Flow state

The flow state is that mental state we reach when we manage to balance intellectual challenges against our skills, and we feel we’ve entered a kind of path where we are unstoppable (the flow channel), and we get our goals and assigned tasks done.

It can be charted like this:

In this chart the horizontal axis holds our skills, and the vertical axis the level of the challenges we face.

When we face a challenge, if our skills fall short we drop into the anxiety zone: we don’t know how to solve the problem. On the other hand, if the challenges are below our abilities, we get bored.

When our abilities are level with the challenges, then as we carry out the task we enter “the zone”, or flow channel: a mental state in which ideas flow smoothly.

Notice that it is not a straight line; that is, the identity challenges = skills doesn’t hold. The challenges have to sit a little above or below our skills for us to get into the flow state.

Getting to this state is a challenge, but it has great benefits; the problem is finding the strategies to get there. Have you ever experienced this state? What strategies do you use to reach it?