Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow is a common word in the vernacular of anyone studying positive psychology. Intuitively most people get the general concept of Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow. A good working definition of Flow is having the feeling of fusion with an on-going activity. The concept of Flow conjures these adjectives: effortlessly and fluidly (offered by Dr. Bloch in her article Flow: Beyond Fluidity and Rigidity. A Phenomenological Investigation).
When someone first learns about the concept of Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow they often believe that they have an abundance of Flow in their life, when in reality Flow is a fairly difficult state to obtain. We get in our own way with regards to Flow simply because most of us feel the need to be in complete command of a situation. To some degree, Flow requires a person to submit to the activity.
Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defined Flow in his book aptly titled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience as the “experience of optimal fulfillment and engagement” and “a deep and uniquely human motivation to excel, exceed, and triumph over limitation” in anything we love doing.
Dr. Csikszentmihalyi stumbled upon Flow in his youth. As a child growing up in Hungary Mihaly saw how many in Hungarian society were affected by war, many devastated because of the loss of their social status and/or finances. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi wanted to avoid the perils of this negativity and see if he could find meaning outside the confines of what was happening around him. In his own words, he wanted to, “live life as a work of art, rather than as a chaotic response to external events.”
In this pursuit, Csikszentmihalyi studied why some people did not lose their sense of self during this challenging time period, even after losing everything, whereas others were devastated and were not able to reclaim their sense of worth. During the same period, Csikszentmihalyi also discovered people found pleasure and had fun in profoundly different ways, yet described their experiences in similar ways. As Csikszentmihalyi matured, he continued to be fascinated by these similarities and conducted hundreds of interviews with people from different walks of life including athletes, artists and CEOs to discover what compelled their passions and the commonalities of their peak states.
He continued to find people define these states in various ways but there was always a common theme.
The Common Theme of Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow
People that really enjoy internal pleasures describe enjoying the respective pleasurable experience like being in a trance-like state. Once Csikszentmihalyi identified this pattern, he began to develop his concept of Flow. In short, that being in an extremely fulfilling state, we tend to forget about our sense of self and get extremely focused on the task at hand.
Csikszentmihalyi also observed that people experiencing Flow do not notice fear. Also, they do not really keep a mental record of what they are doing and their actions are generally instinctual. That is not to say that you can find Flow in routine tasks, on the contrary, the mundane has been shown to hinder Flow because when challenge is not present the proper stimulus for Flow does not exist.
The Tenets of Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow:
- Concentration – being completely involved and focused
- Elation
- Inner clarity – clearly seeing tasks and executing them flawlessly
- Confidence
- Serenity – complete self-trust and lack of fear
- Timeliness – absorbed in the Now
- Intrinsic motivation – doing for the sake of doing
Again, achieving Flow cannot be found in the mundane. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi believes there needs to be a balance between skill and challenge. Flow is the sweet spot between arousal and control. Too much arousal and you might get anxious about the outcome, too much familiarity and control and boredom may get the best of you. Find the balance between the two and you might just be able to fully engage yourself in a desirable state.