Get in the zone with Flow

One of the leading positive psychology proponents and founding thinker of Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the greatest living psychologists of our age. This short video introduces us to the man and his idea. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjliwSJGDiU 

Wikipedia tells us that "according to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channelled, but positive, energised, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or ones emotions."

For many, this idea will have sporting analogies. For others, particularly those interested in strengths-focused approaches to individual and team performance and development, the notion and feeling of flow happens when we are using our talents on activities that turn those talents into true strengths. Strengths that are visible to others, felt by us through the ease with which we carry out a function, role or activity time and again with high quality, positive outcomes. 

We are told that we cannot force ourselves to enter a flow state. It is something that just seems to happen. The state can be entered performing any activity and most likely to occur when we are wholeheartedly performing a task or activity for intrinsic purposes. Again, from a strengths perspective, we are more likely to find activities of this nature, i.e. where we wholeheartedly engage, with some understanding of our talents and strengths and how to seek opportunities to optimise the deployment of those talents.

There are several conditions necessary to achieve the flow state:

• There must be clear goals for the activity, thus adding direction and structure to the task
• We must perceive there to be a good balance between the challenge of the task and our own perceived skills (or in Strengths terms, the task and our talents rather than learned skills) 
• We need to have confidence that we are capable of doing the task

It also helps if there is clear and immediate feedback relating to the task. This helps us to negotiate any changing demands and allows us to adjust our performance to maintain the flow state. From an appreciative perspective, the feedback sought and provided is better when it concentrates on what works well, what is progressive and what we can learn to promote doing more of something - essential in a sporting context and arguably not less important in an organisational context - rather than too often seeking evidence of where we are weak or failing.