Achieving Flow: 3 Ways to Get in The Zone!

We have all heard the phrase a million times, “so and so is in the zone!” And odds are, we have all experienced the feeling of being in the zone or achieving flow ourselves. You know the feeling – where you lose track of time because you are so immersed in an activity you enjoy. Whether it is getting lost in a great book, playing video games, knitting, having carnal relations, playing an instrument or a sport – suddenly you look up only to realize that hours have passed! On the other hand, many of us can also relate to situations where we have to do something we do not enjoy, and we keep looking at the clock and it seems like time is standing still!

Interestingly, a psychologist named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has done an extensive amount of study around the concept of being in the zone, which he calls achieving flow. In his book, aptly called Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, he defines achieving flow as “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” ¹

Lucky for You, I Read His Insightful Yet Dry Book So You Don’t Have To!

In it, Csikszentmihalyi studied data from people around the world, young and old and found that achieving flow is the same for everyone, regardless of age and culture. Meaning that we all go about achieving flow in the same way. According to Csikszentmihalyi, a basketball player has the same feeling when he enters a state of flow or being in the zone as does an artist who is painting, a surgeon who is performing an operation, or a scientist who is doing ground-breaking research.

Speaking of scientists, a little later I will share a personal encounter I had with a Nobel Prize-winning scientist…

But first…

How Do You Know When You are In the Zone?

Or as Dr. Csikszentmihalyi calls it, “a flow state”.

According to the good doctor, there are several conditions that need to be met for achieving flow:

(1)  We have a chance of completing the task

Meaning that we have the skill required to perform the activity. The activity must be a little challenging – so we aren’t bored, but not too challenging where we are anxious or discouraged.

(2)  We are able to concentrate on the task.

Which happens because all of our skills are needed to focus on the activity and our attention is completely absorbed. Meaning there is no energy left to process any other information or for our mind to wander, thus making the activity automatic and spontaneous.

(3)  The task has clear goals and provides immediate feedback.

For example, a tennis player knows she must hit the ball to her opponent’s side and realizes immediately if she has done it or not.

(4)  We act with a deep involvement that is effortless.

In other words, we are so focused that we forget about all of life’s worries and frustrations.

(5)  We feel as if we have a sense of control over our actions.

The flow experience has been described by Csikszentmihalyi as,  “involving a sense of control –or, more precisely, as lacking the sense of worry about losing control that is typical in many situations of normal life.” ¹

(6)  A concern for our self disappears.

As Csikszentmihalyi says: “The loss of the sense of self, separate from the world around it is sometimes accompanied by a feeling of union with the environment, whether it is the mountain, a team, or the member of a Japanese motorcycle gang…” ¹

(7)  Time flies by!

Minutes seem like hours and hours fly by in minutes.

These elements combined give us a sense of such deep enjoyment that spending a lot of energy to achieve the feeling of being in the zone or achieving flow is worth it just to experience the feeling.

Achieving Flow…What Can We Do to Get in the Zone?

There are 3 things we can do to get ourselves in the zone to experience the flow state, namely:

(1)  Be mindful of the task you choose:

The key is to pick something that isn’t too easy or basic compared to your skills – or you will get bored, which leads to apathy. On the other hand, you don’t want to pick something that is too hard because you won’t have the skills to perform it and will likely give up. So, pick something that is reasonable for your abilities but just a bit outside your comfort zone so that you are challenged.  For example, if you are a dancer, try adding a new move to your routine. If you have been married for a long time and want to spice things up, perhaps bust out the kama sutra.

(2)  Make sure you have a clear objective:

Games, video games and sports typically have very clear objectives that make them conducive to achieving flow or getting in the zone. However, there are many times when having a clear objective isn’t so…clear. The idea here is to make sure you have a concrete objective before you start. For example, I may ask myself, “how many blog posts am I going to write today?” or “how many pages of this book do I want to read?” But remember, you also don’t want to obsess over it where it distracts you from the task at hand. Olympians aren’t always thinking about the shiny medals they are striving for.

(3)  Focus on a single task at a time:

Lastly, we need to stay focused on the task that we are working on. As we have said many times on this blog, switching from task to task has been shown to be one of the worst things you can do for productivity. Not only that, it makes it very hard to get into and stay in the zone.

As Csikszentmihalyi says, to focus on a task we need to: (1) be in an environment that is free of distractions and (2) be in control of our actions at every moment.

Here are a few strategies to help us focus on a single task:

  With respect to your cell-phone:

  Don’t check it the first hour of the day.
  When you are focusing on a task and trying to get in the zone, turn it off!

  Use the Pomodoro technique to get focused work done.

  Do a technology or social media fast one day a week where you stay off technology/social media.

  Use mindfulness meditation to bring your thoughts back to the present when you feel yourself getting distracted.

  Find an environment where you won’t be disturbed and park your butt down there!

Back to My Encounter with a Nobel Prize Winner

Several years ago, in a previous career as a healthcare administrator, I was working on a project to nominate one of our scientists to be elected into the National Academy of Sciences. To make that happen, I needed to get a letter of recommendation from Dr. Andrew Schally, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977.

I made an appointment with Dr. Schally several weeks in advance and upon my arrival, his assistant led me into his office. Mind you, I wasn’t sure what to expect, as Dr. Schally was 88 years old at the time! However, I can tell you I was pretty pumped as I had never had the opportunity to meet a Nobel Prize winner before.

His office was full of stacks of paper and file folders skewed everywhere. As we walked in, the assistant said, “Dr. Schally, Mr. Melnyck is here to see you.”

No response!

Again, the assistant said, “Dr. Schally, Mr. Melnyck is here to see you.”

This time, he got Dr. Schally’s attention and I could tell it sort of startled him.

Schally looked at me, looked at his watch, looked back at me and smiled and said something like, “Ah, I lost track of time, please come in.”

Whoa, I had just caught the master deep in a textbook definition of…achieving flow!

As Einstein said…

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That is relativity”

So, on that note my friends, it is time for me to go and do the latter.

While Einstein may have called it relativity, I call it achieving flow!  😉

Until next time, keep achieving flow and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

Use It or Lose It

A few things we can do to help us in achieving flow:

(1)  Be mindful of the task you choose.
(2)  Make sure you have a clear objective.
(3)  Focus on a single task at a time.

When to Use It:

Use these ideas for achieving flow in your life.

What Do You Think?

Is achieving flow something you can do easily and often? What types of activities or tasks do you do when achieving flow? Please share in the comments below!

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