James Clear in his book Atomic Habits discusses what can make you lose track of time?
“Flow is the mental state when you are so focused on the task at hand that the rest of the world fades away. This blend of happiness and peak performance is what athletes and performers experience when they are in the zone. It is nearly impossible to experience a flow state and not find the task satisfying at least to some degree.”
Now consider what is your flow state?
The good news the flow state is not about sports or work only, it can be present with learning and being creative and once in the flow state time seems to pass without any notice. Once this state is achieved it can boost your focus, creativity and engagement.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is considered the father of positive psychology first coined this term. Why did they use the word flow, Mihaly said through research and meeting with many people about this experience it was like the sensation of flowing along with a river.
According to Mihaly, there are eight key factors that contribute to flow state:
Clarity of goals and immediate feedback
Intense, focused concentration on a specific task
Balance between skills and challenge
Sense of personal control and agency over the task
Loss of reflective self-consciousness
Time distortion or altered sense of time
Consolidation of action and awareness
Autotelic experience (i.e. flow state is intrinsically rewarding)
When you read the above you realise to be in the zone - a clear goal and direction is needed, do not multitask (technically you cannot do this anyway) to stay focused and importantly reduce all other distractions. When you achieve this state it will make you feel good and that is a zone we should all be happy to be in when we can.
