoughts are utterly tied to your actions,  your body and mind become one. Reaction times get shorter.

The absence of self-consciousness 
When we experience self-consciousness,  we are aware of ourselves, and of what other people might think of us. We are judging ourselves. You can bet your sock drawer this would affect our performance and interrupt the Flow state.

Sense of control
Nothing generates anxiety and helpless frustration more than a lack of control over a situation. Anxiety leads to the dark side of the force where lethargy and disengagement from the current activity lurk. When we feel that we can make a difference,  that we have agency,  our performance becomes inspired.

Distortion of time
Time flies when you're having fun. (and fruit flies like a banana) People experiencing a sense of Flow can feel like they have all the time in the world to move or to make a decision. Others discover that a forever of time has flown past while to them it has been minutes.

Intrinsic rewards
We don't work well when we are performing for an external reward. (most people only go to work because they have to,  in order to get paid). The task gets done but over time, we believe it's the only reason to do it. We believe that the negative aspects of whatever we are doing are so overwhelming that we need to be rewarded in order to achieve. Intrinsic motivators are far more powerful. When we do something because we love it, our whole spirit is invested and magic is made.

So those are the components. A lot to take in! Next time I'll look at a sample task and what someone might do in order to get themselves feeling Flow.

Questions? Hit me up in the comments!