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💡 The Big Idea: How to Get (and Stay) “In the Zone”

A while back, I came across some transformative research by a Hungarian-American psychologist with an impossible-to-pronounce name.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, or as he’d be known today, “The Flow Guy.”

He discovered that what makes people feel happy and fulfilled is not how easy their life is, but how meaningful it becomes.

And the thing that creates meaning (and as a byproduct, happiness) is being able to do things that allow us to realize our full potential.

Doing things that stretch our abilities (like practicing an instrument) is a great way to do that, but these activities can also open a portal to a magical state where we become completely enthralled with what we’re doing:

Flow.

What is Flow?

Flow is basically the feeling of being “in the zone.” It’s when we get so wrapped up in the task at hand that the activity becomes effortless. We forget about everything else, and time seems to stand still.

Ever get so into what you’re doing that you lose track of time and when you look it’s 3 hours later?

That’s Flow.

It happens when we engage in an activity that is just at the edge of our ability and requires our complete focus.

• For writers, it’s when the words start flowing.
• For musicians, it’s when you’re just feeling the solo.
• For developers, it’s when the code comes together.
• For athletes, it’s when the game goes into slow motion.

For creative knowledge workers, it’s the promised land.

But it’s hard to get to. There’s no secret formula that guarantees that you’ll be able to get into that flow state. In fact, often, the harder we try, the more elusive flow becomes.

All we can really do is invite it by creating the right conditions.

Characteristics of Flow

In his book Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines eight components of flow:

1. It occurs when we confront tasks we can complete
2. We must be able to concentrate on what we’re doing
3. The task we are working on must have clear goals
4. The task must provide immediate feedback
5. The task removes awareness, awareness, and frustrations of everyday life
6. It allows us to exercise a sense of control over their actions
7. While doing the task, the sense of self disappears (but appears stronger afterward)
8. While doing the task, the sense of duration of time is altered

These conditions give us a good yardstick for measuring flow after the fact, but the tricky part about flow is that you can’t force it. You can only invite it by selecting the right type of tasks and providing the optimal conditions.

The best way to set yourself up for flow is to choose tasks and projects that are on the edge of your current ability.

If it’s too easy, you’ll get bored (and your focus will wander). If it’s too hard, you’ll give up because it seems impossible.

But if you consistently pick things that are on the fringe of what you’re capable of, you force your mind and body to align. Difficult tasks that require your complete focus are prime candidates for creating flow.

Even then, it’s not guaranteed. And often, when we get there, we don’t realize it until after the fact, and we self-sabotage.

Which is a shame.

If you’re fortunate enough to get into a flow state, you need to do everything you can to protect it.

How to Stay in the Flow ("Ride the Wave")

Here are a few tips to help you get and stay in a state of flow:

1. Do hard things. Flow tends to happen when we’re pushing ourselves to the limits of what we’re capable of mentally or physically. That’s why I like to pick projects that stretch me. Personally, I believe everything is figureoutable. And when I complete one hard thing, I usually discover something adjacent that feels like an obvious next step. Keep looking for these kinds of tasks that force you to keep going and keep growing.
2. Stick with it. It typically takes 15-20 minutes to get into a flow state. But once you get there, you can usually stay in that state for up to 2 hours. To get the payoff, though, you need to push through that difficult first part. This is where something like The Pomodoro Method can be really handy, where you set a 25-minute timer to get started on a task. Just give yourself a buffer (and permission to keep going) if you do end up getting into a flow state.
3. Eliminate distractions. The one thing guaranteed to break a flow state is a distraction, so if you really want to get in the zone, you need to do your best to minimize interruptions as much as possible. This is why my devices are permanently in Do Not Disturb mode. Certain people have a way of breaking through if absolutely necessary, but I don’t trust myself to turn this on and off on my own.

The biggest takeaway from this newsletter is that flow is worth optimizing for. Don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t happen as often as you’d like, but relish the opportunities that do present themselves.

😎 Something Cool: Time Ruler Plugin

During the LifeHQ Q&A call on Thursday, I was asked about some of the options for time blocking using Obsidian. And while I did a video on the Day Planner plugin awhile ago, the one that looks the best to me currently is called Time Ruler.

The big advantage Time Ruler has over Day Planner is that it’s easy to integrate your public ICS calendars. This pulls in your calendar events so that you can drag your tasks around them on the daily plan.

I still think Morgen (which I wrote about last week) is the ideal version of this for me, but it’s also fairly expensive. So, if you want a free version that integrates directly into the Obsidian interface, you might want to check out Time Ruler.

📚 Book Notes: Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

It would be criminal to write a newsletter about flow and not mention the definitive work on the subject, which is Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. If you want to dive deeper into the topic of flow, this is the book for you.

If you want to download my mind map book notes for this productivity classic, click here.

— Mike

P.S. Just a couple of hours beforethe LifeHQ onboarding webinar! The call starts promptly at 2pm CT (3pm ET, 12pm PT). Click here to join (don't worry, it'll be recorded if you can't make it).