Many people aren’t familiar with the flow state but have already experienced it, have you ever been so immersed into something that it comes naturally to you? Imagine your completing an exam and as your writing it there’s no delay, you do everything with ease as if it’s not difficult. Maybe you’ve seen a professional in their field do this. Chess grandmasters or athletes who have practiced continuously make a complex move that seems effortless. This is the flow state. It can occur with anything where you must focus.
What is the flow state?
Developed by Csíkszentmihályi and Nakamura the flow state describes a state of mind where you are extremely focused. It is a spectrum; we can feel flow at different levels. Some may find they’re at a high flow state or low, which can describe the intensity of the flow. During this state of focus you become absorbed in what your doing, only focusing on the activity. If you’re in flow you may find the task becomes much easier to do, you won’t be thinking about pointless things, and you will be in the moment. The flow state can be a very useful skill to have. It can improve our performance, but how do we get into the flow state?
Prerequisites for Flow
Anybody can experience the flow state but there is a couple of factors that affect the likelihood that you will get into it. There are some general guidelines on what you need to be doing before you can get into flow.
- Challenge and skills. To experience flow, you need to be completing a task that is at the perfect difficulty. It can’t be too easy, or you won’t need to focus to complete the task and if its above your skill level you may find it too frustrating and difficult. If the challenge can match your skill level, you will achieve flow much easier.
- Focus. Flow is all about being in a high state of focus. This is a key thing for flow as we need to be engaged on the task, performing at your highest will require you full attention. During flow you may find that you don’t think about anything else but the task you’re completing.
- Clear goals. For you to feel flow you need, your activity to have clear goals. This is because we need to know what our objective is and what we must do. For example, in many sports your objective is to win and beat the opposite team by scoring more points than them. This means you know exactly what you need to do.
When we look at the flow state it has multiple components that can describe it:
- The task is effortless and feels easy to do. During flow you don’t feel your struggling to complete the task, every decision just appears and feels natural.
- Different sense of time. When we are in flow time can feel faster or slower than usual. A couple of minutes may feel like hours.
- You feel like you’re in control. You feel like you’re in complete control of yourself.
- Action and awareness are merged. You become aware of all your decisions and don’t feel stress or anxiety because your so focused on what you’re doing.
- You’re enjoying the moment. Flow state is a positive experience, if we aren’t enjoying what we’re doing, we won’t be able to get into a deep focus. Many people have noted that during flow they experience euphoria, as they find it that enjoyable.
- Feedback. We need constant feedback from the experience. This can be from our peers or from the activity itself. For example, a basketball player would know how many points they scored.
What occurs when we get into flow?
Neuroscience has found changes in the brain during flow state. There is less activity with the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with critical thinking, memory, and self-awareness. Lower activation in the prefrontal cortex can cause a lack of your self-judgment and a change in time perception. The lower activation can cause a shift in how we think from the slow deep thinking of the prefrontal cortex to the limbic regions which is much faster. This would explain why the flow state causes us to worry less and be more absorbed into the activity, our brains are using different brain regions to than you normally would.
Additionally, the deactivation in the prefrontal cortex can cause us to have more creative ideas. The lack of self-judgment allows our brains to produce more unique thought patterns and have unrestricted ideas in the flow state. Because our inner critic isn’t there in flow, we are thinking more freely allowing us to generate ideas we wouldn’t normally think of. If you have been in the flow state, you probably found that you felt good at the time. This is because it causes increased dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that can cause better focus, pattern recognition and pleasure.
How can you experience flow?
Besides the basics of getting into the flow state there are a couple of things you can practice that will improve your focus and ability to get into the flow state.
- Pursue enjoyable activities. Like we mentioned earlier flow state is all about doing something you enjoy at the best of your ability. If you’re doing something that isn’t fun, you will struggle to focus. Even if the task is a challenge, it won’t be frustrating if you already enjoy doing it.
- Create a meditative routine. This can include a range of different things. Some people may meditate to help with their focus, whilst an athlete will practice and stretch before the game. Regardless of what you do make sure the routine helps you feel relaxed and ready to work.
- Remove distractions. Flow state is all abut focus so it’s only natural you will want to remove anything that prevents you from concentrating. You can try using headphones to block out noise or find somewhere that’s quiet, so others won’t be distracting you.
